"I rest my case. NO WAIT......there is more...suppose you went to the gas station to get some gas when you were almost on empty and you had cash and a Visa card and Mastercard and Amex in your pocket. Now just suppose that gas station owner said that you can't use cash,or any of your credit cards to pay but had to use the special gas station credit card.Would you feel happy about that?"

Not a good analogy Rick. Paypal is just like cash, Visa, MC and AmEx. While I'm set up to accept credit card payments without going through Paypal, Paypal allows me to receive credit card (and cash) payments without a customer unfamiliar with me or my business having to trust me by giving me CC info via email. And, by using Paypal, you take at least one part of a transaction out of the postal system. I've read some of your posts about how long it takes for mail to reach you in Canada. Add the time to a check sent by you to reach a seller to the time some sellers will wait for a check to clear, and then wait for the package arrive in your mailbox. What might be a two-week transaction (based on delivery to you) using Paypal could well take a month-and-a-half!