Updated Without any fanfare, eBay is again accepting payments made by Nochex today. That's the service it banned on Friday, sending sellers into a frantic race to update their listings.

Nochex marketing manager Rob Harrison confirmed the news to us, adding that just as with last week's ban, Nochex hadn't been informed or given a reason for the decision.

"It's another surprising U-turn," he said.

The category of accepted payment methods for eBay UK can be found here.

Last night, while Nochex was still apparently unaware that it had been readmitted, the payments service CEO Martin Greenbank issued a statement slamming eBay's "knee jerk reaction", two days after the launch of Google's rival Checkout service.

"I really wonder what the EU Competition Commission will make of this move, as they are already mounting an enquiry into competition within the payment cards industry."

One eBay trader said that auction giant's stealth hide-and-seek communications policy had added to the confusion

"So is this another cockup, or have they genuinely changed policy? There's no announcement yet again - just a quiet change of a page. The guys who have been changing thousands of listings to comply with the "old" new rules are needless to say not happy."

Sellers face a lifetime ban if they use a non-approved payment method, which caused a scramble when word of the new policy began to spread last Friday.

"People dropped family plans to get their listings changed, because they worried about losing their accounts. Other larger sellers have been editing since last Friday and are furious that it has all been a waste of time," he told us.

eBay UK said that dropping Nochex has been an error, and the company regretted the inconvenience.

"We have to hold our hands up and say it's a mistake," a spokesperson told us. eBay disputes the claim that Nochex wasn't informed, and said it had been told of the decision by phone.®