It's the lawyer that win. They intentionally stir up so much animosity that the divorcees don't notice they are being robbed blind. When my parents got divorced, the lawyers did exactly this. It wasn't until afterwards that my parents realized that the lawyers got half and they were each left with a quarter. They also didn't realize that most of the lawyers "recommendations", ostensibly to protect assets through the divorce, were either designed to cause conflict with the other spouse or to put the assets in a place where they could be abused by the lawyers.

True story. When my dad died in Tennessee I had to go to probate court in Nashville once a month over a year and a half. I always wore a suit to court (I thought that's just what you did). One morning I was sitting on a bench reviewing paperwork for my dad's case and heard murderous shooting coming from a conference room. After a few minutes out bursts two lawyers who are screaming at each other. It's apparently a contentious divorce case. Once out of earshot of the room, they immediately start talking to each other civilly. They sit on the bench I'm at and calmly work out the issue, then agree not to tell their respective clients for another too weeks. (I assume to rack up billable hours "solving" the issue and "fighting for them".) Then one turns to the other, says: "You ready?", and they resume screaming at each other as they re-enter the conference room. It was all theater to get their client's emotions up, intentionally cause more issues, and allow them to rob the clients blind under the pretense of helping them.

eBay and PP will both do everything they can to please the buyer. They have a monopoly, where else are the sellers going to go (Amazon, Etsey, etc., are not answers)? It sucks, but that's the game if you want to play. I haven't had too many problems myself. I do know of cases where someone sells a computer or vintage stereo equipment. The buyer receives it, immediately guts all the valuable components, and then claims they received it that way. They get a refund and there's nothing the seller can do.

It's nearly at a point where there is a business model for a 3rd party service who receives the items, inspects them and then personally delivers them to the buyer. Probably impractical. But maybe that's what eBay is aiming for - another layer of expense for sellers.

We need a legitimate eBay competitor.

empty your papal account and unlink your bank account and credit card immediately

I've only sold stuff on Craigslist and dealt with in-person transactions, so this is all foreign to me.

If someone tells me they will only pay with paypal because it is safer for all involved, I immediately suspect them of wanting to rip me off. Tell them it is cash monies or bank wire transfer and I will provide a purchase agreement that states the money is in my hands/account before they get possession of or the item is shipped.

At one point a couple years ago, I had my PP tied to a bank acct w a lot of money in it. Very dumb. :(

Paypal is not your friend. They are also not a bank. They screwed me out of a couple hundred bucks years ago. I would worry more about PayPal than fraudulent buyers. It turned me off on doing business on Ebay both selling and buying.

G

I keep hearing these stories about PayPal ripping people off. If this is true how can they still be in business?

If one of your banks did that they'd soon have the attention of your Federal Authorities.

Yea I get that but I'm surprised someone with 'means" hasn't stepping in.

It just seems wrong that they can get away with it.