Only a small proportion of people are actually going to sue, and often people like this guy come onto the site, sell one item, and leave. There is little reason to try to retain him, he's demonstrated no value to the company. There's a certain amount of money that can be made by banning single-sale accounts after receiving the funds and a smaller expected loss from lawsuits. Compound this with the fact that small claims courts are closed in many states and it's clear eBay is actually being very shrewd here. I get that it's sad to lose some money, but it's an important lesson that you can't just swoop in to benefit off of others' work without providing value yourself.
And that's the exact reason we need some kind of "corporate death penalty" for companies who have demonstrated a history of scamming. When triggered, it liquidates the corporation, takes all the money, and bans anyone in management from starting a new business for 10 years.
