eBay Moves Closer To Forcing Users To Use PayPal
from the it's-good-to-be-the-king dept
You may recall earlier this year that eBay experimented with requiring customers to use eBay-owned PayPal for payments on eBay auctions down in Australia. However, public backlash, combined with government threats convinced eBay to hold off for the time being. However, folks over at Slashdot are noting that eBay has now changed its terms of service in the US to push more people towards using PayPal. Specifically it's no longer allowing checks or money orders for payments on most items, saying that electronic payments, merchant accounts or direct payment for in-person exchanges are the only options. However, as the Slashdot post notes, in the electronic payment space, eBay then blatantly says it will not allow Google or Amazon's payment programs to operate on eBay because they compete with eBay.While eBay may be allowed to do this, it definitely seems like a good way to shoot itself in the foot. If customers don't want to use PayPal, they're simply going to bypass eBay entirely, and use an alternative. That not only cuts eBay out of the transaction, but also the listing fee. eBay tries to position this as being about making the experience better for both buyers and sellers, but that's clearly untrue. Instead, it seems like eBay is afraid to compete on the merits with its payment solution, knowing that many, many users are increasingly fed up with PayPal. Yet, rather than fix PayPal, the company's response is to ban the competition.
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Filed Under: competition, electronic payments, paypal
Companies: ebay, paypal
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Alternatives
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Re: Alternatives
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Re: Alternatives
The biggest problem is - until you reach a certain threshold of users, the service is pretty much worthless, and it's hard to get that many users if you don't have any users to begin with...
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eBay's Swan Song
I'll be the one to decide which form of payment I'll accept, NOT eBay. Bu-bye eBay - It was pretty nice while it lasted, but like all good things, it will eventually get screwed up and trashed.
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Re: eBay's Swan Song
I once bought a AMD processor from an ebay store. It was supposedly brand new in the box. It came rubber-banded between two pieces of cardboard, had thermal paste residue on the top, and had two bent pins. I got my money back through Paypal, but when I complained to the seller, he sent a vicious, profanity-laden email calling me a liar and threatening negative feedback and a non-paying bidder report if I "lied" and left negative feedback for him. So, in the interest of protecting my own ability to buy and sell on ebay, I left no feedback at all.
Effectively, what the new rules do is make the system useful for buyers to learn about sellers, but not useful in the other direction. I guess that's better than useless for both sides. Also, if a buyer has positive feedback, it means that someone was impressed enough that they took the time to leave it, so it has limited use.
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Re: Re: eBay's Swan Song
No, the seller left the meaningless feedback because if they did not the buyer would not only neg them but probably savage their DSRs which would result in account limitation, loss of all fee discounts, demotion in search (eBay's term) and all sorts of other lovely consequences.
Alternatives? In auction field none. Fixed price eCrater, Bonanzle.
Alternative payment processors, Google Checkout if you are in the USA. All the others are run on the predeposit system like MoneyBookers and RME.
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Craigslist
As for selling, I got phone calls within a couple hours of listing both items.
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eBay Has Lost 'it'
eBay is not what it once was. It has completely lost touch with users and no longer provides the type of service people expect.
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The modern ebay is worthless
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Re: The modern ebay is worthless
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illegal tying?
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Re: illegal tying?
However the more folk complain vigorously to their elected representatives and the FTC the better chance somebody might start enforcing the statute.
A primer including links found at http://200westmain.com/redinkdiary/?p=180
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double dipping
I have a few items I was wanting to sell on there but I refuse to go through all that and upgrade to a business paypal account for just a few items. So I will either just give the things away, sell them in a yard sale or otherwise dispose of them. *shrug*
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Paypal almost always sides with the buyer when disputes arise, especially if a seller doesn't go exactly by Paypal's onerous terms of service. They have also recently enacted additional 'buyer protections' such as holding money for 21 days on certain transactions.
eBay is also going to allow payments to a seller's own merchant account, but no small seller has one of those, and they will allow payments through a competing service, Propay, but Propay's fees are even more than Paypal's.
eBay's excuse for doing this is that they have seen too many transactions gone bad with paper payments, but they ignore all the bad experiences people of had with Paypal over the years.
