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Ebay going ahead with PayPal plans
It's the battle that the Wall Street Journal is calling the battle of
Ebay Vs. Australia. What they are talking about are the plans by Ebay
to eliminate all payment methods such as bank transfer, cheque and so
on and force everyone to use PayPal. While Ebay is pushing
this as a move to improve the safety of it's users, many Ebay buyers
are not so convinced. The choice of PayPal is no coincidence,
PayPal is 100% owned by Ebay and is already pushed heavily by the site.
The move by Ebay looks set to head to the courts with the ACCC already
investigating the move as potentially anti-competitive.
PayPal earns a commission of all credit card
payments made through the system, the cost of which is absorbed by the
seller of the item. Many professional Ebay sellers are already
struggling to absorb large rises in sales commissions from Ebay and
having to accept all payments via PayPal is yet another fee they must
account for.
Time will tell is Ebay gets it's way of if the ACCC over rules the
decision. It may also open the site up to people making payments off
Ebay records, directly between buyer and seller to avoid the fees.
Forcing this situation would only reduce security from the current
situation. With little in the way of serious competition on
the online auction front it is likely that the popularity of Ebay will
not be dented to much by the move long term.
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