eBay Australia ditches PayPal scheme

eBay Australia has given up on its attempt to force virtually all payments through its subsidiary PayPal. The move proved hugely unpopular with users and had to be put on hold while it was investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. eBay notified the ACCC of its decision to move to PayPal-only payments …

[Rich]

Twisted Bollox

Re: eBay's Australian boss Simon Smith said: "While we disagree with the ACCC's draft notice, we have decided to withdraw the notification to stop any further confusion and disruption among the eBay community."

Eh? WHAT confusion? Your average eBay punter is NOT "confused" - everyone KNOWS full well what's happening; eBay are trying to screw everyone and in Australia at least, the ACCC doesn't like it.

You've got to love the way eBay are trying to twist this around to make the ACCC look like the bad guys, and to make eBay look like your "friend" (read as "smiling knife"). Somehow, I don't think anyone will be taken in by this particular bit of PR bollox.

[Rich]

Contradiction

"eBay's Ts&Cs specify that sellers cannot push one payment over others"

How does this sit with the "PayPal Preferred" logos that come up on many eBay listings then? Does eBay remove these listings as well?

[richard]

re: twisted bollox

yep, you're spot on there.

good on the aussies for throwing some sort of (second hand) spanner into their tat-works...

will the uk government /consumer society/watchdog ever have the balls to stand up to ebay then?

[Hedley Phillips]

@richard

"will the uk government /consumer society/watchdog ever have the balls to stand up to ebay then?"

Damn good question.

The answer is no, we whinging poms just whinge and don't do anything about it.

[Whitter]

Google marketplace

"Ts&Cs specify that sellers cannot push one payment over others."

But does require you to have paypal with its "Paypal protection" pretense on the screen, while Google Checkout is still considered strangly unsafe... (though its still only USA at this time: Google has been slow on this).

The ACCC need to keep pressing on this: time eBay's monopoly position regarding payment schemes was brought to an end.

[Anonymous Coward]

Far more important is to ditch the STUPID New Search

Paypal non-users in Australia may be temporarily happy that they can still pay by other means, but they won't hang around long once ebay's stupid new search gets rolled out.

Currently being foisted on UK users, the petition of more than a thousand signatures at http://www.petitiononline.com/eBaySch/petition.html says it all. Almost unanimously disliked, the new search is unreliable, gives nonsense results and seems to have been designed in the most user-hostile manner possible, with unnecessary popups.

But no, ebay insists on pushing ahead with it ... giving credibility to the rumour that someone, somewhere, is deliberately antagonising users to dent ebay share prices so they can buy them up later at rock bottom value.

[W]

re: Contradiction

yep, you're also spot on there.

[richard]

re: re: Contradiction

yep, you are spot on there with your spotting on....also....as well....lunch anyone?

oh, what, oh we were slagging off ebay?

what do they class as 'mint condition'? not a 360 games with scratches and a coffee stain on it then......

it really is a gangsta's paradise isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

@STUPID New Search

Try disabling Java Script (the Firefox/NoScript combo is your friend here). eBay seems to rely on several layers of JavaScript to make it's basic and functional HTML framework look ugly and run like a dog.

[John Widger]

Wots da prob?

I've ditched ebay for lower prices elsewhere AND I can use my preferred method of payment.

[Anonymous Coward]

Greedy scum

Greedy scum company upsets its greedy scum sellers. DILLIGAF?

[s. pam]

COMPLETE LIES

i just sold a mattress 2 days ago on Ebay.com.au and was FORCED to use PayPal and no other options are being shown to sellers.

the drugs don't work Ebay....

[Will Godfrey]

ebay?

Is this something I should know about?

[Anonymous Coward]

Since

I'm forced to offer Paypal in my auctions, I let it be known that the buyer can either pay the Paypal fee's or pay me via some other method, e.g bank transfer.

[Charles King]

No Sympathy

No Sympathy here.

eBay is already crowded with professional sellers (most from Hong Kong) who offer prices that are artificially low and inflated by shipping and customs charges for the unfortunate buyer. PayPal does at least provide a measure of buyer-protection from the multitude of scammers out there.

eBay has had to pay out huge sums recently because it failed to filter out the scammers posting counterfeit goods. I can't blame them for being anti-seller right now, as those are the people who are causing all the trouble.

[Davy]

elsewhere...?

you've found other auction sites such as...?

[William]

Vote with your feet.

