Regarding several of eBay's new policies, here's my take:

1) The "PayPal thing." 11 out of every 12 orders that I get are from PayPal, so that's not a big deal for me. However, you can still do business with your customers who do not pay electronically, you just cannot use eBay's "Checkout" to do so.

2) The "4.3" thing: This is more disturbing. As of November 1, if ANY of your four components (S&H, Shipping Time, Communication, Item as described) are under a 4.3 for a current 30 day period, eBay will pull the plug on your future listings until your rating goes up. I can see where under a 4.0 is reasonable, but a 4.3 is asinine. Talking to other Powersellers, the problem is that most buyers do not realize that rating you a "4" is putting you out of business as eBay's wording of these rating needs to be revised.

3) The "Free Shipping" thing: Let's say you sell a $100 item and charge $4.95 S&H with D.C. and Insurance. Ebay only gets fees on the $100. If you offer free shipping, that customer may pay $102 for it, hence eBay is making more money. However, I run no reserve auctions starting at under $1.00. Free shipping is not an option for me. As a corollary to the above point, a lot of sellers (including me) have been getting hammered here because buyers do not take into account the cost of materials and "reasonable" processing time for a lot.