Lots of other downsides to eBay selling not mentioned yet. For example . . . .

Hair-trigger suspensions for accidental duplicate listings.

"Seller Limits" that restrict the sale of countless brand-name items, even when they are completely legitimate. Restrictions that tie you in so many knots it's practically pointless to attempt to list certain brand names. Admittedly the Seller Limits problem rarely comes up in the context of vintage bike parts, but just try selling sunglasses. Oh yeah, now that I remember, the system stopped me from calling a set of Campy hoops by their proper model name "OMEGA" because it's a restricted brand name.

Who the heck can promise delivery in 2 days? What are they going to do get in a car and drive it to your house. This would have made me queasy about the deal in the first place.

Ebay plugs is delivery times based on vague and imaginary delivery schedules for the USA, with not much correlation to reality. Seller have no control over the posted "delivery time" once they have plugged in a certain postal service.

EBay and PayPal worked together with a criminal to steal from me. I never use either any longer.

Why would Ebay want to get rid of small sellers ? Since they make money no matter who sells something, isn't every seller good for them ?

It's pretty stunning how low the threshold is for eBay suspending small and middle size sellers. Imagining walking into City Hall to re-new your business license. The clerk looks you up and down, sees that one of your shoelaces is untied, and says "Security! Throw this man out and show him the city limits! He's banned for life! He'll never work in this town again!" But if your name is Mr Big Retailer, this will never happen to you.

They say it doesn't matter how many years or how many tens of thousands of dollars you have made for eBay/Paypal. One or more infractions, some of which may be completely beyond your control, and they'll put a bullet through your head. Not a cozy business environnment for small and middle sized sellers.

While I agree with many things written here, and at times exasperated by Ebay, I believe Ebay can be navigated...just carefully. It is a bit of a mine field but if you know what to look for, it can be done. Yes, you may get bitten once in a while. All and all I am still on there both as buyer and seller because it has served my purposes. Read the feedback. Don't bid if feedback isn't stellar. Communicate with the seller. Study the pictures. Its always buyer beware any time you buy used. I buy a lot of new stuff on ebay as well...including items like computer hard drives...even Newegg sells on ebay...so there are reputable sellers there. I am a small seller there..but don't have a fancy account. I sell on ocassion and do OK. No I don't like the ebay or Paypal cut...price of doing business. Craiglist and other selling venues can be a pain as well for different reasons.
Hopefully the rules will change. Maybe even the charges will be reduced if more sellers find a better place to move their wares.
I have sold even motorcycles on ebay without issue...and a buddy of mine just sold a $35K car. Again, it can be navigated...just have to be a bit cautious.
PS: per the post about a product not arriving or being lost....for ocassional sellers out there...if shipping to an apartment...always request a signature...or the package maybe stolen. I always ship with tracking and send the tracking info to the buyer so they can watch for the package.

When someone sends me funds via paypal, I have it for use or withdraw IMMEDIATELY unless they pay with a e-check. I'm not sure why paypal didn't release funds to the seller. I find that odd.

When you sell an item and the buyer pays through PayPal, the funds may be pending in your PayPal account for a period of time before the funds become available. This may be as little as 3 days after the buyer receives the item, but can be up to 21 days. This can happen if you are a new vendor or if you sell high risk items like cameras, computers or other electronics. If you are an international shipper it is nearly impossible to prove proof of delivery as the Paypal system for determining POD is automated & cannot handle shipments outside of the domestic system. Therefore it's quite likely that you will be waiting the 21 days for payment.

Dave,
As mentioned I sell a few things on ebay...I would say 95% of the time, when I sell something...and always use Paypal....and the buyer pays....the transaction is shown as 'COMPLETE' in my papal account and my paypal balance increases accordingly. I haven't run up against any protracted waiting period for funds to clear. My personal experience...

I think if you have enough positive feedback as a seller, than you don't have to wait. Yesterday i just sold a $1000 power meter, and the funds were available to transfer immediately. In the past i did have to wait till item was delivered for funds to be in my paypal account.

This is correct, but they have been known to arbitrarily institute a rolling 30% withholding on more frequent sellers, too.

Same with me. When people pay me via paypal, it instantly shows as complete everywhere...my balance reflects the amount I was paid...I can immediately spend it or withdraw it or whatever.

Maybe a case where knowing all eBay's insidious practices can be too burdensome to wanting to participate.

eBay will never appeal to everyone because it involves patience and a bit of work on the part of the buyer. If you're not willing to put in this effort, you may as well pay a "little more" to an online shop or LBS. I have had ~1600 transactions since I opened my account in '07. And typically pay dimes on the dollar for the things a buy. Cycling and otherwise.
As said, it's not for everyone. But I get tired of the mantra "you get what you pay for". Your getting what you're paying, in my opinion, way too much for. Cycling, like many diversions, is often an obsession, and prices reflect that.
As both a both a buyer and seller, I realize that eBay is definitely weighted in favor of the buyer. There's a lot more accountability for eBay sellers than other retailers. Just look at threads over on the WW forums from buyers that made purchases from Ciamillo than received nothing than empty promises. They had to file CC claims that take months to resolve. If those purchases been made on eBay, the refund would have taken a couple of weeks.

i pretty much agree, but this is probably going to get interesting.

