eBay bans other payment processors except Paypal

[yok-dfa]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but let's see what happens.


eBay bans other payment processors

October 17th, 2005

eBay has revised its policies to only allow one online payment service, PayPal. This comes after speculation that Google is preparing a payment service. So far the reaction among eBay users has been mixed.

There are a few interesting notes on the policies page over at eBay:

“From time to time, as new payment services arise, eBay will evaluate them to determine whether they may present trust and safety concerns and are appropriate for the marketplace.”

And one of the ways they will evaluate these new services:

The identity, background and other business interests of the payment service sponsor.

Source: http://www.googlerumors.com/2005/10/17/ebay-bans-other-payment-processors/

Are they even allowed to do that? I can understand that a store can set there own payment policies, but eBay only acts as a mediator between seller and buyer. I don't think they have the right to force payment options on them. If both buyer and seller agree to use Bidpay for example, they can have their account suspended ???

[jajaja]

I doubt that its true, as the url says googlerumors.
Even if its like this there is no way to stop ppl from using money order, bank transfer etc. Ebay cant controll this.

[Mayhem]

Note they say "online" here in terms of payment. Non-online payments would be unaffected.

[yok-dfa]

The article links to http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/safe-payments-policy.html


Policy

Permitted on eBay.com: Sellers may offer to accept PayPal, credit cards including Mastercard/Visa /Amex/Discover, debit cards and bank electronic payments online for eBay purchases. Sellers may also offer to accept bank-to-bank transfers, often known as bank wire transfers or bank cash transfers, and the online money order service BidPay. Sellers may accept COD (cash on delivery) or cash for in person transactions. Sellers may offer to accept personal checks, money orders (including BidPay), cashier’s checks, certified checks and other negotiable instruments.

Not permitted on eBay.com: Sellers may not solicit buyers to mail cash. Sellers may not ask buyers to send cash through instant cash transfer services (non-bank, point-to-point cash transfers) such as Western Union or Moneygram. Finally, sellers may not request payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions including:

*

Listing cancellation
*

Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
*

Listing cancellation
*

Limits on account privileges
*

Loss of PowerSeller status
*

Account suspension

This policy does not affect any payment method commonly offered on eBay today. However, there are some sellers who have listings offering to accept cash and Western Union instant cash transfer, and a few who offer other payment methods that are not permitted under this policy. To avoid disruption of these sellers’ business during the holiday shopping season, eBay will delay enforcement of this policy against existing payment methods until Jan 15, 2006. This policy will be localized for other eBay sites in the coming months.

After reading this a few times, i did notice that eBay only limits the payment options for sellers. Apparently buyers can still offer to use some of the more questionable methods of payments...

[Vroomfunkel]

So you're not allowed to ask for payment through Nochex?

Ebay really do take the piss sometimes. This is getting to be practically abuse of a monopoly. Someone should take them to court for it and whip their sorry ass into shape over a few things like this.

Vroomfunkel

[anagrama]

Assuming this is the case, it's blatantly eBay/PayPal running scared from Google's rumoured payment system, and is simply disgusting.

"Hmm, lets see.. looks like Google may be coming up with a PayPal rival. Should we a) work on and resolve the common issues that people have with PayPal so that there's no incentive for them to switch to Google Wallet, or b) Pull all their auctions unless they play along with us"

I've been looking forward to Google Wallet since it was first rumoured, and there's no way I'm going to be discouraged from using by shady tactics like this.

[Griking]

eBay couldn't enforce it of it were true. If I won a game and went to GooglePayments or whatever it was called and sent money to the seller's account how would eBay stop it let alone even know about it.

The only thing they can do is prohibit those automatic graphic images that go in the auctions that says that you accept that form of payment. But again, if a person were to just manually type it out that you accept Goodle Payments in the auction description it would get the point across.

[anagrama]

But again, if a person were to just manually type it out that you accept Goodle Payments in the auction description it would get the point across.

And would probably get the auction automatically pulled once eBay's bots spot the words "Google Wallet" or similar.

Sure, there will be available work-arounds, but ebay are going to do their best to make it difficult.

[Vroomfunkel]

Surely this is against the law, in the same way the Microsoft forcing companies to bundle IE in with Windows is against the law?

It is purely and simply trying to force people who use eBay to also use another service owned by eBay, in order to maximise their profits - that must be against anti-trust law, surely?

Vroomfunkel

[Elusive]

http://www.videogameauctions.co.uk

[The Kron]

Nice one Elusive.

