You can read "eBay.com.au Payment Policy Questioned" here. Reply to this message to discuss it.
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The outrage in Australia to this and other eBay changes has been so great that eBay is holding face to face Q&A sessions all over Australia. I am attending one later today.
Payments by Paypal only is a test case. If successful here, it will be applied to other eBay countries. If you want to me to make a comment to eBay on your behalf, please reply to this thread.
Payments by Paypal only is a test case. If successful here, it will be applied to other eBay countries. If you want to me to make a comment to eBay on your behalf, please reply to this thread.
The datge for submissions has now been extended to Friday 9 May due to the large number of submissions received. It is also believed that all of the Banks including the REserve Bank of Australia ( the central Banker) will lodge submissions against the practice
Lat night's Q&A session explained the reasons behind some of the eBay changes. Seems they want to ensure buyers' safety, at the expense of their real clients, the sellers. It's the sellers who pay both eBay and PayPal fees after all. However, despite protests from sellers, they are determined to go through with the ruling regarding payments by Paypal only.
But there are other twists to this -
1. Buyers will have full protection when they pay by PayPal. Sellers will only have protection in an 'item not received' dispute if they can produce proof of shipping. Which in Australia means paying $2-$3 to register the item with Australia Post. Sellers must choose whether to pay this, and not be protected, or suffer the occasional loss through damage, or not received claims.
2. Some people have problems with their Paypal account, so will attempt to pay, and won't be able to. Service to date from Paypal has been poor, so they will need to dramatically improve their service, and make their site more user-friendly. Sellers who offer bank transfer details to the buyer after the auction to circumvent Paypal will be penalized - eBay didn't say how.
3. Being forced into just 1 payment method isn't being received very well here. But eBay counteracted, saying that most online transactions don't offer bank transactions, and that there are 4 times less disputes when Paypal is used.
4. Fees will increase for sellers, when the ebay fees, Paypal fees and registration are all taken into account. Many sellers will be unable to afford them, having just lost their profit margin, especially on items selling for less than $10.
Sellers in Australia are leaving eBay in droves. Auction site Oztion.com.au has seen a 165% increase in members and listings in the last 3 weeks. eBay Aust doesn't seem to care, even though their stated reason for making changes has been to increase business.
The results of the submission to ACCC to stop eBay on this issue will be known soon, although eBay are confident they will win.
My personal opinion is that eBay's business model is flawed. They should concentrate on their real customers - the sellers, and leave the care of buyers where it belongs - with the sellers. The buyers are the sellers' customers, not eBay's.
But there are other twists to this -
1. Buyers will have full protection when they pay by PayPal. Sellers will only have protection in an 'item not received' dispute if they can produce proof of shipping. Which in Australia means paying $2-$3 to register the item with Australia Post. Sellers must choose whether to pay this, and not be protected, or suffer the occasional loss through damage, or not received claims.
2. Some people have problems with their Paypal account, so will attempt to pay, and won't be able to. Service to date from Paypal has been poor, so they will need to dramatically improve their service, and make their site more user-friendly. Sellers who offer bank transfer details to the buyer after the auction to circumvent Paypal will be penalized - eBay didn't say how.
3. Being forced into just 1 payment method isn't being received very well here. But eBay counteracted, saying that most online transactions don't offer bank transactions, and that there are 4 times less disputes when Paypal is used.
4. Fees will increase for sellers, when the ebay fees, Paypal fees and registration are all taken into account. Many sellers will be unable to afford them, having just lost their profit margin, especially on items selling for less than $10.
Sellers in Australia are leaving eBay in droves. Auction site Oztion.com.au has seen a 165% increase in members and listings in the last 3 weeks. eBay Aust doesn't seem to care, even though their stated reason for making changes has been to increase business.
The results of the submission to ACCC to stop eBay on this issue will be known soon, although eBay are confident they will win.
My personal opinion is that eBay's business model is flawed. They should concentrate on their real customers - the sellers, and leave the care of buyers where it belongs - with the sellers. The buyers are the sellers' customers, not eBay's.