Restricted on EBay;
*Cash
*Western Union
*Moneygram
*StormPay
*GreenZap
*E-Gold
*A few other Online Payment Options
Allowed on EBay;
*PayPal
*Check / Money Order
*2 Checkout
*C.O.D. (Cash on Delivery)
*Merchant Accounts
*"Bank Electronic Payments"
*CertaPay
*ProPay
Basically PayPal isn't required but preferred. And if you look around a bit on E-Bay at the completed listings, you will notice that more people are willing to bid/bin on an item if the payment method is a more trusted & known company like PayPal and 2Checkout (altho PayPal shouldn't be trusted more. LOL!).
As far as using 2CO for auctions, it's not as user friendly as PayPal in terms of "Auction Payment" but IMO it's just as secure as PayPal. You will notice on alot of the Auctions that offer 2CO there will be a little form at the bottom of the auction for the winning bidder to insert the "Total Price" to pay. This little form is actually inserted into the auction listing by the seller. Complicated? Nah... Once you get the first one done then it's very simple to cut and paste -OR- do what I do and make a template you use for every auction you list with that little form on the template.
One nice thing about 2CO is that you can customize this form. I have seen where people have you enter the auction number, price, and shipping. Others just the total price. And if you're not scared of a little web design for your auctions, you can make it look really nice and professional.
I gotta say that personally when I am buying off E-Bay, if the seller offers payment threw something other than 2CO, PayPal, or a Merchant Account I, I tend to shy away from that auction not knowing how safe my money will be handled when paying along with any other information I might give to that payment processor.
BTW: I got the above ALLOWED/RESTRICTED list of items directly off of E-Bay but had to do a little digging to find it.
