Thread: Ebay payment options changed

Newspaper reports today that Ebay has stopped allowing 'direct deposit' as a method of payment. This will mean sellers must accept credit cards and/or register for PayPal. As you may know, PayPal is fully owned by Ebay so selling an item on Ebay would now incur not only the Ebay fee but also the PayPal fee in addition. In short that means, it costs sellers more, which means you will pay more. As a buyer it also means you'll have to dick about setting up and using Paypal.

Whatever happened to freedom of choice !

They SAY it's for buyer protection, but I smell a (profit hungry) rat.


Interestingly there is no mention of this, currently on the site in Policies.'

Accepted Payments Policy




eBay wants to help ensure that the marketplace offers buyers safer online payment choices. As described in our safe buying guide, eBay strongly encourages sellers to offer payments through PayPal. PayPal is a secure and easier way to pay.
From time to time, as new payment services arise, eBay will evaluate them to determine whether they are appropriate for the marketplace. Payment services that are not permitted on eBay may, in fact, be outstanding services for consumers in other contexts. eBay's evaluation relates only to whether a particular service is appropriate for the eBay marketplace. eBay will consider the following factors, among others, in making its determination:

• Whether the payment model offers substantial financial, privacy and anti-fraud protection for buyers and sellers
• Whether the payment model raises the potential for confusion among eBay users, or involves incentives that may present fraud concerns
• Whether the payment model involves precious metals, or other non-cash (points, miles, minutes, coupons, discounts) as consideration
• Whether the payment service has a substantial historical track record of providing safe and reliable financial and/or banking related services (new services without such a track record generally cannot be promoted on eBay)
• The identity, background and other business interests of the payment service sponsor
• The licence/regulatory status of the payment provider in the countries where it provides payment services

Offline payment methods generally do not offer the same level of protection or convenience as online payments. Nonetheless, they may be appropriate for certain types of transactions and sellers may use listings to offer acceptance of most valid financial instruments, including personal cheques, bank cheques, money orders or COD.
Policy
To improve the safe payment options available to buyers, eBay will require sellers who register after 17th January 2007 to accept at least one of the preferred safe payment forms of either PayPal or a merchant credit card facilities, in their listings. Other additional payments options, which are currently permitted onsite, may also be provided.
Permitted on eBay.com.au:

Sellers may offer to accept:

• PayPal, credit cards including Mastercard and Visa, debit cards, bank payments
• Bank-to-bank transfers, often known as bank wire transfers or bank cash transfers.
• Cash on Delivery (COD) or cash for in-person transactions.
• Personal cheques, money orders, bank cheques and other negotiable instruments.

Not permitted on eBay.com.au:

Sellers may not solicit:

• Buyers to mail cash.
• Buyers to send cash through instant cash transfer services (non-bank, point-to-point cash transfers) such as Western Union or Moneygram.
• Payment through "topping off" of a seller's pre-paid credit or debit card.
• Payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy.

Please see the "Some Examples" section of permitted and non-permitted online payment services.
Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions including:

• Listing cancellation
• Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
• Limits on account privileges
• Loss of PowerSeller status
• Account suspension

Some ExamplesHide Payment Services permitted on eBay: Allpay.net, Bidpay, Canadian Tire Money, cash2india, CertaPay, Checkfree.com, hyperwallet.com, Moneybookers.com, Nochex.com, Ozpay.biz, Paymate.com.au, Propay.com, XOOM.
Payment Services not permitted on eBay: AlertPay.com, anypay.com, AuctionChex.com, BillPay.ie, ecount.com, cardserviceinternational.com, CCAvenue, ecount, e-gold, eHotPay.com, ePassporte.com, EuroGiro, FastCash.com, Google Checkout, gcash, GearPay, Goldmoney.com, graphcard.com, greenzap.com, ikobo.com, Liberty Dollars, Moneygram.com, neteller.com, Netpay.com, paychest.com, Payko.com, payingfast.com, paypay, Postepay, Qchex.com, rupay.com, sendmoneyorder.com, stamps, Stormpay, wmtransfer.com, xcoin.com

Originally Posted by bblaze

maybe worth a call to accc, seems like restrictive trade to me
cheers
blaze

It sounds like 3rd line forcing to me.
Like owning a Taxi and being told by the co-op that you can only get spares, Fuel etc from their prefered suppliers.
A trading party has to be free to decide on who to do business with.