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Re:
Clearly, the only REAL reason for this change is to put more money in the eBay/Paypal coffers. This is quite simply about GREED.
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Re: Ebay & Paypal.The two most fraud ridden entities on the net!
1.Ebay has the worst CS system in the world.
2.Paypal has the 2nd.worst CS in the world.
3.Paypal is ridden with fraud, every minute and eBay does nothing to address it.
4.Ebay ditto.
5.Paypal is a bona fide criminal entity.Thats why there are at least 3 if not more HUGE websites devoted to exposing Paypal.
6.Ebay currently violates at least 3 anti trust laws.
8.Paypal ditto, maybe more.
9.Members lose ALL of their credit card consumer rights when they join Paypal.
10.When eBay fees coupled with Paypal fees exceed 15%,( which is coming )sellers may as well use brick & mortar auction companies again. At least they, unlike eBay will be real auction companies.
All true,all on the record tis a sad situation indeed...
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Re: Re: Ebay & Paypal.The two most fraud ridden entities on the net!
It's become despotic under "Dunnowho" took over. He's adopted policies that interfere with small private business which flourished in the early days. It was a grand adventure for both sellers and buyers. Now, it's like living in some totalitarian, third world, country, with what amounts to staggering taxation. Most of us operate on razor thin margins. It has to be illegal to specify what method of payment a private business can accept. A commercial landlord can specify how the rent can be paid, but has no voice into the transactions of the tenants business. eBay fees amount to rent for use of the platform, no more. I should be able to accept a pound of chocolate for an item, as long as I pay the appropriate fee, and am square with the IRS.
Seems like there should be some racketeering violation. Who oversees eBay? the FTC? As to PayPal... It is functioning pretty much as a bank, with no FDIC membership. I read that the Australian government backed eBay down, when they tried to impose PayPal only payment. I hate government intervention, but this screams for regulation.
Ebay stock has been trending down, and has pretty much fallen out of bed. The sell throughs according to medved, http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?SIND, have been flat for the year, with the much ballyhooed BIN's tanking, and regular sales up a bit. Why are the eBay stockholders not screaming for Dumbahew's head? Until there is change at the top, or successful lawsuit, there will be no improvement.
I continue to sell on eBay, because that's where my customers are, but there is no joy... it's become a grim struggle.
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Irrelevant
Why would I buy from some online purveyor who could be ANYBODY when I can buy from another site that has a name, reputation and a customer base to protect vs. just putting some crap up on Ebay and paying a few listing fees?
Craigslist is much better.
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PayPal is such a rotten scam
To hell with them.
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Ebay/Craigslist
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RE: Irrelevant
Like most winning formulas, those in charge just can't seem to leave it alone. It will eventually swirl around the toilet of history, and eventually become so irrelevant that it will disappear.
So long, eBay ... it was good while it lasted.
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I'm with that guy
I'm not a big fan of eBay, but so far it's been pretty convenient to just pop in, sort by Buy It Now, and get what I need. I'm always happy to avoid folks who are obviously losing site of the customer, but I have to have some place to get my cheap crap too.
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Ebay/Paypal
I also have started using a new site some. Its called neolock.com. It is small and was started by former Ebayers who were fed up with all the Ebay BS. There are several more sites like this that were started by former Ebayers to give people more options. If we all start using them instead of Ebay, then either Ebay will get a clue or become obsolete.
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Amazon
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What is Ebay Evolving Into?
With the introduction of new services such as PayPal and the current change in the terms of service to require the use of PayPal, Ebay is becoming a type of "middle man". In a sense they are now defining how the buyer and seller are to conduct their business in a manner that allows Ebay to exact "toll-both" style revenues.
I stopped using Ebay several years ago. PayPal sucks. Though I use Amazon.com, I am nervous since they have "adopted" some of Ebay's onerous strategies to generate greater revenues. I would like to see Amazon.com return to its more "pure" original state.
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Their loss
Thanks for the advice, I may try my hand at Craiglist
Cool beans...
