Paypal is not considered a bank but in many ways it operates like one. You can keep money in your account, spend it and accept money into the account like a bank . Also they offer debit card services, just like a bank would.
The reality is Bitcoin and Paypal are direct competition. More so than fiat and Bitcoin. Paypal is an internet Payment processor, dealing in cash. Bitcoin is a currency and payment platform that seeks to circumvent the need for middlemen. Bitcoin is designed to cut companies like Paypal out of the picture.
So in order for Ebay to accept Bitcoin, they will be making a conscious decision to accept less money via Paypal. I don't know if that is a good business decision for them. They pretty much have a lock down on their customer base by requiring Paypal on most transactions. And of course they levy a nice fee on all of those transactions. Why would they change that? If they did accept Bitcoin I can almost guarantee that they will have some sort of "service fee" attached to all bitcoin transactions in order to recoup lost Paypal money.
Apple worried that ipad mini might cannibalize sells of ipad air. They were right and it did, but the end result was more ipads total sold and therefore more money for Apple. Ebay is in the making money business. Remember the scene from Fight Club where the guy explains about the formulas big insurance companies use when deciding to pay or not pay, well..... Ebay has those same sleazy number crunchers and when one of them says Ebay will make more money and not less by accepting bitcoin, they will. Same with Amazon, and same with all the rest. Ebay will let PayPal slip down some if it means more profit total. That is the rule of for profit companies and those that don't follow fall away. Ebay know this and so do the rest.
TigerDirect did the numbers and realized they would get a bump, not so much from the bitcoin, but from the publicity. It worked. Bitcoin wasn't a revolutionary new way to make money for Tiger or Overstock, it was cheap advertising. Ebay and Amazon don't need that advertising. If bitcoin wins them, bitcoin has become a very serious player.
