I'm not a lawyer, but here is my understanding:
If i opt out (by sending a letter), then I retain this right. However, I'm curious if there is any downside to opting out.... Am I giving up anything? Perhaps a right to utilize the arbitration process?
Exactly. You lose the right to
force Paypal to use Arbitration. However, you can still both agree to use Arbitration if you want.
For that matter, why do they even have to give us an option to opt-out?
First off, they don't
have to provide the option to opt-out. In fact, several companies don't. However, Paypal provides this option for a few reasons:
1) They don't want to risk losing customers over this update, especially the business customers.
2) They don't want to risk being seen as a monopoly and abusing their power.
3) They want to reassure lawmakers that mandatory binding arbitration is ok because people can opt-out of it. This is for the illusion that these issues can be regulated by businesses themselves, rather than the government, even though it's now almost impossible to find agreements these days that don't have mandatory binding arbitration.
The likelihood of me being in a Class action suit is small. However, the likelihood of me needing to defend myself against Paypal is more likely. If i'm giving up the option to have Paypal pay for an arbitration process, then it might be worth me deciding to not opt out.
Thoughts anyone?
You should still opt-out anyway. Because of the way the arbitration industry works, the only ones that can survive business-wise are the ones that overwhelmingly favor the people who pay them. Besides, you aren't giving up arbitration completely, just the right to force PayPal to use it. Although, in practice, that means that they'd only then be willing to use arbitration if you had a very good case that'd fetch a large reward, so you should still use the courts.
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