bwhahaha! Trouble in Paradise?

eBay's got a PayPal problem

February 24, 2012: 12:07 PM ET

As long as eBay has been struggling to right itself, Paypal has been surging. Now, it may be in jeopardy too.

By Janet Morrissey, contributor

FORTUNE -- Through all eBay's struggles, PayPal has always been a bright spot. The online payment system, acquired in 2002, provided eBay with growing profits and, at times, a much-needed good story to tell investors. Founded in 2000 by tech stars, including Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, the company offered merchants and consumers an easy way to transfer money. To its credit, eBay generally left PayPal alone as it transformed itself from a company offering simple online money transfers into a digital currency powerhouse forging deals with retailers and pushing into mobile payments.

Now, interference by its parent is threatening to tarnish PayPal's good name. It may even stymie CEO John Donohoe's effort to finally turn around eBay (EBAY). At issue is a mundane-sounding decision to send out notices to sellers informing them that all payments they receive through PayPal for items sold on eBay will now be put on hold for up to 21 days. The company says the policy is aimed at protecting buyers from bogus sellers and to stem potential losses it incurs from its buyer protection program.

First introduced in December 2009, the policy only applied to a small number of sellers, mostly those with a history of complaints. Last Fall, eBay started applying the rule to virtually all of its members. That move has confused and outraged thousands of sellers -- especially ones that have used the site for years, building sterling profiles along the way. "They're treating me like a criminal," says Madeleine Calabro, an Avila Beach, California, resident who has been buying and selling on eBay since 2003, garnering 100% positive feedback. Indeed, the PayPal website forum has more than 600 pages of posts from angry sellers protesting the hold. Also a flurry of surly websites -- letssuepaypal.com, paypalsucks.com, and screw-paypal.com, among others -- have popped up in response.

Critics contend the new hold policy has little to do with scammers and everything with fattening revenues. The delay, they claim, could allow PayPal to collect interest on eBay sellers' payments. Worse yet, eBay could potentially even make short-term, small-scale market investments with little risk.

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