What just happened to accepting Paypal?? looks like they are trying to drive us away

Agreed it seems like it is driven just by Audiogon as when I saw this yesterday I too called PayPal and got the same answer.
C,Mon audiogon what are you playing at now??

Yes.  I just spent one entire hour to complete a purchase here on  Audiogon.  What a pain!  Two weeks ago, it took less than a minute. This evening I had to call PayPal to see what was going on, and it turns out it is Audiogon not PayPal.  Thankfully the seller phastm3 was wonderful and understanding as I apologized for all the trouble. I was embarrassed, thinking he thought I was a fraud or didn’t really have the credit to purchase the item.  Really, Audiogon, you should tell us all what is going on and fix this problem!

I have been using Audiogon for over 10 years and never had a problem using PayPal for sending or receiving funds.
I contacted PayPal today and they told me they are Not requiring your merchant ID number to continue paying/receiving funds through Audiogon. No other site that I use PayPal for transactions, including Ebay, is asking for this information.

Being ‘Verified’ as seller or buyer is a good thing and adds extra security. I don’t deal with anyone that has not gone through PayPal ‘Verified’ process. Too much fraud out there and if you’re not careful, you can easily get burned.

PayPal is nothing but simply a middle man collecting their fee on every transaction. You need to do your diligence to protect yourself.