4 ms·

This is akin to my bank freezing my accounts because I gave them a bad review online. I would love to see them try to enforce this. *If a brick and mortar bank

This is akin to my bank freezing my accounts because I gave them a bad review online. I would love to see them try to enforce this. *If a brick and mortar bank tried this there would be a run on their accounts so fast it would make Usain Bolt blush.

vkou 10y ago
As a seller, you don't have a choice. You can: * Accept PayPal, and play ball with their policies. * Disparage them, and get your account seized. * Not accept PayPal, and lose out on millions of customers. Please don't say BitCoin is an alternative. Unless you're selling heroin, or your entire customer base consists of crypto-anarcho-libertarians, it's not.
- renesd 10y ago
  * Use alternative payment systems.
  - pc86 10y ago
    Equivalent to #3. There are a lot of people who only use PayPal online. In the HN space? Probably not that many. If you're selling shirts or random widgets online? The GP is not exaggerating by saying that literally millions of people will get to payment, see they have to type in a CC number and that PP is not an option, and they will leave.
  - Shivetya 10y ago
    for the most part if you use EBAY you really don't have much of a choice and as a buyer ebay pushes paypal
mark-r 10y ago
You're forgetting the network effects, my friend. They can get away with this because they already have people locked in.
- npiazza83 10y ago
  This is what legislation is for. There's always a bigger fish.
- mjevans 10y ago
  What little competition they have is worse. Credit cards are probably on the path to the root of 'evil' for this form of (seller and) consumer abuse.
PeterisP 10y ago
There are some parallels with rules of brick and mortar banks for credit card acquiring; at least in certain markets stating that you'd give a discount for paying cash instead of card or discouraging card payments in other ways would put you on a track to get blacklisted from accepting any credit cards at all.

vkou 10y ago

As a seller, you don't have a choice. You can: * Accept PayPal, and play ball with their policies. * Disparage them, and get your account seized. * Not accept PayPal, and lose out on millions of customers. Please don't say BitCoin is an alternative. Unless you're selling heroin, or your entire customer base consists of crypto-anarcho-libertarians, it's not.

renesd 10y ago
* Use alternative payment systems.
- pc86 10y ago
  Equivalent to #3. There are a lot of people who only use PayPal online. In the HN space? Probably not that many. If you're selling shirts or random widgets online? The GP is not exaggerating by saying that literally millions of people will get to payment, see they have to type in a CC number and that PP is not an option, and they will leave.
- Shivetya 10y ago
  for the most part if you use EBAY you really don't have much of a choice and as a buyer ebay pushes paypal

mark-r 10y ago

You're forgetting the network effects, my friend. They can get away with this because they already have people locked in.

npiazza83 10y ago
This is what legislation is for. There's always a bigger fish.
mjevans 10y ago
What little competition they have is worse. Credit cards are probably on the path to the root of 'evil' for this form of (seller and) consumer abuse.

PeterisP 10y ago

There are some parallels with rules of brick and mortar banks for credit card acquiring; at least in certain markets stating that you'd give a discount for paying cash instead of card or discouraging card payments in other ways would put you on a track to get blacklisted from accepting any credit cards at all.