It seems common sense has finally landed on eBay, even though the ACCC would probably have landed it for them. They have backed down on making PayPal the only payment option for all sales on eBay. Refer to the ACCC Notification page. Refer to my earlier post on this topic.
It certainly would have made me think twice about selling on eBay. Although it will be good to use PayPal for power sellers, the small to medium sellers will be slugged with fees which eat into their profits. Furthermore, even some of the power sellers would have simply added extra fees to cover for the extra costs.
All this who ha about PayPal being the “safest option” is absolute bullwinkle. Having said all this, eBay still is quite seedy about “enforcing” or “encouraging” PayPal use. When you check out, you see PayPal all over the web page, and users are discouraged (i.e.: your listing is taken down) from recommending a pay option. Surely, if I am the seller then I can recommend which option I would prefer to get my money for sales. What does eBay have to gain? Fees of course. They are basically saying that the seller cannot recommend a payment type, but they can “recommend it” passively by putting massive PayPal logos all over the place. Hardly seems fare.
The ACCC has released a draft, which says “The evidence available does not support the view that PayPal is the most secure method of payment or offers the best service for all transactions”.
I liked the old eBay, the non-tyrant user based auction site. Good on ya ACCC!
