question about accepted forms of payment on ebay

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While browsing some ebay auctions just now, I'm unclear about whether or not paying by credit card as a bidder is allowed without having to sign up with paypal.

Does this image mean that the ebay seller accepts Mastercard, Visa, Amex, and Discover instead of paypal ?

Since I would be a bidder in the transaction and if I tried to pay with a credit card without signing up with paypal, would paypal just act as a middle man in so far as taking my payment and forwarding it to the seller minus the fee(s) that paypal charges to the seller for using paypal ?

I pay with VISA through PayPal. You get a PayPal account and add your credit card. Simple. Works for me.

Mean the seller accepts Paypal.

Thank you both for your replies. But what I was seeking was independent confirmation of what another person told me. So I went ahead and took a leap of faith based on that person's information and on information I found in ebay's discussion forum.

This person turned out to be correct. I was able to pay this morning for an auction via credit card without ever signing up for paypal. At the end of the transaction, ebay thanked me for my payment and asked me one more time if I would like to create a name and password to sign up with paypal. And no, this seller did not have a "Internet merchant account" for direct credit card payments.

Below is a screen capture I made of what I saw during payment.

It all depends on the seller, and whether they are set up to take individual credit card payments, or not. Your average home seller will not be able to take credit card payment unless you use PayPal. PayPal is now owned by Ebay, so they encourage PayPal payments for all auctions...that way they can collect the auction fees, AND the payment fees.