system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are pay pal and ebay splitting ? what does this mean for me as a seller and buyer?
gpt
Up until now, PayPal has basically just been a division operating under eBay, but it has the potential to grow much larger than that but in some ways is hindered by the fact it's part of eBay and, for example, cannot make deals with other companies that may have competing interests.

PayPal is now going to split and form its own company that is an entirely separate entity. This allows eBay to explore the possibility of accepting and integrating with other payment services and allows PayPal to negotiate business deals with other companies that may directly or indirectly compete with eBay.

There will almost certainly be a one year (or longer) transition period where basically nothing changes for the buyer or seller on eBay. After that, other payment options may be added... but from what I've read, eBay and PayPal will continue to work together to handle payments on eBay for ~6 years at which point the companies will re-evaluate whether to continue working together (and it's at that point Paypal potentially may no longer be a payment option on eBay).

The agreement between the two companies also prevents eBay from making their own competing payment service and further prevents PayPal from making an eBay like marketplace.