I'm usually only too ready to join those who slag off eBay for their sneaky policies, greedy charges, dreadful customer service etc. But for a change I'll offer them a little credit where it's due ;

Perhaps eBay are putting some of their profits to good use at last. An email I received from them yesterday indicated that now "When you pay with PayPal, your item will be protected to its full value (including postage) - no more caps, no more seller criteria to keep track of."

There are still numerous exclusions & provisos in the small print (which is comparable in length to the complete works of William Shakespeare, & equally hard to fathom) such as "intangible" items not being eligible - but I must say, this does seem like a step in the right direction.

I actually hate them a little less now ;)

"The company has struggled as of late to retain buyers and sellers migrating to bidding-free sites like Amazon.". True, but the implication isn't quite right.

It's more like "The company has struggled as of late to retain buyers and sellers migrating to lower-total-fee sites like Amazon."

"We took a number of steps during the quarter to further strengthen our business and better align our cost structure to invest and compete."

Compete with who exactly ?