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Posted By: Red

Ebay collected a fee when people listed and sold items. That wasn't enough so they came up with PayPal to collect an additional 2-3% from a large percentage of the sales. But they were losing that extra 2-3% when people opted to pay by check, money order, or through a seller's own credit card merchant account. The ban on checks and money orders will get Ebay to collecting the extra 2-3% on nearly every Ebay sale. They are still allowing people to pay by credit card via a seller's own merchant account, or the new Ebay owned alternative to a merchant account, but that option will soon need to be integrated into Ebay's checkout system and won't be a cost effective alternative for most people. Bottom line is Ebay has figured out a way to rake an additional 2-3% on nearly 100% of every dollar people spend on Ebay.

The only part of the transaction they haven't quite yet perfected yet is maximizing their profit by limiting delivery options, although they're very close with their PayPal shipping, new shipping maximum policies, and the free shipping suggestions to improve DSR ratings. Free shipping for the buyer only means the cost will be added into each and every fixed price listing. When it's added into the price of the item final value fees are collected as well as the 2-3% PayPal fees. All they need now is to institute mandatory automatic printing of postage from your computer when processing orders and they'll have every nearly profit angle covered. Then it will be requiring the use of the special new Ebay authorized bubble envelopes.