Ebay Australia - Stupid New Rules

It's becoming obvious that ebay is completely out of touch with even their own misguided goals, much less any concept of how to "do it right." They're clueless, supported only by the huge existing customer base, and ripe for the deathblow.

Anybody got a $fewmil and a whole bunch of bandwidth?

Well that announcement certainly generated some interest!

Looks like we will have to reconsider selling on ebay or add a handling charge (inflated postage as Bigfella suggests?) However one of the mainstays of our listings is we charge postage at actual cost and never charge a packing or handling fee.

How many costs does ebay think small sellers can absorb?

Maybe should have another look at Oztion?

What is the ebay (owner of Paypal) agenda anyway?
It doesn't seem to make sense -using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. If they really wanted to protect buyers from rogue sellers they would have already followed up on the complaint they get. And, if there was some logic in the matter, they would also be wanting to protect sellers from rogue buyers. And, who is going to protect from paypal, which has a documented record of sometimes stuffing up payment or freezing funds.

This might just be a bigger event than the feedback changes furore.

Jeff

I am only a buyer.
I intend to send my email address to every seller whose items I bid on.
We shiuld be able to exchange banking details.
regards,

With a little more thought, I am pretty sure it will be deemed anti-competitive and may even have to be explained to the ACCC. (If any sellers were to request a ruling, hint hint) Especially as pay-pal is owned by e-bay. Basically the law says that no business may enter into an exclusive agreement in an anti-competitive nature. The ACCC views the forcing of consumers to deal with unrelated companies for the provision of goods or services as anti-competitive.
It would be like Breville deciding that from now on only Sunblest bread can be used in their sandwich makers. If you use Tip Top, your Breville will explode.
Maybe a bit simplified, but that is essentially the jist of it.

Sorry I forgot - also use other auction sites such as oztion

One would think ebay would have made sure they complied with the ACCC before going ahead with this. Surely they would not breach Australian law.

Going by the forums, anger at ebay's decision is just getting worse. Sellers are leaving in droves, many listing now on Oztion instead. Good to see as I've found many fresh listings on Oztion, bought a couple of coins and had a chat to the sellers. They are fed up with ebay. I doubt ebay could offer a big enough carrot now to ever get them back.

"Aren't there other secure payment companies that offer similar (or better) services to paypal? Some maybe even owned by banks and have to comply with all relevant banking legislation. What are the (il)legalities of ebay forcing Paypal and not allowing alternatives?"

I'm rather distressed how ebay is obviously circumventing customary balance transfer practices in Australia. Everywhere, their goal seems to be one of controlling every aspect of ebay business, at the expense of competition and seller/buyer options. Let's hope their practices can be put under due scrutiny.

To be honest, I suspected this would happen when ebay acquired PayPal. Paypal has never had a good reputation, and I consider their business model inferior to many other cost-effective credit gateway services. However, since ebay owns them they'll try to force their use in every transaction. This is a profit model vs. a service model of business.

I'll just offer a bit of opinion on ebay from living/working in Silicon Valley near their offices. Initially, they looked just as promising and user-oriented as many other internet startups. However, over time it's been remarkable to see how cynical and predictably usurious they've become. And, as corporate deleveraging unfolds in the US, they're going to do everything they can to squeeze more money from auction listings and transactions. Before too long, they're going to provide a strong incentive for competitors to provide a better service. I wait for that day.

Long ago, I used to use BidPay. It was great. A buyer would use their credit card and pay BidPay the amount owed for the items I sold then BidPay would mail me a Western Union money order within a few days.

I have never tried Google Checkout yet. There are a lot of ebay sellers who wont take PayPal (because of the fees I assume).