Well, like all other big and successful enterprises these days they probably have some highly paid professionals advising them as to how they can "save money and increase profits" on each and every transaction.

A nickel here, a penny there...multiply by 10 million transactions.

This is why half the large outfits who bill me now no longer include a self-addressed envelope to send the payment back in, and it's why I can't seem to contact a live human being when I phone them to ask why I'm not getting a return envelope with my bill any longer.

Some highly paid asshole in a suit told them they could save money, you see, by not providing return envelopes, and by laying off half their staff, and by getting the stuff made in Mexico or China...

And so things got more Orwellian, one small step at a time.

I'm not complaining much about Ebay here, not specifically, just making a general comment on how things seem to be going.