While the PayPal panel at the eBay Live conference on Wednesday was lightly attended, those who were there had some strong feelings about using PayPal, primarily regarding cross-border trading and dispute resolution issues.
One attendee had traveled all the way from the UK to make his point. He said he sells on eBay.com, and pays 1 percent more than every other person in the room because he is based in the UK.
A PayPal panelist said PayPal has higher costs in the UK and there are higher costs for cross-border transactions. He recommended the seller open a U.S. bank account, while the seller countered that since 9/11, it was "impossible" to open a bank account in the U.S. without a social security number.
A Canadian seller said he is being charged 55 cents Canadian instead of 30 cents U.S. per transaction.
Another seller complained about PayPal's Seller Protection Plan, calling it "a joke," and he was followed by a seller who said of PayPal's 40-minute presentation, "great slides, great presentation. I don't believe a word of it."
Some expressed the opinion that eBay should not be refereeing disputes.
Others who asked questions had a milder point of view. "I like PayPal," and, "I don't mind PayPal too much either."
While some of the attendees made long statements, others had suggestions for PayPal:
allow multi-user accounts so the president of the company doesn't have to get on the phone with PayPal customer service;
send a token to eBay when a refund is issued so that the buyer doesn't get reminder notices to pay the seller;
expand the program where eBay uses buyer history to confirm buyers addresses (this is being used in the UK and Canada);
One person said of international trading, "the extra profit greatly outweighs the losses."