No point in whining about ebay. Just do what I do, and never go near it. If enough people did this, well, the possibilities are endless.

Besides, half the shite on there comes from car boots and jumble sales anyway.

[Jon]

hmmm - make it more secure then...

I've recently removed direct debit authorisation from Paypal, after a payment showed up to Skype - it was an on hold payment, and was then cancelled, but I thought that was dodgy enough. Then, about a week and a half later, Paypal inform me that my account has been restricted due to possibly being compromised. I shall not be using Paypal again, and would just cease using Ebay if it became the only payment option.

JC

[Les Matthew]

@Will Godfrey

"Is this something I should know about?"

If you have more money than sense, yes.

[Kevin]

They're forcing you to use PayPal anyway!

One thing that gets lost in all of this is that eBay are continuing to force us to use PayPal anyway. All they've backed down on is PayPal ONLY. But once you offer it, the power goes to the buyers who can choose to use it. Once they do, you can't say no. I don't want to accept PayPal. At all. And I'm being forced to. And that's illegal in Australia. And the ACCC doesn't seem to have noticed. They've been hoodwinked by the "PayPal ONLY" thing and by forcing eBay to let us offer other forms of payment, they think they've saved us from the 3rd Line Forcing. But they haven't. We're still being forced to use it. Grrr.

I just add a handling fee to the shipping. Or overstate the shipping price. That deals with the fees. Still have to risk the charge backs.

[Anonymous Coward]

There's obviously something in whining about it ...

..as the Australian situation proved.

You can't just leave somewhere when you disagree with one thing they are doing, otherwise there would be nowhere left to go in the end.

That's why people 'whining' end up staying, because they are usually at the best place already but annoyed about it's flaws (otherwise why the hell would they not just leave already)

If you speak up, they might change it. Ebay are taking advantage of it's users and taking away their choices for that very reason.They know people don't have much choice and probably won't leave.

So please, if there is another site with as much variety, and as big a userbase as ebay, (which allows people to buy unique items at auction and fixed price goods from around the world in one place with the click of a button - without signing up to a bunch of different websites which may disappear tomorow and do god knows what with your details) do enlighten us, and we will all gladly go there instead..

How bad are the (paypal) fees? I feel people should have a choice of course, but I don't really see the big deal. Then again I don't use paypal to recieve money.. What exactly is the problem? From what i've heard, Paypal are good at helping people who get ripped off

[Dr. Mouse]

@AC

Yep, thats what I do too.

I always list paypal, but specificaly state that paypal fees must be paid by the buyer. I am not a company, I do not see why I should pay their outrageous fees, on top of listing fees, final value fees etc.

I also have a friend who got screwed by this rule. She listed a big, bulky item on eBay, stating that it was collection only, cash on collection only. Ebay removed it, saying "posting cash is not safe". After several emails back and forth they threatened to suspend her account if she did not stop asking buyers to post cash, even though she never did in the first place!

[Jason Clery]

@Davy

"you've found other auction sites such as...?"

e-bid

and numerous others.

[TMS9900]

www.ebid.co.uk

I signed up for this site yesterday.

I've never sold anything on Ebay, but bought loads of stuff. I'm now considering selling some of my tat, but after talking to a few friends that have sold stuff on Ebay, no way am I using them. Bunch of robbing Nazi's.

There seems to be a ground swell of resentment that is building up against Ebay. According to the Ebid forums, people are flocking to Ebid. The number of live auctions is rising every day.

So, I've signed up. You can pay £50 up front and have none of those nasty fees, and use pretty much any payment method you like: Google, Paypal, you name it.

I'm very impressed with site. Ok, it has nothing like the traffic that Ebay does (at the moment), but, as one of the site admins (Gazza) said in one of the forums, Ebay are doing all their advertising for them! And it's paying off in droves.

See you over there guys!

(BTW: I don't work for Ebid! Just want people to know about alternatives!)

[Kevin]

@AC

"I feel people should have a choice of course, but I don't really see the big deal. Then again I don't use paypal to recieve money.. What exactly is the problem? From what i've heard, Paypal are good at helping people who get ripped off"

The problem is that they are forcing you to use PayPal. You say you don't use it to receive money. If you want to sell on eBay Australia you MUST provide that option. And if a buyer chooses to avail themselves of the service, you MUST accept the payment. And then pay PayPal a few % of the value, after paying eBay a few % of the value as well.

And they're doing this even after the recent "back down"