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Umm... eBay IS Craigslist
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Isn't that anti-competitive tying.
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A scary Concept
The first order of business if elected? Everyone in California or doing business in California will be forced to use PayPal.
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something in between
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ProPay
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Solid Invalid Tickets
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CALLING ALL EBAYERS > NEW HOME HERE>
From Chris Fain President, CEO OnlineAuction.com, OLA.com October 18, 2008 :
"Lets roll....Tell everyone to head to OLA.com and become Founding Members this should drive enough traffic our way and build up enough revenue for us to have a substantial advertising budget. For instance if everyone kicks in their $196.00 and we have One Million Founding Members I will spend no less than (90%) $176,400,000 dollars promoting all OLA Members products ! ...Tell everyone on the boards to get over here!!!....Lets do it."
This is NOT a generic statement. It is a Direct Communication to me from Chris.
This refers to the All Important TELEVISION Advertising.
Email EVERYONE who Ever Sold on Ebay and is Looking for a Brand Shiny New Home !
Email EVERYONE looking to Turn Back the Clock to the "Good Ole Days" of Auction FUN ! ! !
Remember : THE ACTION FOLLOWS US
LET'S BRING IT !
OLA > No Hassles, No Rediculous Fees, No Big Brother Crap.
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propay is NOT an option!!!!
Propay is ONLY available to higher level powersellers!!!
FORCED Paypal IS the only optin ebay is giving the majority of selles, no matter how they try to spin their twisted, ugly ebay web!
Search the internet for "Ebay Stockholders and Sellers Calling For Immediate Termination of John Donohoe CEO", the only REAL answer to ebay's problems.
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EBAY FORCES USE OF PAYPAL
OVER A YEAR AGO I STARTED NOTICING EBAY BEGINNING TO STRONG ARM ITS WAY WITH SELLERS WITH PAYMENT OPTIONS. THEN I SAWS EBAY BUYING PAYPAL AND PUSHING IT UP FRONT AS A PAYMENT OPTION. NOW ITS THE ONLY METHOD USED BY EBAY.
THE LAST STRAW FOR ME WAS WHEN I SOLD A $400. ANTIQUE CLOCK TO A GUY IN AUSTRALIA. HE PAID WITH PAYPAL. IT TOOK OVER 7 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY, USING CANADA POST EXPIDITED WITH A TRACKING NUMBER. AFTER 2 WEEKS FROM THE SALE, THE BUYER FILED A NON DELIVERY COMPLAINT WITH PAYPAL, AND THE FUNDS WERE HELD, THEN RETURNED TO THE BUYER. I CONTACTED CANADA POST AND THE AUSTRALIAN POSTAL SERVICE AND TRACKED THE DELIVERY RIGHT TO THE GUYS HOUSE. THE BUYER EVEN ADMITTING GETTING THE CLOCK DELIVERED. DOCUMENTS WERE FAXED TO PAYPAL, PHONE CALLS MADE, PAYPAL "INVESIGATED" THE MATTER.
NOTHING!. THE GUY GOT THE CLOCK, GOT HIS MONEY BACK, AND I GOT NOTHING BUT MY PAYPAL ACCOUNT FROZEN, CALLS FROM A COLLECTION AGENCY AND ONE BIG HEADACHE.
WATCHING EBAY NOW, AND IT'S PAYPAL RULES IS THE ONLY PAYBACK I HAVE. GREED, POOR MANAGEMENT, LOUSY PUBLIC RELATIONS, AND A WONDERFUL ABILITY TO DRIVE IT'S SELF NOSE-FIRST INTO THE GROUND, IS MY PAYBACK.
OH WAIT, THATS LIKE A LOT OF OTHER U.S. BASED COMPANIES IN THE NEWS THESE DAYS.
NEXT, A BAILOUT CRY FROM EBAY, BECAUSE WE WOULND'T WANT THESE IDIOT OWNERS AND MORONIC STAFF TO LOSE THEIR JOBS?
GIVE ME A BREAK.
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Ebay's strong arm tactics
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Fed up with Ebay
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