They’re incentivised because the fear from just a couple of bans would spread pretty quickly. Obviously we don’t know how receptive the user base would be to but I suspect there is an optimal level of banning that would be a net positive for them with respect to making people less likely to go off ebay.
I’m honestly surprised people ask to pay directly through ebay DMs as much as this thread would suggest. I get the appeal for when the value starts to climb but most transactions are less than a couple of hundred dollars. Potentially saving ~7% (assuming the savings would be split equally between buyer and seller) doesn’t seem worth the hassle.
This comment lives rent-free in my head: