The real question is, when in the US “banking” regulator going to finally do something about this unregulated, most unprofessional “financial” operator that acts more like a bank but is actually no more than a money gouging arm of the Ho’s “eBafia”?

Regardless, the fact is the rusting old hulk “eBay” is presently being kept afloat by the clunky PreyPal so its good to see threats to PreyPal’s clunky operation now coming thick and fast. It’s interesting times for all we eBay “haters” (oops, I mean “watchers”). I just hope that someone has remembered to bring the popcorn.

Even though PayPal clearly offers banking-type services (ie, holding depositors’ money in non-prudentially regulated and non-FDIC insured banking-type accounts), PayPal is mostly registered in various places not as a “bank” nor as a provider of credit but only as a “money transmitter” (like Western Union), and indeed PayPal has claimed that they are not even a “payment network”, and there is a minute degree of truth in that claim because it could, somewhat nonsensically, be put that most (but not all) of their activities do no more than facilitate the transmission of money by riding on the back of the banks’ existing payments processing systems.

In fact, the only thing creative about PayPal has been their founding use of users’ email addresses as an identifier for online payment transactions. PayPal is otherwise no more than a blood-sucking parasite riding on the back of, and in the main cannot function except via, the banks’ existing payments processing systems.

PayPal, outside of whatever will ultimately be left of the Donahoe-devastated eBay Marketplace, will undoubtedly eventually be consigned to the history books by the retail banks/Visa/Mastercard once those players get their “online” act together. There is nothing surer than the sun will rise in the morning.

All anyone needs to know about the clunky PayPal, at:

http://forums.auctsionbytes.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=165263

Enron / eBay / PayPal / Donahoe: Dead Men Walking.