PayPal only: Australia says no (for now)
12/06/2008 at 09:20
The ACCC have requested that eBay delay implementation of the PayPal only policy scheduled to start on June 17th.
In a draft notice issued today the ACCC proposed revoking immunity for eBay’s PayPal only policy on the grounds that it will reduce competition and that they believe “consumers are in the best position to decide which payment method is most suitable for them”.
Noting the benefits that PayPal offer they say the advantages do not outweigh the anti-competitive effect.
Whilst this is a draft notice the ACCC notes eBay have already implemented the policy that PayPal has to be offered, but have asked them to delay making PayPal the only acceptable payment method until the final decision.
Now the draft proposal is published all interested parties can make further submissions so eBay will doubtless respond. It’ll be interesting to see if Google make further waves now that their role has been revealed.
It looks as if eBay Australia users can continue offering and using alternate payment methods, at least in the short term.
eBay must have been pretty certain that they would be granted immunity and allowed to implement the PayPal only policy. Regardless of the outcome it is likely to have an effect in other territories around the world and shape eBay / PayPal policy for some time to come.
Mark Classic says
9:41 am on 12/06/2008
I think this is a good result.
Merely for the fact that Ebay now knows it cannot get its own way all the time.
Lets hope the ACC follows it through.
Interesting development…
Mark
pHilip muld says
12:35 pm on 12/06/2008
So the Big Behemoth can’t get its way on Everything.
The partial jugement is surely right.Compelling Buyers to Pay by only one means,that means being Owned by the Very Company you are buying from.That surely is a classic misuse of market place dominance.
Perhaps the Ebay suits are not as smart as they think?
Kiss says
12:55 pm on 12/06/2008
Well it’s a temporary hold at least. I agree it does no harm for those in power at eBay to find they cannot dictate everything to their customers.
whirly says
8:21 pm on 12/06/2008
Great news, nobody votes for a dictatorship unless a gun is held to there head. Good luck and best wishes for the future to the Kangaroo sellers
peter wickes says
1:31 am on 13/06/2008
The response from ebay shows that they plan to ignore the ACCC. They will probably have to take ebay to court.
Thank you for writing to eBay. My name is…………… I appreciate the
chance to assist you.
We would suggest our member still alter your listing by June, 17th. As
we did not recieve any final decision from ACCC, and it was a draft from
ACCC. Everything will still continue as it suppose to.
If your listing with other payment method on your listing before June,
17th. The listing will ended naturally, But, if you included your bank
info or other payment method in the item description, then the listing
would be removed.
I appreciate your patience and understanding regarding this matter.
Regards, ……………
Kevin_T says
9:58 am on 13/06/2008
Ebay Replies:
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/au/200806131705542.html
Philip Cohen says
9:57 am on 19/06/2008
The cowboys at eBay had very poor legal advice if they ever thought they actually had any chance of succeeding with their “exclusive dealing” of PayPal in Australia.
Would love to know how many hours (at $600/hour) the shysters charged them for the very poor legal advice that they apparently did receive.
A1A1A1 says
2:05 pm on 21/06/2008
The problem is that we are no longer customers to eBay, we are little cashcows.
What was once a great community with sellers respecting eBay and eBay showing respect back, is now a shambles.
Shame on you eBay, I have taken my business to http://www.bang4bucks.com.au, and will be glad to see the back of you.