According to reports in the Sydney Herald and MSN News eBay Australia is to go PayPal only from June 17th.
Although cash on collection will still be allowed the only other payment method allowed will be PayPal. Cheques, postal orders and bank transfers will be banned.
Whilst eBay trust and safety director, Alastair MacGibbon, acknowledges that some buyers would be upset by being forced to use PayPal, he doesn’t mention sellers likely reaction to the news.
There will doubtless be many sellers unhappy with this move, but in truth it’s not much different from trading on Amazon. On Amazon, even for products are sold by a third party seller, all payments are collected by Amazon who then distribute the money to sellers.
Currently there is no official announcement on the eBay Australia announcement board to confirm the policy changes reported in the press.
Update: eBay have now officially the changes confirming the changes. Interestingly on sites such as the UK a merchant account for credit card processing has been considered a “Safe payment” but not in Australia – Card payments are described as ““.
5 Responses
I wish the bleeding yanks would go paypal only
US
personol cheques in US dollars for 3 and 4 dollars are a tad annoying
I thought Australia was one of the places where bank transfers were really common and cost-free?
It’s worth remembering that eBay AU has been more than averagely plagued by poor PR related to fraud, which may go some way to informing this change.
Josordoni asks: “I thought Australia was one of the places where bank transfers were really common and cost-free?”
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I think that is the point, PayPal has not been able to get a foot hold in Australia for that reason.
Dan, is the international perception that Australian Ebay has a high rate of fraud? From here, as someone who watches the world reports and trends, it seems about the same as elsewhere.
Kind Regards, Kevin
Australia along with the Euro zone is one of the places where bank transfers are quite common and usually free. Most bank transfers/deposits take between 1 to 2 business days to be credited depending on whether it’s going to a bank or credit union/building society; cash deposits are usually credited immediately. Very safe and no chargeback risk.
Australian Police and banks are quick to shut down fraudulently-operated bank accounts and trace the owners via the photo ID and references used to open them. Contrast this with eBay-owned PayPal which doesn’t require sight of photo ID to open accounts and is very reluctant to cooperate with Police citing “privacy concerns”.
Most of the negative PR related to fraud on Aussie eBay can be laid squarely at eBay’s feet. They permitted a recent fraud (total take A$120,000+) involving Sunshine Coast holiday packages to continue for six months after they were repeatedly warned by Police and customers; the seller was a Powerseller that used PayPal to collect and money launder their proceeds. How much can be recovered isn’t being revealed by eBay or PayPal.