alternatives to paypal

Yes, which is why they can and have acted with impunity. I'm not aware of a direct competitor, all the other providers operate in a different space.

Some of this is because PayPal "invented" the industry, and was widely adopted because they were coupled with eBay for a long time.

Agree...it wasn't something anyone else was interested in taking the leap on. Good for them I guess.

You can get protection with Mastercard/Visa but you'd need that commercial storefront. I think that on here it demonstrates how that buy/sell rating becomes super important. Maybe switch it up as well where buyers can get rated as well as the seller.