Hopefully people will start to give the site a chance and start to use it as it actually wants to offer gamers a fair deal and sorts out the problems ebay are endlessly creating lately.

[8bitnes]

I think the policy is regarding how the seller pays ebay fees, not how the buyer pays the seller. Also, I would believe this to be true if a mass e-mail had been sent to anyone with a registered seller account. That was not the case though.

[yok-dfa]

I think the policy is regarding how the seller pays ebay fees, not how the buyer pays the seller. Also, I would believe this to be true if a mass e-mail had been sent to anyone with a registered seller account. That was not the case though.

Did you actually read it? It's about what payment options sellers are allowed to offer to buyers:


Not permitted on eBay.com: Sellers may not solicit buyers to mail cash. Sellers may not ask buyers to send cash through instant cash transfer services (non-bank, point-to-point cash transfers) such as Western Union or Moneygram. Finally, sellers may not request payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy.

Also, the policy quoted in the article comes from eBay itself. If you don't believe it, read it yourself.


The article links to http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/safe-payments-policy.html

[alm0stfinished]

I wouldn't be suprised if google came out with their own google branded online auction site, no paypal allowed.

[chaoticjelly]

I wouldn't be suprised if google came out with their own google branded online auction site, no paypal allowed.

That would be awesome..

Yes, eBay certainly take the biscuit when it comes to being absolute pigs...!

It's good that other companies are trying to gear up to compete with them...

I believe that if they outlawed other online payments.. they would indeed quickly remove auctions from sellers offering to accept online payments other than PayPal.. all they have is their keyword searches etc that can automatically remove stuff.... if you use the SYI (Sell Your Item) form on eBay and you enter certain words.. it gives you warnings, or won't let you list alltogether!

It must be illegal though, and what right do they have to dictate which method of payment can and cannot be used. Trust and safety? I'll bet PayPal has more fraud than any other online payment service!!!

[8bitnes]

I think the policy is regarding how the seller pays ebay fees, not how the buyer pays the seller. Also, I would believe this to be true if a mass e-mail had been sent to anyone with a registered seller account. That was not the case though.

Did you actually read it? No, I hadn't but I just did and here is what I'd like to highlight out of it. Right in the first paragraph, the following is said:


eBay strongly encourages sellers to offer payments through PayPal

Encouraging something and mandating it are two different things. Secondly and also in the first paragraph:


may also offer their buyers the option of paying directly with a credit card online (including through third party checkout)

Paypal is an example of a 3rd party processor. Google's potential system, therefore, would be as well.

So, the quote listed below is not in reference to a direct 3rd party payment processor, although bidpay may fall under that umbrella because it is not direct.



Finally, sellers may not request payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy.

[Gemini-Phoenix]

Question is... How long before Google fancy a shot at auctions? Yahoo got taken over by eBay, but proves that when the going gets tough, eBay shits themselves...

And with VideoGameAuctions.com already doing fairly well in this field, who says Google can't take a shot too?

[anagrama]

Paypal is an example of a 3rd party processor.

No, it's not. Paypal is wholly owned by eBay.

[lurpak]

So you're not allowed to ask for payment through Nochex?
l

You can, the rules say

sellers may not request payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy

you simply offer as payment methods rather than request.

it is a farce though, lets hope google start an auction site.

Ive stopped using ebay now, theyre a joke !

[8bitnes]

Paypal is an example of a 3rd party processor.

No, it's not. Paypal is wholly owned by eBay.

First party would be seller getting credit card info over the phone or in the store and processing it through their own machine. Third party means that the card is processed by someone other than the business owner. I am fully aware that ebay owns paypal.

[anagrama]

Whoops, sorry. My bad.

[The Kron]

I'm a little surprised that people would be so enthusiastic to support Google if they launched an auction site.

I wouldn't see the situation differing from how ebay operate, Companies as large as these have huge expenses and will never be able to cater for a certain area of categories with any type of differential ability, Everything would be encompassed by a single set of rules and you'd have a customer service akin to ebay where the staff are expected to handle every category and police them by a single set of standards.

Why do people feel they need to always rely on an immediately large company or name?

For large companies its always about maximising profit, An auction site that try's to handle multiple types of product will always give the users a poorer state of service than something thats specialised and dedicated.

[Griking]

I'm a little surprised that people would be so enthusiastic to support Google if they launched an auction site.

I wouldn't see the situation differing from how ebay operate, Companies as large as these have huge expenses and will never be able to cater for a certain area of categories with any type of differential ability, Everything would be encompassed by a single set of rules and you'd have a customer service akin to ebay where the staff are expected to handle every category and police them by a single set of standards.

