ebay UK's new Accepted Payments Policy
UK ebayers will have noticed this change in policy which follows on from ebay's requirement that sellers offer Paypal. I have had 4 items de-listed within a day because I indicated I preferred other methods. The first 3 email responses to my complaint about this suggested I had tried to avoid ebay fees. The last said I had infringed their Accepted Payments policy which now says you mustn't discourage buyers from using any offered payment option. The first three emails said if I didn't like the charges associated with an option I shouldn't offer it, rich since offering Paypal is now mandatory on the UK ebay site!
In the description I had said 'Payment by cash-on-collection preferred as the item has to be collected so there is no possibility of it not being received. I am also happy to receive a bank or building society cheque. I will accept Paypal because I have to under duress, but resent its high charges and the fact that it will hold my money for 21 days! I will offer a discount of half the Paypal charges for cash-on-collection or guaranteed cheque. Please see my positive feedback and buy with confidence.'
You might say I asked for it, but according to ebay's own tutorial that I had to sit to re-enter the fray I can offer a discount! The tutorial says 'Correct. Sellers can offer a discount to the buyer for preferred forms of payment, but cannot charge buyers a surcharge (additional fee) for their use of ordinary forms of payment.'
I relisted one item with a deferred start time with a change in wording to test the water. The new wording was as follows.
'Payment by cash-on-collection preferred as the item has to be collected so there is no possibility of it not being received. I am also happy to receive a bank or building society cheque. Please see my positive feedback and buy with confidence!
This seller does not prefer Paypal for this transaction: if the buyer uses Paypal to pay for the item, in addition to the eBay sellers charges of £92, I would incur Paypal charges of £136 without the buyer receiving any benefit. Ebay through its ownership of Paypal is the only party to benefit! (When a buyer files a Paypal dispute and then escalates it to a claim Paypal closes the case if the item has been delivered or collected.)'
The item was withdrawn within 15 minutes confirming as I suspected that BB was watching. The email notification was as follows:
Your listing(s) contains the following information:
if the buyer uses Paypal to pay for the item, in addition to the eBay sellers charges of £92, I would incur Paypal charges of £136 without the buyer receiving any benefit.
You may not manipulate eBay's system in order to avoid paying certain eBay fees. This includes practices such as adding previously unspecified fees after the end of the auction, or charging excessive postage and packaging in order to recoup your listing and Final Value Fees.
Fee avoidance provides a poor buying experience and gives you an unfair advantage over other eBay sellers. Payment surcharges are a form of fee circumvention. eBay prohibits surcharging by sellers. Surcharging occurs when sellers pass the charges they incur for using eBay or third party services such as payment services onto buyers.
eBay has adopted this surcharging policy to ensure that all buyers receive clear and accurate pricing information when trading on eBay.co.uk. This surcharge policy applies only to items listed on eBay.co.uk.
Clearly all these points are inapplicable.
When will the UK or EU act to stop this abuse of a near monoploy market situation.