Seller own merchant payment accounts on eBay to be banned

eBay have started to block sellers from using their own merchant payment accounts on eBay to accept direct payments via credit and debit card. Sellers who use their own merchant payment accounts on eBay are receiving emails from eBay advising that soon they won’t be able to create new listings with this payment method and in a couple of months time existing listings will have to be updated with an alternative payment method.

This is of course in preparation for eBay Payments to be rolled out on a wider scale – if eBay are accepting card payments directly, it would be confusing for buyers to be presented with two card payment options – one direct with eBay and the second direct to the seller. Currently we are aware of sellers in the US receiving the notification that merchant payment accounts on eBay are to end but have not heard of notifications to sellers in other countries although doubtless this will come.

Currently allowed payment methods on eBay.com

eBay have yet to update the Accepted Payments Policy on eBay.com to include eBay Managed Payments (oops!), but they do still state that credit card or debit cards through the sellers’ merchant account is acceptable with no notice that it’s due to end soon.

• PayPal
• PayPal Credit
• Credit card or debit card processed through the seller’s Internet merchant account
• Payment upon pickup

Timeline for merchant payment accounts on eBay retirement

1st March 2019

New listings can only be created using supported payment options

1st May 2019

All existing listings will need to be updated with an alternative payment option

Options to replace your merchant payment accounts on eBay

PayPal Managed payments

Which ever way you look at PayPal, this will be a relatively short term move as sooner or later you’ll be moved to eBay Managed Payments. However, in the short term it’s preferable as eBay Managed Payments won’t support PayPal until the summer.

eBay Managed Payments

eBay Managed Payments offers automatic payments to your bank account, and supports buyer purchases with credit, debit, gift cards and Apple Pay now. PayPal support has been promised by Summer 2019. All eBay sellers will eventually transition to managed payments.