In December, when we look back at everything that happened this year, we’ll remember today as the day that sanity prevailed over corporate greed. For today (well, yesterday technically, but we’re only writing about it today), eBay has withdrawn its efforts to restrict payment options for its users to PayPal and cash on collection.
It’s been a long and bloody battle, including companies like the Reserve Bank, Google and hundreds of eBay sellers all voicing their outrage that eBay could even attempt to restrict payment options in the name of “security”. In the end, the ACCC’s pre-announcement that it thought eBay were full of shit going to be anti-competitive with their Paypal-only move was enough for eBay to go back on their decision and pretend it never happened.
Their official statement, posted on their website, runs a bit like this:
eBay has withdrawn its notification to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) about removing other payment methods. Instead eBay will continue to allow all existing payment methods on eBay.com.au.
We have decided to withdraw the notification to stop any further confusion and disruption among the eBay Community.
eBay regrets any uncertainty that this process has caused among the Community and believe that today’s decision will remove further doubt.
eBay’s goal has always been to provide members with a safer experience. Under the current circumstances, we will continue to look for ways to do that while still offering a variety of payment choices.
eBay requires all sellers to offer PayPal as a payment choice on eBay.com.au along with other permitted payment methods of their choosing.
Although we have decided not to move ahead with the further planned changes, eBay is pleased that all buyers can now choose PayPal along with other permitted payment methods of their choice.
Other recently introduced safety measures, such as PayPal Seller Protection and increased PayPal Buyer Protection (now up to $20,000) will also remain.
Regards,
The eBay team
It’s not all defeat for the online auction site though – sellers are still required to include Paypal as a selling option, which means they stand to boost their profits a little bit more anyway. The fact is, Paypal is good for buyers – it’s the sellers who have to pay the extra fees. It’s even better for buyers now, as they have a $20,000 protection program in place.
In any case, you can still chalk this one up as a win for the little guy. And when the big guy is a large international corporate giant and the little guy is you, that’s a pretty big win.
[ebay]