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About "paper payments", eBay-owned Paypal, and IDENTITY THEFT ...
Somebody has got to say it... Ebay has become extremely user-UNfriendly by making it vastly difficult if not virtually impossible, for millions of victims of IDENTITY THEFT who no longer will submit credit card or personal-financial information online in order to buy or sell on eBay!
Because of my own past personal IDENTITY THEFT right here on eBay several years ago, I will not use PAYPAL, nor any other online credit card or payment utilities. Please read below why I (and many others) will ask Sellers to accept payments of Money Orders or checks, because that is the only way we will ever bid or buy on eBay.
I am no longer willing to share my personal and financial information with the world, which is what is at risk when your information is on file anywhere online. Almost TEN MILLION cases of ID theft were reported last year in the U.S. and the number keeps growing.
Government agencies, banks, major retailers, and credit card companies, to mention only a few, all have been hacked into with identities stolen from their databases.
There are reports all over the web of hacking into both eBay & Paypal accounts and their membership data bases. One of the repeating hackers who goes by the name of Vladuz, seems to enjoy regular hacking into eBay in the U.S. and international eBay sites..
According to reports, in one malicious incident in 2007, eBay's User ID Database was hacked into -- the hacker then difiantly posted over 1,200 of eBay users Name, Address, Telephone Number, and Credit Card Information including Number, Expiration Date, and CCV Numbers on the Ebay's “Trust and Safety” Discussion Board, for the world to see and to use.
Update on Vladuz: After more than a YEAR of hacking, he was arrested in Romania in May 2008 -- the arrest was due to a formalized collaboration between Ebay, the Romanian General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, the DIICOT, the US Secret Service, and the FBI. Also, authorities in Romania and the US Department of Justice. Imagine - it took all these agencies more than a year to catch just ONE of these hackers.
"According to the Federal Trade Commission and Internet Fraud Watch, fraudulent schemes appearing on online auction sites are the most frequently reported form of Internet fraud. Some Internet fraud schemes also involve identity theft. Some ... which appear to be variations on the online auction schemes described earlier, involve the use of unlawfully obtained credit card numbers to order goods or services online." (SEE BOTTOM FOR LINKS & INFORMATION.)
EBay's huge and dramatic policy change effective at the end of 2008 dictates the elimination of paper payments under the guise of "protecting" ebayers. Instead, in actuality, it does just the opposite! It doesn't protect them at all - it only puts both Buyers and Sellers at major Identity Theft Risk; as well as sellers at income loss risk (due to new Paypal policies), and buyers at loss of a fair, open and free trade market. Not to mention it puts more money in eBay-owned Paypal's pockets via seller fees as intended via Paypal channeling of both buyers and sellers.
Ebay's policy states: "Sellers may not solicit: ... Buyers to mail checks or money orders (except for items in categories specifically permitted)". "Solicit" being the operative word. But it does not and can not, control what a seller actually accepts or receives.
Ebay's policy continues to state: "A seller can accept check and money order payment from a buyer if the buyer requests it."
But the hoop jumping to accomplish a paper payment is more than aggravating, especially for multiple purchases, and ebay has tried to make it as difficult as possible...
There is no longer any provision in ebay's "Checkout" for a paper payment, so that can't be accomplished; Ebay does not include the Buyer's mailing or email address in their "You Won" notification; and all over the site they allude to the idea that Paypal is the only "safe" way to pay, which is definitely not factual - not with 9 MILLION cases of Identity Theft annually.
Aside from any antitrust issues, this eBay dictum is just not user friendly, not to buyers or sellers!!
I've always had 100% positive Feedback, and since 2002 I have only paid with U.S. Postal money orders and checks. If as a Seller you do not wish to accept these, that of course, is your choice. But tens of thousands of others like me will not be buying, nor will we even get in the bidding on your listings.
So if you receive a request about check or money-order payments, I hope you will take these facts into consideration.
And please, feel free to reply to me directly.
Perhaps someday, we all may see the return of what once made eBay great, long before the multitude of 2008 changes in eBay (and I read there will be a lot more in 2009) ... but please don't hold your breath.
Until then, I thank you in advance for your hoped-for understanding, and thanks for reading this far.
IDENTITY THEFT information:
U.S. Dept. of Justice:
Federal Trade Commission:
a non-profit educational organization about ID theft:
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