wahwah
United States of America#2Consumer Comment
Sat, February 27, 2010
a) Yes ebay bought paypal [2002]
b) Yes ebay bought 25% of craigslist [2004]
c) Yes ebay bought a bunch of other companies (half.com, skype -- for a while, ...) and will probably buy more
d) No Mark, you cannot prove ebay and yahoo are the same company -- I can pretty much give you proof that they aren't: check the stock symbols for YHOO & EBAY. They are independent companies and operate as such. They do however have a partnership and under such a partnership they could align business goals or share a customer support center.
Neither getting sued, nor buying a company, nor typing a report in all caps makes these companies fraudulent. Raising fees since 2000 doesn't make them fraudulent. It might make them companies you're unhappy with, but there isn't much legal recourse for that. A company that huge is bound to have vocal people who are unhappy with them, but they probably have many more customers that think they are receiving a reasonable service at a satisfactory price.
Mark
Bishop,#3
Wed, September 02, 2009
To the original poster...you're aware eBay and Yahoo are the same company aren't you?? All you have to do is send customer service emails to both and you'll see they send the exact same emails. Just replace the word 'eBay' with 'Yahoo' and every thing word for word is exactly the same. If nobody believes me I will gladly prove it.
Dan
Irvine,#4Consumer Comment
Fri, September 03, 2004
I used to post with e-bay all of the time...One thing that I noticed is that they refuse to protect thier lister/sellers from non paying/faudulent bidders....out of 400 listings 175 winning bidders were iether children who cannot be sued or out of country adults whom there is no recourse...when they will not conumate the deal..... yes e-bay will give you the final value credit(after you wait for 7 - 8 weeks) but what about the listing fees my Average listing with pictures and this and that was about $23.00 that was just lost..... If all of those porne web sites can why can't e-bay???? Just some thoughts....
Joshua
La Place,#5Consumer Comment
Sat, August 28, 2004
Ok, so I cant put the company name here because it might cause problems, but if you do a Google search titled "free Online auction site buy and sell trade" you are bound to find the one I am talking about along with a ton of other ones. Yes as of right now these auction sites are new and yes some of them don't have a lot of users but neither did ebay when they started out. Basically what I am trying to say is that there is other options if you feel that ebay and Paypal are "Evil theives" I have found my option and that is to not use their services.
Joshua
La Place,#6Consumer Comment
Thu, August 26, 2004
Well I have had experience with both Ebay and Paypal and while I agree partly with Jason, I do also agree to the fact that it is quite expensive on Ebay and Paypal as well. So I decided to look around for alternative sources. Here is what I found... sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company your comments on this policy are welcome! CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. (((redacted))) lets you list for free, open a store for free and their final value fees are farless and here is the breakdown... Ebay charges Listing fees ((redacted)) does not. Final Value fees are 2.5% compared to 5.25% with Ebay. Stores are free compared to Ebay who charges $9.95 a month. Buy Now fees are free compared to Ebay who charges 5 cents (yes those nickles add up!)And here is the kicker...Home page featured is 99 Cents compared to Ebay who charges a whopping $99.95!! NOw as for Paypal, you may think there is none better but that is not true either. ANYPAY is like Paypal but it costs less to receive your money. It may not be as far advanced as Paypal is right now but they are working on it and will be eventually and may give Paypal a run for their "money" lol . So maybe their is an alternative. Give it a try, ya never know.
James
Lewistown,#7UPDATE Employee
Tue, August 10, 2004
Jason has made some very valid points. I know first hand, as my family owns a brick-and-mortar small business. The overhead costs are staggering! Were it not for the opportunities afforded by eBay and PayPal, a lot of good people would NEVER be able to afford their own business! As we live in a free, capitalist nation, and NOT a socialist empire where only the elite can own things, there is no reason why good, hard-working people should be restrained from going into business simply because they don't have a massive cash reserve to get them started or don't want to take on a huge amount of debt. eBay and PayPal help these good people, and I am one of them! As for people who like to slag and disrespect eBay, there are several kinds of people who do most of the complaining: People who DO NOT READ the terms prior to use and then cry "ripoff"; Dishonest fraudsters who finally get their just due and get BANNED from eBay; and the occasional fraud victim who can't find the resources to get their money back (By the way, there are MANY resources for fraud- IFCCFBI, USPS, local courts and police, just to name a few, so DON'T GIVE UP!!) Thanks, Jason, for the heads-up on business expenses and thanks again to the Ripoff Report for showing both sides to the story!
