Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock these last few months or you are completely new to eBay then you will know that eBay Australia requires all sellers to offer PayPal as a payment option.

This policy requires you to sign up for a PayPal account if you wish to sell on eBay.

3 Types of PayPal accounts: which to choose?

1. Personal Account: suitable for individuals that are mainly buyers and may only sell an item now and again.
2. Premier Account: suitable for individuals that are selling regularly on eBay.
3. Business Account: suitable for registered businesses that are selling regularly on eBay.

It is important to note that there is a marked difference in the fees charged between a Personal and a Premier/Business Account.

There is no difference in the fees charged between a Premier and a Business Account which is why you will see them referred to jointly as a Premier/Business Account.

For all accounts it is free to join, free to send money and free to withdraw funds over $150.00 AUD.

The difference between a Personal and a Premier/Business Account lies in the fees charged for accepting payments.

A Personal Account allows you to accept unlimited payments, free of charge, if funded by the payees:

• PayPal Balance,
• PayPal Instant Bank Transfer, or
• PayPal eCheque

However the sting comes when a payee funds his/her purchase with a credit or debit card. Holders of Personal accounts may accept a limit of 6 credit/debit card funded transactions per year:

• charged at a rate of 3.4% of the total payment plus $0.30 for every domestic payment.
• If your buyer is from overseas you are charged 4.4% plus an additional flat fee which depends on the currency the original payment is made with (please check the PayPal Fee Schedule for rates).

The thing is that you have absolutely no control over how your buyer funds their payment and you are not able to specify that you will only accept certain types of funded payments. This is an eBay policy - not a PayPal policy mind you.

What happens when you reach the limit of 6 payments funded by a credit/debit card?

Well as a PayPal user you have the ability to refuse payments funded by this source. You will receive an email from PayPal and you will be asked to either refuse the payment or upgrade to a Premier or Business Account (from which you can accept unlimited credit/debit card funded payments).

However, as an eBay seller, you must abide by eBay’s rules which specify that you cannot refuse a payment. So, even though PayPal gives you the right to refuse a payment, eBay does not. When you reach your limit with a Personal Account you will need to upgrade to a Premier/Business Account and accept the payment, there is no way around this.

The good thing about a Premier/Businss Account is that the fees for credit/debit card funded payments are significantly lower than with a Personal Account:

• domestic payments: 1.1% to 2.4% plus $0.30 AUD (depending on your sales volume - the rate lowers the more you sell
• international payments: 2.1% to 3.4% plus the applicable flat rate currency fee

The not-so-good thing is that now you are also charged the same rates for all payments regardless of how they are funded.  Unfortunately, as the policy now stands you do not have the ability to control and try to limit your costs.  You may start off with a Personal Account but once you reach that 6th buyer who wants to fund their PayPal purchase with their credit/debit card then you will be forced to upgrade to a Premier or Business Account.

Check the PayPal Fee Schedule.

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Are you going to be in Sydney on the 30th of June? The ACCC has been asked to hold a “pre-decision” conference to which all interested parties are invited to attend.

A pre-decision conference is a public meeting to which all parties that may have an interest
regarding the notification are invited. Conferences are conducted informally, without the
participation of legal or other professional advisers.

ACCC Pre-Decision Conference PDF

The conference will be held at the Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney at 1:30pm. If you wish to attend you must first notify the ACCC of your intention by 12pm Friday the 27th of June. Check this PDF for more details.

Hopefully the issue will be finalised soon.

After the draft announcement by the ACCC stating that eBay will not be given permission to institute its PayPal only policy, eBay was still hopeful of getting a decision in its favour.
This was evidenced by its original response to the announcement, dated 13th of June:

“eBay intends to work with the ACCC and hopes to achieve a final outcome which has the safety and security of eBay’s members as its paramount objective. eBay will delay the removal of other payment methods from the site until Tuesday 15 July.”

General Announcements 13 June 2008

So anytime that you visited the site you have been reminded that this is only a slight delay.  Once eBay, with all its meaningless assertions about promoting consumer safety gets it through the ACCC’s thick skull, then everything will be all right and the policy will by implemented as planned by the 15th of July.

But it seems as if someone has had a word in eBay’s ear about being a little too overconfident.
Today eBay made another announcement:

“Changes to eBay.com.au scheduled for 15 July are being postponed until the review process with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding its recent draft notice is complete. As previously announced, eBay.com.au is continuing to work with the ACCC to achieve an outcome that benefits buyers and sellers.” and,
“Please note that some of our onsite communications may still refer to changes taking place on 15 July 2008. These communications are in the process of being updated.”

General Announcements 26 June 2008

I wonder if they are finally seeing the light that their little plan is doomed.  I wonder what will happen next?

Did you hear the chorus of cheers go around today. eBay sellers will be rejoicing as they hear of the draft notice issued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission regarding eBay’s proposition to mandate the use of PayPal only payment.

In the News released today the ACCC Chairman Mr Graeme Samuel states:

“The ACCC is concerned that the notified conduct will allow eBay to use its market power in the supply of online marketplaces to substantially lessen competition in the market in which PayPal operates,”

and that

“In light of the serious competition concerns raised in the draft notice and the significant concerns raised by interested parties, I have asked eBay to delay implementation of the second stage of the conduct until a final decision is made by the ACCC,” Mr Samuel said.

So a final decision has yet to be made but it looks as if common sense will rein. Click here to read the full ACCC Notification

Head on over to the eBay discussion boards if you want to join in on the celebrations.

eBay has just released a new competition aimed at sellers. The obvious aim of this promotion is to encourage sellers to start promoting PayPal now as the only payment option ahead of the proposed payment policy changes starting May 21st.

Just under $200,000.00 prizes are up for offer, and for your chance to win you must sell an item and have it paid for by PayPal between the dates of the 6th and 20th of May. Thus if you sell an item and your customer chooses to pay via one of your other payment options then that transaction will not be eligible. eBay wants to encourage you to start offering PayPal as the only payment option as of now.

For more information, terms and conditions and a look at the prizes on offer check the official competition page here: http://pages.ebay.com.au/sweepstakes/index.html