I'm like DG, I didn't take the original post to be a huge whinge as such or about a big problem, just a bit of an ironic comment.

I would also agree with someone who said ebay wasn't set up originally for instant payments, it wasn't that sort of site.

I recall those days well. I used to pay via direct deposit (no paypal back then) and I used to go into the branch. I can recall the consternation a couple of times when I had to travel a couple of suburbs to find a branch. That used to be one of my pre purchase questions after that-what bank will i need to pay into??

Back in those days, there seemed to be a lot more home sellers around too.

I get a sense though that ebay is like a huge ship that is changing course. The little, occasional, private sellers, well, I'm not sure ebay particularly wants them around, it has become more complicated to sell now. I understand all the reasons why ebay has made changes. well, most of them. 

I think what we are seeing now though is a gradual change over to professional sellers-either small or big & with the growth of other online buying sites & the way ebay advertise this site (fast and fre, money back guarantee etc), a change in buyer expectations.

The day is coming when I am pretty sure instant payment will become much more the norm on here. Ebay isn't the same beast it was.