OP DID pay via echeck- hence the delay. PayEnemy/Ebay in no way warns the buyer that there will be a delay until the funds clear when they pay via a checking account- so buyer thinks that it's something being done by the seller.

If one also has a credit card linked to their PayEnemy account, they can avoid the delay when they pay via a checking account.

For the others: The delay the OP encountered had nothing to do with the notorious "PayPal Hold". When PayPal holds your money, it still shows as cleared when it has cleared the funding source.

A general question to those knowledgable about Paypal...
When I make purchases on ebay, if I don't have sufficient funds in my Paypal account, I always pay via my credit card.
The default for Paypal payment if I don't carry a balance however is my checking account. My question is...is there a way I can change my default payment to my credit card versus checking account? I always have to go through the steps of changing my payment when I check out.
Anybody?

I don't think so, they want you to use your bank account b/c they don't get charged credit card fees that way. I always go through the steps to use my credit card b/c i get an extra 1% bonuses on top of the 2% rewards ebay gives you. I've tried to make it my default too, but to no avail

Ebay's motivations and dysfunctional actions are like those of Congress- they seldom make sense. (In fact, it almost seems like both organizations are being run by the same idiots).

Ebay was a recession-proof business with no competition. When CEO Donahoe came on-board, he openly declared that he wanted to get rid of Ebay's "flea market image" and go head to head with Amazon. Why anyone would want to take on a formidable business such as Amazon, which they were NOT in direct competition with, is beyond me- but that is what they wanted- so they proceeded to wage war on the very people who had built Ebay (The small amateur sellers).

Their love affair with mega-sellers isn't working out too good. Their partnership with General Motors [in an effort to make Ebay Motors a virtual nationwide dealer showroom] didn't last long. Many large retailers have also jumped ship- Neiman Marcus being the most recent. And of course, all these big retailers and e-sellers, like Buy.com have their own websites, and their only interest in using Ebay and paying extra fees [although not as high as you and I would pay- as they get a discount] is just to lure more people to their own sites after an initial sale on Ebay.

So you're right- it doesn't make sense; Give the big sellers a substantial discount; lose PayEnemy revenue, because all the big retailers/etailers can process credit card payments directly; lose customers who are lured to the seller's website after the initial transaction; etc. etc. But that's Ebay- NOTHING they've done in the last 5 years makes any sense to a reasonable and intelligent observer.

Donahoe is an advocate of/practitioner of "disruptive innovation"[Google it if not familiar]. His actions sure have been disruptive; and not the kind of innovations that anyone would want to brag about....but rather, the kind which require "creative accounting" to justify.

A smaller business having taken Ebay's course of actions, would have failed by now; Ebay, being huge and having benefited from being there first, is like many other large giants which have gone down recently- seeming too big to fail....but in fact, their death is just ever so slow and protracted- like James Cagney being shot and staggering two blocks.

Ah! The eternal question!

I believe, the only way to do it is to delete your checking account from PayPal.

I know, when you don't have PP balance, you get to pick the source of funds that you want to use for payment (CC or bank account), but for some reason, they don't seem to allow you to do the same when you're paying with a PP balance and additional funds. It's a question that seems to come up a lot. Just another example of PP/Ebay's asininity.

EDIT: Here's what PayEnemy says:

"

Thanks MP. I thought that is was required to have a checking account registered to one's Paypal account. Can somebody have a verified Paypal account with only a credit card for payment?

If you think about Ebay's calculus...it is no different than other corporations....vol. X margin = profit. It like a big poker game.
When ebay enacts rules that alienate membership, they have to extoll more margin to derive the same profit.

Perception here on the 41 seems to be...the pendulum has swung too far in favor of the buyer. Perhaps with Paypal fee's, the buyer is who ebay tries to protect...versus sellers....or ebay believes if buyer's flee from the market..worse than losing more sellers because of uneven playing field.
When anybody here takes exception to ebay's practices...look no further than the bottom line for ebay. We just don't see it...but the guys at the controls sure do and what steers their decisions.

I'm not sure if removing the checking account will "unverify" you- I don't think it will...but I could be wrong..... But even if it does, it wouldn't much matter, as PP now tells merchants that they can ship to any PP registered member- doesn't matter if they're "verified" or not. But my thought is: Once you've used the account for verification purposes, it doesn't matter if the account stays linked or not. But I could be wrong.

It's been a long time since I have sold anything on ebay. Do they allow the seller to force the buyer to only use a cashier's check or postal money order these days or is paypal mandatory?