1) The problem isn't eBay "forcing" us to use PayPal, it's the fact that they are double dipping on fees. There's no reason that one company should be able to charge us a listing fee, final value fee, and a payment reception fee.

2) "EULAs" and "License Agreements" are things that need to be looked at by the legal system. Most of them are so long and poorly worded that it basically boils down to "Thank you for your money, but we are in no way responsible for anything that happens except us taking your money, which you agree to by choosing to use the system that we're forcing you to use." Anyone ever watch Foamy the Squirrel? They go after it in one of the comics, where the girl in the comic is forced to rub her nipples on the screen because the EULA said so.

3) eBay prevents you from being able to shift any responsibility off of yourself. Adding "Seller not responsible for lost or stolen items" is meaningless to them. If your item disappears into the shipping aether stream, you have to refund the payment and then go about getting your own money back from the shipping company. Shipping US to CA/International is a particular PITA, because of the cost of shipping via any source with any kind of tracking. Technically, First Class Mail DOES have a tracking number, delivery can be confirmed by the LJ xxx xxx xxx US customs number you have to put on the package, but PayPal requires DIGITAL tracking (i.e., they don't want to do any work to verify your claim) so the shipping cost for the seller to be protected jumps from $2.50 to $12 minimum.

4) The whole system has gone to hell ever since eBay decided that it's not socially appropriate to allow negative feedbacks. I'm sorry, but the only way a site like theirs can work properly is for negative feedbacks to be allowed, and for more thorough background checks to prevent people from opening multiple accounts... but again, they've reached the size where there's no adequate competition for them and no-one who can or will keep their practices in check, therefore much like everything else nowadays, "free capitalism" runs roughshod over masses.

Sorry, I needed a morning rant.