When I was a teenager there was no reason not to transfer the money out immediately. It was understood it was a middleman that allowed us to accept payment onli

When I was a teenager there was no reason not to transfer the money out immediately. It was understood it was a middleman that allowed us to accept payment online without a merchant account. So we treated that way. It felt like a hack. It still feels like a hack, but as you say they've taken on the look of a bank. Once they started offering cards you could use to debit from your account etc, people started leaving the money behind more and more.