Is ebay violating the Constitution?

Recently ebay made some changes to payment types in which only paypal can now be used as a payment method,no checks,etc.
I believe this violates both the commerce,and the obligation of contract clauses,in addition it also seems to violate anti-competition laws,by arbitrarly requiring an ebay company as the only means of payment,one in which forces a seller to except a fee under contract to get paid.ebay has no competition in the payment industry now,and prevents a method of payment to a seller that does not require a fee.
(sellers boycott ebay listing during holiday season 2008)

2008-09-01T21:35:01Z

Notice to those that state ebay is a private company(they are publicly traded company)in which does NOT extend the right of privacy,they must dosclose their papers and effects to public scrutiny.
Additionally they are required under the commerce clause they are licensed to operate in doing so they must allow payment even in cash.
"Legal tender laws require that residents of a country accept payment in that country’s currency even if the contract stipulates payment be made in another country’s currency, gold, bales of hay, or whatever." or even paypal.

2008-09-01T21:46:43Z

Also wanted to add in response to some folks opinions regarding ebay not forcing one to do so.
It is important to note that many sellers joined ebay prior to such changes,remember the Founding Fathers made sure that obligation of contract laws were not created by the States,ebay is merely a service in which payment is being made bgy a seller,it does not nor should it require an extension of inferrence by them as a third party to hinder such contracts between buyer and sellers.

2008-09-02T00:47:59Z

ebay is a service in which links buyers and sellers togeather to hopefully result in a completed transaction.However there is no guarantee that a successfull transaction will be completed,or even if a product will be sold.However they will still recieve payment for a service in which did not result in a sale.
Additionally the buyer never pays a cent for the service,the payment is exclusive of contract of the seller with ebay to provide a service in which a seller agreed to under the original contract to sell.ebay changing such a contract without providing for exclusion does create problems with it constitutionaly.As an example ebay also entered seperate contracts with manufacturures in which gives those manufacturers deep discounts on listing on ebay,while the other sellers are not given the same discounts,this is anti-competition because it puts a manufacturer at a higher advantage over other sellers.

Anonymous2008-09-01T21:18:47Z

Favorite Answer

Ebay is a private company, and as such can set their own rules. If they want to have you pay in sea shells, then that is what you must do to do business with them.
If you don't like it, go do your dealing somewhere else.

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Anonymous2008-09-01T21:18:51Z

The seller chooses which methods of payment he wants to accept. When you list an item, you get to select from cash, check, paypal etc. If you are "forced" to select paypal, you can still write in your listing that you'll accept cash or check. On Amazon, sellers are only allowed to accept credit card payments so maybe they are taking those steps for security reasons in case a lot of buyers claim they mailed cash but didn't get the item and want a refund.

EDIT:
You quote the constitution but are misinterpreting it. You quote: "Legal tender laws require that residents of a country accept payment in that country’s currency even if the contract stipulates payment be made in another country’s currency, gold, bales of hay, or whatever." or even paypal."

What that means is that a country must accept payment in that country's currency as in the US must accept money in US currency - US DOLLARS (not for example the peso or lira). Even if a company states "We only accept payment in pesos" if it is in the United states, you are still allowed by law to pay in US dollars (doesn't say in cash or credit card, both of which are in US currency).

EDIT #2:
You are forgetting the fact that the seller and buyer are using ebay in order to do a transaction. They are not merely doing it on their own. If it wasn't for ebay, neither party would've located the other, nor would the seller have the venue to sell their product. They are agreeing to buy/sell THROUGH EBAY based on Ebay's terms and conditions. If they no longer like the terms and conditions, then they can stop using ebay to do their purchases and sales through. Ebay isn't obligated to make their business and fiscal decisions based on what the consumer wants. They and their board of directors can vote to do whatever they want as long as it is not illegal activity prohibited by law. So get over it. If you are that unappreciative, then sell your items on craigslist where no credit card and paypal is used. With all this passion against a company why don't you use it to instead boycott oil companies for gauging prices. To me that's more illegal than a company requesting that online transactions be done through credit card which is the case in just about every other online website.

With all that said, I do think they should still allow cash and check as form of payment so that does suck.

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E. F. Hutton2008-09-01T21:35:42Z

Should we force all commercial entities to accept all forms of payment? cash? cards? gold nuggets? The U.S. federal government recognizes the Liberty Dollar as legal tender but will not accept it in payment to the government. Ebay is free to do as they see fit in regard to transactions on their property. The transaction is between buyer and seller and not between either and ebay. They act only as an "agent" or "mediator". Since the buyer and seller are free to conduct business on their own, ebay is not subject to those clauses as you present them. A buyer's contract is with the seller and not the "middle man." It does kinda suck.

"Legal tender laws require that residents of a country accept payment in that country’s currency" means that the transaction must be permitted using accepted currency of that country. Since PayPal deals in the U.S. Dollar for business in the U.S., versus using the Euro, they are in compliance.

I'm more curious about items that PayPal will not permit transactions for, such as adult items.

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aplusbequalsee2008-09-02T01:06:25Z

Yes I agree to most of what you have said.
anti competitive laws were written to prevent such actions of corporations.while still protecting the free market.
of course a large group of sellers could operate under one account having the same amount of listings as a manufacturer.
ebay must allow such discounts to the party.Otherwise it would prove difficult for ebay to re butt anti competitive policies.

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Watcher1112008-09-01T21:20:35Z

Ebay is a private company and as such they can specify the payment method accepted. You can go to Wal-Mart and they can demand to be paid in pesos, legal, yes, smart no.


Nobody is forcing people to use ebay, so there is no constitutional violation.

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