Ebay allowing only Paypal, what is the international and US opinion?

Here in Australia, there is a big fuss about Ebay forcing sellers only to accept cash or paypal. Nothing else at all, no credit cards, no bank deposits. As you can imagine there is quite a backlash and rightly so, Ebay is even having to get a special ruling from our Competition and Consumer Commission. It is being put forward that this is the test before rolling it out in the UK and the USA, Aus being a small english speaking market it makes the perfect test case. I don't use Ebay, but wondered what the US and International view is on this?






http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/accc-probe-of-ebays-paypal-forcing/2008/04/16/1208025245331.html

i don't think that will go down well...
paypal is owned by ebay so i guess they wanna regulate the money and make sure they not getting cut from their profits.
if this does happen i hope people start selling on other sites like or ubid, or something

who would have known back in the days of that little auction sites startup, that they would become the biggest UnInsured & international bank in existance. with more direct connections to more accounts than any other instituion in the world .
its like a movie
it would be as predictable as 2 geeks in a garage, taking over every computer in the world

As a buyer only, I don't mind... I only ever bought from sellers who allowed Paypal anyway, so I don't see it affecting products I would normally purchase.

I see the issue for sellers though

Vidpro, agree completely. There rationale is that they offer protection. They don't mention that is only if the seller has money in their account. I assume all scam artists leave the money in the bank so the good guys can get it back? :shakehead

I think Ebay is going to keep squeezing for more money until some other startup comes along and is willing to do the same job for a lot less money.

Then, Ebay will be just one more of those things we talk about when somebody says "Hey, remember way back when?"

I also think occasional sellers like myself, (I've sold something like 10 things on ebay in the last two years.) will seek alternate venues (Like CPF!) to sell their items. No auction fees, no paypal fees, and no having to live by the laws of California. (Most of the things I really like are banned on Ebay anyway.)

This does look like a sketchy move, although totally understandable - more money in Paypal fees, additional control, on-site records of transactions, etc. I think people will make a stink and move on with life, continuing to sell on Ebay... they just may up their prices a tad to compensate for Paypal fees. Ebay sure does seem to be doing a good job stirring the muck up from the bottom lately though, don't they?

I'm glad it happened :thumbsup:

I buy a lot of stuff from eBay and when doing a global search I will always filter with PayPal. Australia has been lagging well behind the rest of the world with most sellers offering bank deposit only.

Bank deposit sucks for a buyer. It can take days to process and is a pain if you have to set it up on the internet and sucks even more if you have to go into a bank to do it :green:

I'm quite willing to wear the 3% for the convenience. As a seller I think it's easier also and you can always add the few % on to your price.

PayPal for all eBay transactions = :twothumbs