"It's a totalitarian hit-them-with-a-hammer approach that truly needs to end."
In my mind, this behaviour can be explained as the one of a monopoly. PayPal is probably a great service in the vast majority of cases, but the behave unacceptably in a number of exceptions. And it would not even be very hard to solve, because it seems to be mostly about process, transparency and communication.
This is quite similar to the treatment you get from many government services, which happen to be organized monopolistically as well.
Once there is a true choice for these basic services like text ads, auctions and online payment, this would likely end quite quickly.
There is probably something in the structure of these businesses that makes them come pretty close to natural monopolies. Maybe internet users should actively start to pick always the second biggest provider for everything in this space. But I would not be able to tell you a name for payment service and auctions site that was to fit that description.
In my mind, this behaviour can be explained as the one of a monopoly. PayPal is probably a great service in the vast majority of cases, but the behave unacceptably in a number of exceptions. And it would not even be very hard to solve, because it seems to be mostly about process, transparency and communication.
This is quite similar to the treatment you get from many government services, which happen to be organized monopolistically as well.
Once there is a true choice for these basic services like text ads, auctions and online payment, this would likely end quite quickly.
There is probably something in the structure of these businesses that makes them come pretty close to natural monopolies. Maybe internet users should actively start to pick always the second biggest provider for everything in this space. But I would not be able to tell you a name for payment service and auctions site that was to fit that description.