I think Ebay is trying to clean up some of their bad press lately by making some changes. One complaint has been that the PayPal protection sucks, but I was just involved in a transaction where they went way beyond and helped a guy out.

In July a boat was towed into our marina broken down. Long story short a young guy bought it on Ebay and was driving it home via water when it crapped out. We diagnosed it and the engine was really shot and the outdrive was starting to develop cracks. The guy told me he bought it on Ebay and had just picked it up. I told him to contact Ebay, but he had only paid $ 500.00 through PayPal as a deposit and gave the guy $ 3300.00 CASH when he picked it up. I figured he was screwed, but wrote him a letter so he could present it to Ebay. In it I outlined that the boat was not in the condition it was advertised at, and that it would take a minimum of $ 10K to make it right.

A few weeks later the guy called me and said PayPals insurance company had cut him a check for the full $ 3800.00 and he even got to keep the boat! He just wanted it gone so he gave it away. I guess all the heat coming down on Ebay from shows like Dateline and 60 Minutes are making them be more responsive.

Don