Only Pay-pal for E-bay?

Mike Kennedy · Feb 5, 2009

A seller just informed me that E-Bay is doing away with all paper transactions (Money order,etc.).Is this on the level or was the guy just being a prat.

mjs · Feb 5, 2009

E-bay announced that a while back (last year.) Guess who owns Paypal! You'll only be able to accept other forms of payment if the customer is picking up the item in person.

Konical · Feb 5, 2009

Good Morning,

At least several "Paypal Only" sellers have missed out on my bids, including some who later had to re-list items. Paypal only is extremely annoying; what's wrong with Postal Money Orders?

Konical

aluk · Feb 5, 2009

If you are listing on ebay.com you may not solicit other forms of payment, though a buyer may request to pay by money order etc. If you as a seller say on the listing that other forms of payment are accepted, you may find yourself punished by ebay if a buyer reports you. I do not think that this applies (yet) to other/international ebay sites (eg. ebay.ca).

Indeed, their new policy is extremely annoying, and seems rather anticompetitive, given that ebay owns paypal...not that I am a lawyer.

Ian Grant · Feb 5, 2009

The use of Paypal as the only accepted online method of payment is just symptomatic of Paypal's attempts to make money with disregard to the buyers wants & needs. It goes along with the stifling out of private sellers and the attempts at price rigging by many online Ebay stores which I've noticed particularly happening with LF equipment, but it's happening across Ebay.

Ian

David A. Goldfarb · Feb 5, 2009

Ditto what aluk says. I sold a couple of items recently and learned that this is indeed the new policy.

BrianShaw · Feb 5, 2009

You need to come into the 21st Century, sir... that change was made in January 2007! It's not entirely true, though... there are other payment methods allowed:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/pay/accepted-payment-methods.html

MattKing · Feb 5, 2009

I've posted on this before. I think that the genesis of this policy is the large number of disputes that arise because of problems with non-electronic payment methods. If you use PayPal, payment and receipt of payment can be verified relatively easily.

I expect that if you establish a competing electronic payment system, that is as easy to verify as PayPal, you will find eBay will accept it.

Matt

Kino · Feb 5, 2009

Be very careful with Ebay and Paypal in general; especially Paypal in particular.

Here's directly from the horse's mouth (for whatever that is worth):

http://paypalsucks.com/PayPalFormerEmployee1.shtml

Mike Kennedy · Feb 5, 2009

My security blocked the page from opening.
Go figure.

katphood · Feb 5, 2009

There used to be, maybe still is, an outfit called BidPay. I dunno if its still around or not. I'm sure if it was around, eBay would not allow it.

I've noticed a trend on eBay: inflated shipping prices. Sellers try to make up for higher eBay fees by adding handling charges and what not. I'm sure there are plenty of folks that jump on an attractive Buy It Now price, only to realize that the shipping charge is through the roof.

I don't operate an eBay store, but I do buy and sell on eBay. I think of it as renting. As an occasional seller, I have to confess that I charge an extra $6 handling fee for shipping outside the US, but that's because eBay / PayPal estimates are consistenly off by about that amount.

Kino · Feb 5, 2009

jp80874 · Feb 5, 2009

Ian Grant said:
It goes along with the stifling out of private sellers and the attempts at price rigging by many online Ebay stores which I've noticed particularly happening with LF equipment, but it's happening across Ebay.

Ian

Ian,
Can you elaborate on what you mean by price rigging?

Thank you.

John Powers

Adrian Twiss · Feb 5, 2009

And God help you if your buyer decides to go into dispute. That's a complete sod.

declark · Feb 5, 2009

I've bought and sold several items on Ebay and always used PayPal only, even before the policy change. I don't want to hassle with waiting for money orders, personal checks, depositing, waiting to clear etc. In keeping with APUG's theme, this discussion of digital money vs. analog money should probably be moved to the Hybrid Currency website.

Sirius Glass · Feb 5, 2009

declark said:
In keeping with APUG's theme, this discussion of digital money vs. analog money should probably be moved to the Hybrid Currency website.

Thanks, I needed that!

Steve

removed account4 · Feb 5, 2009

there is an alternative that is not pay pal and not part of the ebay family of companies.
it is a 3rd party vendor called propay.

https://epay.propay.com/company/eBayAnnouncement.aspx

when i thought i was going to be selling things more often, i looked into propay.
the fee structure is a little different, not pay as you transact, from what i remember it was a
monthly - thing.

if you have such bad feelings about paypal, there is an alternative ...
not such an alternative for the buyer, but the seller.
credit card fees are credit card fees ...

good luck!

john

MattKing · Feb 5, 2009

jnanian said:
there is an alternative that is not pay pal and not part of the ebay family of companies.
it is a 3rd party vendor called propay.

https://epay.propay.com/company/eBayAnnouncement.aspx

when i thought i was going to be selling things more often, i looked into propay.
the fee structure is a little different, not pay as you transact, from what i remember it was a
monthly - thing.

if you have such bad feelings about paypal, there is an alternative ...
not such an alternative for the buyer, but the seller.
credit card fees are credit card fees ...

good luck!

john

Quote from the Propay website:

"Currently, the ProPay eAuction account is exclusively for US-based eBay PowerSellers."

Matt

Jim Noel · Feb 5, 2009

When I am interested in a product, I e-mail the seller to ask if they will take a usps money order. Everyone has agreed to this immediately.

sun of sand · Feb 5, 2009

I used to only pay by money orders but after I actually one lost in the mail I moved to paypal
No problems with yet but don't keep much cash in the balance just in case
Only thing about this approach that bugs me is these immediate payment only auctions
When did these become IMMEDIATE or nothing?
Lost out on two items same day because I was uploading money

You put up a 7 day BIN auction I think immediate payment gets voided
If you're willing to wait 7 days for increased exposure/chance of selling
you should give those buying some slack
Crappy attitude if you ask me
People get pissy after 2 days not receiving paypal
It's like they these sellers think they're helping the buyer out with their goods
I had to wait 7 days to buy this thing and now when you've reached max bid you cannot wait a couple days
where is the courtesy
I don't DEMAND these people get to UPS to ship my item out that very day
..power trippin punks lol

that was off topic

removed account4 · Feb 5, 2009

MattKing said:
Quote from the Propay website:

"Currently, the ProPay eAuction account is exclusively for US-based eBay PowerSellers."

Matt

ouch ..

thanks matt,
when the whole policy was announced
i spoke with people at ebay and they said
it was for anyone who wanted an alternative
to paypal .. it is interesting how things changed ..

Only Pay-pal for E-bay?

Mike Kennedy

mjs

Konical

aluk

Ian Grant

David A. Goldfarb

Moderator

BrianShaw

MattKing

Moderator

Kino

Mike Kennedy

katphood

Kino

jp80874

Adrian Twiss

declark

Sirius Glass

removed account4

MattKing

Moderator

Jim Noel

sun of sand

removed account4

Only Pay-pal for E-bay?

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