Jason
Jamaica Plain,#8Consumer Comment
Mon, August 09, 2004
To all you sellers who complain about eBay and Paypal, here is your other alternative... Open a REAL brick & mortar store, and tell me how you save money then. This is a breakdown of monthly costs from owning a small retail store: Rent: $600 Insurance: $325 Electric: $125 (avg.) Gas: $90 (avg.) Phones: $140 (avg.) Water: $35 Garbage: $40 Alarm Co. $45 Credit Cards $90 (With Rental) Upkeep: $200 (avg.) Accountant: $70 Lawyer We won't even bring up legal expenses! This is just a few of the goodies you have. We won't even get into payroll, workers comp, theft (thousands), quarterly taxes (both federal and local). And let's not forget: Fire Department Police Department Fop's ..and a million different other organization who visited the store of a daily basis with their handout. And if they aren't visiting, then they are soliciting you on the phone. NOW... I use eBay full-time and Paypal as well. My monthly expenses? Right around $200 total, (which are figured into the auctions I sell). I have no commute, no set hours, and not even a fraction of the problems I had before. So, if your looking to open a full-time business, online is the only way. And because of online, you can expect things to be a LOT cheaper than you'll find in retail stores (in lots of cases). For the sellers, who have nothing better to do than complain about the fortune eBay has amassed or Paypal fees, I offer this advice... Either find a marketable product, or quit selling. Nothing in life is free, but eBay & Paypal are as close as you are going to get.
James
Lewistown,#9Consumer Comment
Tue, August 03, 2004
I am a well-established user of both eBay and PayPal. eBay's fees are disclosed very clearly, BEFORE a seller submits a listing. If you are unhappy with their fees, you absolutely have the right to deny eBay of any of your money by simply not using their services. Same goes for PayPal. eBay does need to work on a few things. There have been instances of fraudulent sellers posting bogus auctions under numerous names. I have contacted eBay about this, as a scammer who tried to defraud me has had numerous IDs that only were registered for a short time. I'm not sure what eBay is doing to address this problem, but I am sure that they are working on it. One thing I can say for eBay is that for being a huge company, they DO care about their customers. I am absolutely grateful for PayPal! Yes, they take a small cut of the money when a buyer pays for one of my auctions with them. So?? They are in business to make money, just like any other legitimate business. Again, anyone who doesn't like PayPal does not have to use it. While eBay encourages and promotes PayPal, they neither require nor force anyone to use it. My gratitude towards PayPal is due to the fact that I was helped by them. I was a victim in a fraudulent auction scam on eBay. When I finally got the seller to pay up after numerous complaints and legal proceedings, he paid a large part of the money that he owed me by PayPal. Shortly after that, he filed a false fraud complaint against me with PayPal and tried to get the money taken back!! This guy also told me that PayPal was trying to "steal the money from both of us". PayPal held the money while the appropriate investigation was conducted. I immediately contacted them. The PayPal rep I dealt with, whose name was Richard, was very courteous at all times. Within a day, I had back what was rightfully mine and the issue was resolved. Thanks, PayPal!! In closing, I will say that I will continue to do business with both of these great companies. They are getting better at preventing fraud and helping victims when fraud does occur. They also continue to offer me the opportunity to buy and sell hard-to-find and interesting items for what I feel are reasonable fees. I'm sure that they have their problems, but many of these are caused by the actions or ignorance of buyers and sellers. My only problem to date was caused by a dishonest man who would rather rip people off than earn an honest living. Unfortunate, but since resolved and not eBay's fault.
Gordon
Allen,#10Consumer Suggestion
Thu, July 29, 2004
1 - Ebay has to charge money for your listing. They have to pay hosting and bandwidth costs. Think about how many people browse that site every day, some of them on it for hours. Bandwidth is expensive. 2 - eBay has been around a long time. They have a lot of users. They are helping YOU to sell YOUR item; if you told a friend to sell your old computer for you, would that friend not ask for part of the profit? Advertising space in a newspaper costs money, too; and a newspaper may give you 3 square inches for $3.00. eBay gives you an entire web page. An entire newspaper page costs around $60. With eBay you get a lot more exposure than you would from a newspaper. eBay is INTERNATIONAL. I have yet to see a newspaper that is international. 3 - PayPal is the most secure of any of the online payment systems. First, it's completely free to send payments as long as they're over $3.00. BidPay (owned by Western Union) costs money to join, and they charge for every payment, sent and received. PayPal only charges a maximum of 2.9%+$0.30. Try thinking before making false claims and complaints against good companies. Don't blame the company for YOUR mistakes.