In a post on the eBay Ink blog, eBay spokesman Usher Lieberman has denied that eBay’s PayPal-only policy is to be introduced in the US. He writes:
We were offered the chance by the AP to be categorical on this subject, and we declined to do so. We declined because there are no plans, but categorical statements have a tendency to cause headaches down the road, particularly as we evaluate how to move forward in other markets and as conditions could shift in the US.
As I said in the article, we will take what we learn in Australia with PayPal-only and apply it accordingly. What perhaps didn’t come across as well is that we will apply those lessons differently in different markets.
Certainly eBay will have to consider not only local markets, but local laws. In France, for example, it would be both illegal to ban other methods of payment, and very difficult to seperate the French from their beloved cheque books.
Nevertheless, Mr Lieberman has left himself a lot of room to manoeuvre in this statement: I’d interpret it as “we’re not planning anything elsewhere til we see how it goes in Australia, but never say never”. There are other markets where PayPal’s share of eBay’s payments is apparently much higher than in Australia, where making PayPal compulsory might be much less of a struggle: the UK is certainly one of those.
I’ll stick my neck out here: by this time next year, we will have PayPal only on eBay UK. I wonder if Ladbrookes would give me odds?
