A Long Time Ago....Part 3

Well, my eBay business continued to grow and grow. Most people buying on eBay were happy. I was making money. My fellow eBay sellers were making money. And eBay itself was making money….Lots of money. Everybody was happy. And then things slowly started to change….

For me, the start of the decline was when PayPal reared it’s ugly head. PayPal’s initial claim to fame was buyer protection – if a buyer paid for an item and then didn’t get it, PayPal could refund their money. This seemed like a great idea, but in actuality, it was fixing a problem that didn’t exist – at least on any significant scale. If an eBay seller was stiffing buyers, the feedback system would destroy their reputation, they would have trouble selling other items on eBay, and they would soon be out of the eBay business – problem solved. Again, PayPal was initially seen as a boon to sellers – instead of waiting a week ot more for a check to arrive in the mail, they could receive payment in a few hours time.

When a buyer first wanted to pay me via PayPal (I think this was in late 1999) I had no choice but to set up a PayPal account. Soon, it seemed that every other buyer wanted to pay via PayPal. Again, this was not a bad thing – the small percentage that I paid PayPal was offset by the added convenience of not having to run to the bank to deposit checks and money orders.

Life was still good in the eBay world. I did not realize at the time, however, that the seeds of decline were now firmly planted and ready to sprout…