eBay Australia ditches PayPal scheme
Seller fury prompts backdown
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eBay Australia has given up on its attempt to force virtually all payments through its subsidiary PayPal.
The move proved hugely unpopular with users and had to be put on hold while it was investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. eBay notified the ACCC of its decision to move to PayPal-only payments - this prevents the company being sued for that conduct while it is being checked by regulators.
eBay's Australian boss Simon Smith said: "While we disagree with the ACCC's draft notice, we have decided to withdraw the notification to stop any further confusion and disruption among the eBay community."
"eBay regrets any uncertainty that this process has caused among the community and believe that today's decision will remove further doubt."
The plan was to only allow payment by PayPal or by cash on delivery. The first step was to force all sellers to offer PayPal as one way of accepting payment, the second would have been to remove other payment options. Sellers in the UK have also been obliged to offer PayPal as a payment option and US sellers who ship outside of the country must also offer PayPal.
eBay Australia will still require sellers of most items, except houses, businesses and vehicles, to offer PayPal as a payment option.
But despite the move eBay is accused of removing listings which show preference for non-PayPal payment methods.
Posters on eBay's forums complain they have had listings removed which favour other payments methods. eBay's Ts&Cs specify that sellers cannot push one payment over others.
Forum posters are making further complaints to the ACCC about the issue.®
COMMENTS
@AC
"I feel people should have a choice of course, but I don't really see the big deal. Then again I don't use paypal to recieve money.. What exactly is the problem? From what i've heard, Paypal are good at helping people who get ripped off"
The problem is that they are forcing you to use PayPal. You say you don't use it to receive money. If you want to sell on eBay Australia you MUST provide that option. And if a buyer chooses to avail themselves of the service, you MUST accept the payment. And then pay PayPal a few % of the value, after paying eBay a few % of the value as well.
And they're doing this even after the recent "back down"
www.ebid.co.uk
I signed up for this site yesterday.
I've never sold anything on Ebay, but bought loads of stuff. I'm now considering selling some of my tat, but after talking to a few friends that have sold stuff on Ebay, no way am I using them. Bunch of robbing Nazi's.
There seems to be a ground swell of resentment that is building up against Ebay. According to the Ebid forums, people are flocking to Ebid. The number of live auctions is rising every day.
So, I've signed up. You can pay £50 up front and have none of those nasty fees, and use pretty much any payment method you like: Google, Paypal, you name it.
I'm very impressed with site. Ok, it has nothing like the traffic that Ebay does (at the moment), but, as one of the site admins (Gazza) said in one of the forums, Ebay are doing all their advertising for them! And it's paying off in droves.
See you over there guys!
(BTW: I don't work for Ebid! Just want people to know about alternatives!)
hmmm - make it more secure then...
I've recently removed direct debit authorisation from Paypal, after a payment showed up to Skype - it was an on hold payment, and was then cancelled, but I thought that was dodgy enough. Then, about a week and a half later, Paypal inform me that my account has been restricted due to possibly being compromised. I shall not be using Paypal again, and would just cease using Ebay if it became the only payment option.
JC
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