eBay at it again
Public Affairs and Art of Selling | 7:43 pm Thursday, Apr 10 2008 |
eBay Australia’s decision to force all sellers to ONLY accept PayPal (with few exceptions for cars, motorcycles, aircraft, boats, caravans, trailers, trucks (commercials), services, real estate and businesses for sale) seems like an extremely bad strategy to me.
eBay own PayPal.
Imagine going into a supermarket and then only being allowed to pay with a credit card from that same chain (so the supermarket can make some extra fees)… that’s not much different to what will happen on eBay over the next couple of months!
Not only are competing payment systems like Paymate and others removed from the payment options, even cheques and money orders will be banned.
Isn’t it strange that eBay don’t mention they make NO extra fees when you use these competing payment options like direct bank transfers or money orders, but they do make LOTS of extra fees when you accept PayPal?
I didn’t see any mention of their increase in profits from forcing you to accept PayPal in their sales push for the changes.
Surely the banks — who do make money from online transactions and cheque accounts — and Australia Post (who make money off money orders) will have something to say about their payment methods being banned.
And about PayPal vs banks — is it more trustworthy? PayPal is owned by eBay — are they regulated and watched closely like the banking industry?
And if it’s such as good idea, why do eBay say they have no plans for a PayPal-only model in the USA?
eBay spokesperson Nichola Sharpe said the new policy applies only to eBay in Australia. “There are no plans to go to a PayPal-only model for eBay in the US and we haven’t announced any other markets at this time.”
– http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y08/m04/i10/s01
eBay tell buyers that PayPal is “free” — but sellers have extra costs with PayPal and undoubtedly they will be passed on to the buyer.
Right now sellers can accept fee-free payments: not once this new policy is in place!
Also, doesn’t it work with PayPal where there may be a dispute, that PayPal can not only take the money back out of your PayPal account, but if you don’t have enough there, they take it straight from your bank account?
And that’s not all.
This from eBay’s own site:
To further reduce the number of buyer disputes, PayPal may delay the release of funds for up to 21 days or until the buyer leaves positive feedback.
– http://pages.ebay.com.au/useprotection/changes-sell.html
Most buyers don’t leave positive feedback until the goods are received… so you have to send them before you even get the funds released!
On the same page, they also say “This is targeted at a small percentage of items which pose the greatest risk; the overwhelming majority of sellers will not be affected.” — but don’t explain any further.
Wouldn’t forcing customers onto a single payment method be anti-competitive? Especially when you have over 5 million customers and you dominate your category.
There is of course COD cash on delivery. But how many eBayers transact that way though? Many sellers even ban you from picking up items, and charge a small forture for shipping even in your own city.
You don’t have to bid of course. Nor do you have to be part of eBay. But eBay claim 1 in 3 Australian adults as members — now they’re forcing their own payment system down your throat.
eBay claim it’s all about trust and safety … and that it’ll be good for everyone (surprise surprise). Strangely they neglect to say it’s also very much about their profits!
Marketing lesson: if you rely on one marketplace, you’re at the mercy of the changes in that marketplace.