New changes to payment options.

eBay has announced that as of the 21st of May all sellers must offer PayPal as one of the payment options in each and every listing. So, if you have been resisting the push by eBay to offer PayPal, as of 21 May you will no longer be able to if you want to sell on their site.

As of the 17th of June 2008, PayPal will be the only payment option most sellers will be able to offer. From this date the only payment options you will be able to offer your buyers are:

• PayPal, or
• Credit Card (available only if you have a merchant account), or
• Cash if the item is picked up and paid for.

No other payment options will be permitted. The only exceptions to this rule are items such as Cars etc, Real Estate and Services. Continue Reading »

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As mentioned in my last post the new eBay policy of limiting payment options to Paypal and credit card only has caused quite a stir. And not only from sellers in the discussion forums. PayMate, which is an Australian version of PayPal has strongly criticized the move to exclude them as a payment option. Ironically, eBay Australia helped to launch Paymate back in 2001, and as Paymate rightly argues, their system is just as safe and transperant as PayPals. In fact, they argue, their system is possibly a better option as it has received less complaints, though I’m not sure that number of complaints is a reliable indicator as the Paymate system is probably not as widely used as PayPal . Anyway, Paymate is circulating an online petition in the hopes of generating enough signatures to make eBay rethink their position. If you would like to add your support click here.

Good news for Oztion.

The discussion forums are boiling with anger from sellers who are now threatening to boycott eBay and move their business elsewhere. The main beneficiary of this, it seems, is Oztion the Aussie auction site. Continue Reading »

I am putting a link to eBay’s official policy on acceptable payment methods. These documents will help you to clarify any confusion you might have over what payment options will be accepted. Bear in mind that there is a two phase period. The first adjustment takes place as of the 21st of May and the second on the 17th of June, so make sure you read the policy documents for both dates.
http://pages.ebay.com.au/useprotection/policies.html

I will also put the link over on the left nav bar under eBay Links for easy reference.

If you have been keeping abreast of the announcements coming out of eBay recently, you will be aware that they are changing the payment option policy. In a nutshell you will only be able to offer PayPal as a payment option for all listings, bar cash for local pick-ups. If you haven’t heard, you can get up to speed by reading my post on it here.

If you are concerned about how this will affect your business, you now have the opportunity to ask questions of eBay staff via the Workshop forum on the eBay boards the Wednesday night. It is a live discussion and  to be able to participate you first have to log onto the Discussion Boards, which can be found under the “Community” tab at the top right hand corner of any eBay page. If you have not registered with the boards before do so before the workshop starts. You can use your eBay ID, many people do, but some people also create new user names just for posting on the boards, to protect their eBay identity.

Once you have registered you can post questions to any of the discussion boards along with the Workshop board which will host the forum on the recent changes to the payment policy. You will find the Workshop board here. You are free to just watch the discussion unfold or put your own questions/concerns to the eBay staff. If you do have questions or concerns this is a good opportunity to have them addressed directly by eBay. If you can’t make it, you will find that the discussion will be archived and you can read through the discussion any time it suits you, you just won’t be able to put your own points across.

Anyway, its on Wednesday night, 30th April, 9.30-10.30pm.

Recently a 38 page “anonymous” submission was made to the ACCC protesting eBay’s move to a PayPal only payment option. This submission has been by far the most detailed one yet and was obviously compiled by a company with enough resources to pay the lawyers to draft it. If you want to read the whole submission I suggest you grab yourself a cuppa first and be prepared for the legal jargon. ACCC “name withheld” submission

The submission argues quite well for the case of rejecting eBay’s bid to force a PayPal only payment option. But what I found most interesting was data used to support the argument of eBay’s already major market dominance. I think that this evidence must be weighed up when making a decision whether to keep selling on eBay or in protest move to another auction site.

Continue Reading »