All Existing Payment Methods to be Allowed on eBay.com.au

bonniOn 07.03.2008 at 11:25 am Said:

I don’t think eBay actually changed their minds. I think they just realised and understood that they weren’t going to be able to win with the ACCC. I don’t know if they even ever understood just how furious Australian sellers (and buyers!) were about the move, though.

Someone at eBay should do some research on the Eureka Stockade to see what happens when you try, with high fees, and ridiculous regulations, to wring the life out of Australians trying to make a living.

Patricia1On 07.03.2008 at 12:47 pm Said:

Bonni - I think you hit the nail on the head. In all their dealings with sellers they have shown a callousness and a complete lack of sensitivity toward the sellers as fellow human beings. We’re all just numbers to be crunched along with everything else. When face to face with it they fall back on putting the “fun” into buying and selling…what? Fun hasn’t entered the picture in years now - ever since they began controlling things! Where is there room for “fun” when sellers are tied up like cattle ready to be branded?

GenieOn 07.03.2008 at 2:57 pm Said:

As a blogger, I read a good number of blogs. Freedom of choice is a critical component in our modern society. While we are on this freedom of choice topic, I noticed this blog will only let you ’stumble’, social bookmark site owned by eBay, but it does not let you conveniently Digg, Reddit, Delicious, Furl, Technorati, Slashdot, Spurl, etc… like on other independent blogs. Are those other bookmarking sites not as safe as Stumble Upon?

TheBrewsNewsOn 07.03.2008 at 3:50 pm Said:

Although eBay lost the battle in Australia (they couldn’t force the Paypal-only issue), they did actually win the war. Notice how easy it was for eBay to require ALL Australian sellers to offer PayPal as a choice and yet Australians feel that they have won a victory because they kept eBay from requiring Paypal Only.

Now, eBay will just throw a ton of coupons at Australian buyers and those coupons will only be valid for use with Paypal. Although Australian sellers can now offer other payment methods, eBay will certainly make those methods unattractive to Australian buyers.

Of course eBay / Paypal would loved to have made the eBay Australian site Paypal-only but they have still come pretty darn close to getting everything they were wanting. And with enough coupons and rewards program, eBay will be able to effectively make the Australian site PayPal only. Just give eBay a little more time to regroup and approach it from a different angle.

TonyOn 07.03.2008 at 3:55 pm Said:

Thebrewsnews you do realise that Ebay UK has forced all sellers to accept paypal too don’t you?

NicholaOn 07.03.2008 at 4:46 pm Said:

@ Kevin_T

Full disclosure here, hello all, I’m Nichola a member of the eBay.com PR team. I’m just jumping in quickly as Richard is taking a well-deserved day off today before the long weekend, so please be gentle with me

Just to hopefully answer your question - The Australian Safe payments initiative would have given buyers the option of PayPal or pay on pick-up (using cash or bank cheque). We are no longer moving to that phase – so people will be able to use a variety of methods for Pay on pick-up, including PayPal.
Using PayPal for pay on pick-up, gives buyers the same increased protections that are normally associated with PayPal – such as no need to share financial information, buyer protection etc…

Nichola

Patricia1On 07.03.2008 at 4:50 pm Said:

I think ebay go exactly what it wanted…simply to force every seller to offer Paypal. I don’t feel they believed they would win a paypal only decree. Miracles happen…but not often.

TheBrewsNewsOn 07.03.2008 at 5:18 pm Said:

Yes, I do Tony. My point is that eBay encountered a battle in the U.K. and sellers in the U.K. are still extremely angry and frustrated over the PayPal policy. Seems to me that Australian sellers are focused on their “victory” and are overlooking the fact that eBay clearly got what they wanted — everyone in Australia must offer Paypal (just like the U.K.).

In the U.S., eBay has to be more subtle… if you are a new seller you must offer Paypal. If you want to sell internationally, you must offer Paypal. If you sell in a “high risk” category, you must offer Paypal.

PhilipCohenOn 07.04.2008 at 4:57 am Said:

eBay introduces absolute anonymity for (shill) bidders

In Australia and the UK (at the least) eBay has now obscured auction bidding to the point that genuine bidders have got absolutely no chance of detecting and thereby protecting themselves from “shill” bidding (a criminal offence in most civilised countries) by unethical vendors. Notwithstanding eBay’s statements to the contrary, this application of absolute anonymity by eBay serves no purpose other than to deceive consumers; and the same criticism has always applied to eBay’s other facility, “User ID kept private” (aka “the shill bidders’ stairway to paradise”). Again, notwithstanding eBay’s various pronouncements about shill bidding being banned on eBay, eBay is now knowingly “aiding and abetting” such shill bidders, at the expense of consumers …

The full detailed version of the above comment (on AuctionBytes.com) at:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6498345#6498345

Patricia1On 07.04.2008 at 10:32 am Said:

I read that australian sellers are still angry because ebay is pulling any listings that say the seller “prefers” a different method of payment. Apparently, they can offer them but not say anything about preferring them…and the beat goes on…

TonyOn 07.04.2008 at 1:39 pm Said:

Same in the UK Patricia, you can’t say you prefer a different payment method to paypal. It is annoying people.

Patricia1On 07.04.2008 at 3:22 pm Said:

Well, the big mistake is that once people understand the reason behind pulling listings for the mere mention of another form of payment - they tend to dislike Ebay very very much and that, in the end may hurt them more than losing the fees from Paypal.

dimesOn 07.04.2008 at 10:24 pm Said:

Using PayPal for pay on pick-up, gives buyers the same increased protections that are normally associated with PayPal – such as no need to share financial information, buyer protection etc…

Unfortunately, sellers are totally unprotected when paypal is used to pay for items that are picked up because they have no proof of shipping or delivery.

Sellers don’t offer it on those items to avoid becoming ‘dolphins caught in the net’.

noneOn 07.04.2008 at 10:58 pm Said:

Nichola, you ever sell anything and have it picked up? How would one provide online proof of delivery to paypal when the scamming buyer files an INR after he picked up the item?

Does ebay even have the foggiest idea that there are two parties in any transaction and the one that pays their fees is not the one they’re busy protecting?

Patricia1On 07.04.2008 at 11:41 pm Said:

As far as pick up is concerned, whatever happened to “I give you cash and you give me a receipt”? You can’t get any safer than that. Too simple? Or is it just plain a matter of wanting that Paypal fee so badly?