Why do people feel they need to always rely on an immediately large company or name?

For large companies its always about maximising profit, An auction site that try's to handle multiple types of product will always give the users a poorer state of service than something thats specialised and dedicated.

Just the fact that another company with name recognition that can offer a real threat to PayPal's monopoly exists would be a positive thing. Competition is always good for the consumer.

[The Kron]

I don't understand why people have such an over reliance on name recognition or blindly support large faceless companies, If something else is good but not an immediately established name does it not deserve a chance?

Whats good for the consumer is understanding that they themselves are the sole reason for an auction sites success and not limiting themselves to companies who can charge whatever they want will get them a better deal.

[ChronoTriggaFoo]

I don't understand why people have such an over reliance on name recognition or blindly support large faceless companies, If something else is good but not an immediately established name does it not deserve a chance?

Whats good for the consumer is understanding that they themselves are the sole reason for an auction sites success and not limiting themselves to companies who can charge whatever they want will get them a better deal.

Unfortunately, the mindset of most people that turn to eBay is "Profit NOW". People are not eager to be patient to wait for another online auction company to be successful. No other auction site could imagine to have the kind of traffic that eBay does to allow low starting prices. With Yahoo Auctions, most sellers are forced to begin their auctions with high bid prices because there is nowhere near the amount of traffic there that eBay has. This in turn leads to an ugly cycle, where people that turn to Yahoo Auctions are scared away by the higher starting prices.

Really hard task if you ask me. But I would definitely welcome a challenger to the monopoly that is eBay.

[Mangar]

Unfortunately, the mindset of most people that turn to eBay is "Profit NOW". People are not eager to be patient to wait for another online auction company to be successful.

Which is understandable. The average person couldn't care less about the politics involved. All they are looking to do is maximize profts, which is pretty much the idea of auctioning or selling an item in the first place. Ebay gives them that.

I'd also venture an opinion that Yahoo auctions failed because the site itself was clunky. I always felt that the auction aspect of Yahoo was poorly designed, and nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing as Ebay. They also didn't really advertise it, which is what any true Ebay competitor needs to do. If Google came out with an auction site, and used it's economic might to flood every form of media in a huge advertising blitz, offer low(or free rates for the launch) - Then Ebay may start to feel a dent. But unless that happens - I don't see how anyone at all could compete with Ebay. (Outside of the smaller niche auction sites, which allow items Ebay bans. IE: Playerauctions.com)

On another note: Is Videogameauctions.com actually doing fairly well? I don't know anybody who's really used it. I'm curious as the kind of traffic and profit(if any) they generate. Do many videogame buyers outside of forums like this even know about it?

[The Kron]

I've sold over 90 items now on videogameauctions.com, In some cases the final prices have been more than what the same items have gone for on ebay. None of my items have sold any items at prices I wasn't happy with. (Its free to use buy it now as well).

I seriously don't understand how people could have a hand up about supporting a fully working site that offers permanently free listings and infinately better customer service than ebay (especially as the site is ran by people who understand the videogame industry and every containing aspect), The site is ran as a dedicated service to benefit people and give that much needed option in the marketplace, If people don't give sites like this a chance then badly run (imho) sites like ebay will continue to take liberties and advantage of the consumers.

If peoples reservation is that it isn't ran by a huge conglomerate then people will never get a better option in the marketplace and it will continue to suffer from over bloated sites who dictate the market and not work to improve it.




I'd also venture an opinion that Yahoo auctions failed because the site itself was clunky.

Yahoo auctions failed because of the lack of maintenance and way the site was ran, Who honestly wants to look through a site where an amazingly high proportion of items were counterfit or just worthless spam. The people running the american side of Yahoo auctions didn't care that the site was flooded with absolute garbage.

[anagrama]

While I appreciate what VGA are doing, the reason why I still spend a lot more on eBay is nothing to do with one being owned by a conglomerate while the other is independent, but is simply the fact that eBay has a far wider selection of items and it's much easier to find bargains, since just about everyone on VGA knows what items are "worth" and are reluctant to let them go any cheaper. Also, a lot of these prices fail to take into account that eBay prices for most non-really rare stuff have been steadily falling over the last year or two and are much cheaper than they once were.
And, as I've said before, the lack of sellers fees just encourages people to list items with high starting prices and/or reserves rather than let the market decide what something is worth.

I do like the site and check it fairly regularly, but the simple fact is that there are very few auctions I feel inclined to bid on.