E-Bay UK Paypal Change

Les · E-Bay UK Paypal Change

March 2008

***Making eBay Safer and Easier with PayPal***

24 March, 2008 | 09:00AM GMT

Buyers are more confident and likely to buy on eBay, and sellers more likely to see their listings convert into sales, when PayPal is offered as a payment method. It also means we can provide protection for buyers should things go wrong.

We’d now like to update you on a number of changes we’re making that will make it safer and easier to buy and sell on eBay.co.uk.

Offering PayPal as a payment method

Currently, PayPal is offered on about 95% of listings on eBay.co.uk. Starting in late April 2008, we will require all sellers on eBay.co.uk to offer PayPal on their listings.

Transactions made using PayPal result in significant reductions in fraud, and having every listing on the site offer a trackable, protected payment option will boost buyers’ confidence so that they return to shop with you even more.

Sellers will continue to be able to offer other payment methods alongside PayPal, as per eBay’s Accepted Payments Policy. Listings in the Motors Vehicles category will be exempt from this policy..

As an intermediary step, announced in January, we will require sellers to offer PayPal as a payment method in the following cases from 25th March 2008:

1. For all sellers who have a feedback score of less than 100 (regardless of feedback percentage)
2. For all sellers when listing an item in several specific categories

Find out more about offering PayPal on your listings.
Holding Payments

We want buyers to enjoy shopping on eBay, so that they return often to buy from eBay sellers.

To ensure this continues, PayPal is targeting a very small percentage of sellers who pose the greatest risk of driving away buyers by not successfully completing a transaction, and holding their payments until we know that everything in the transaction has gone to plan.

This measure is targeted at a small percentage of sellers and the overwhelming majority of sellers will be unaffected.

Find out more about payment holds and who will be affected.
Finally, we look forward to announcing the details of expanded protection for Powersellers in the coming days.

These changes are part of an ongoing plan to evolve the eBay marketplace, and we thank you for your support in helping ensure buyers and sellers are increasingly protected and confident transacting on the site.

Regards,

The eBay Team

tmuir

I use paypal as a method to allow buyers to pay but to make it compulsory is outrageous.
I wonder if that would even fall fowl of trade practices acts as paypal is owned by ebay and by forcing people to use paypal gives an unfair advantage to paypal over other companies that offer a similar service.

johnreid

There are a LOT of people that refuse to sign up for PayPal. In a greedy gesture they have managed to alienate a goodly bunch of people. Some of which have not sold on Ebay YET, but now never will.

I would be without most of my collection if it want for Ebay, but they are so easy to hate. It is a Love/Hatr relationship that many have with Ebay I believe.

Les

What it will do is stop those who sell occasionally, which is usually the ones who haven't a clue what they have and there goes all the little gems that turn up.

I have not sold on E-bay, and now it is going to cost me to sell something, I will not be selling on E-bay.

Stilldrillin

I very rarely buy, if Paypal is not available......

CCairns

A very interesting development.

I've just won an item from a German ebay seller, and hidden in his rather complicated check-out process was a surcharge for using PayPal. Whilst this is against ebay UK rules, does the same apply to other countries? It was certainly not mentioned in the listing which I translated online.

Sandman

I always buy with paypal.

If payment by paypal is not available, I must say I leave it.

It's just so darned handy.

Mister Occlusion

Seems to me this could come afoul of antitrust laws or similar.... Like they slapped Microsoft several years back, and even recently when Google took them to task about the desktop search in Vista.

If a person doesn't want to take paypal, that should be their right, along with the consequences of driving away some potential bidders.

MooseMan

Ditto....on the very rare occasions where I've had trouble with eBay transactions, it's always been where PayPal wasn't available. I agree it's too damn expensive, but it's insurance for the buyer and the seller, and it makes international transactions soooo much easier.

I think making it compulsory is out of order though, especially seeing how eBay owns PayPal....you pay the listing and FV fees, and then on top they make you pay for PayPal. Very naughty!

Mamodman123

What a load of crap honestly....

IndianaRog

I don't have a dog in the fight re: the UK PayPal/eBay situation, but I think some folks might be misreading what it actually says.

The story Les passed on does NOT say a person MUST pay by PayPal, only that after a certain date, PayPal MUST be offered by sellers as an option for payment. If the data is true, 95% of eBay sellers in the UK are already offering PayPal as a payment option...so only real change is the remaining 5% of sellers will have to begin offering it soon.

As a buyer I personally find PayPal to be a huge convenience to pay with, especially if it involves international sale. They do all the currency conversion, DON'T require messing with banks and as a buyer it cost me nothing (money orders and other forms of payment DO cost me as a buyer). I have also used the PayPal refund capability on a bad printer I once received. YES, I had to pay the return shipping, but after PayPal examined my claim and I returned the printer, I got my money back spent on the printer itself. I have even opted to use the new electronic security key PayPal offers to reduce chance of bogus use of my PayPal account...it works well.

As a seller I also like PayPal because it is instantanous, does the currency conversions on an international sale and I don't have to hold checks or worry that a money order might be fake, something that seems to be occuring more and more. As a seller that convenience costs me 3% of the proceeds, but any seller from a gas station to the mall who offers to take credit cards, pays that percent or more. When we step into the role of "seller", many buyers WANT to be offered the same convenience via PayPal.

So again...UK buyers are not being MADE to pay by PayPal, but shortly will have that option on all eBay transactions. Not a bad thing IMO.

cheers,
Rog

johnreid

I prefer PayPal, but I know some who do not like the 3% fees and will not do PayPal no matter what. I also know some that for some reason refuse to give PayPal bank Card or Banking information in fear of Identity theft. I do see that the door is opened for phishers that send out all of those emails that some people unbeknownst will click through and enter passwords etc thus opening the door for theft. If it is required for a seller to take PayPal, maybe they should reduce the fees. It can get expensive to sell something, especially an expensive item.

CCairns

Now that they have to offer PayPal, watch the Postage costs go up accordingly to cover that 3% fee. Interestingly ebay do not require a Postage cost to be part of a Listing prior to it finishing, and they are some Sellers out there that really take the buyer for a ride with inflated Postage costs. I will not bid unless I know the Postage costs, or the Seller has answered my e-mail request for the Postage costs prior to the auction finishing.

flywheel61

An interesting delemmia,

As a buer, most of my collection has been bought overseas, Paypal has been essential. The only time I ever got a negative was my first buy (before I had paypal) and the international money order arrived after the 7 day period. I never bid on items from overseas that do not offer Paypal as a payment method.

As a seller, no one likes paying the 3%, but it is great protection, no bouncing cheques or money orders lost in the post, most payments are made within 24 hours. The part I don't like is that Paypal's currency conversion is always 2-3 % under the current market conversion rates so, as a buyer you end up paying more for the item.

As Rog says it is not compulsory for the buyer to use Paypal on a local transaction, it just must be offered.

As I'm about to rationalize my collection by selling off most of my Mamod railway system (so I can concentrate on stationary and OZ engines), I will be offering Paypal as I believe most of the purchases will be from overseas buyers.

On several occassions, where no papal option was originally available, I have been successful in buying items, by offering to cover the paypal charges. Such an example was the Empire windmill I bought from the US where Paypal was not originally an option.

As ccairns says, people may start jacking postage prices up to cover the paypal costs. I have only ever charge what the Post ofiice has charged, but, to be honest, I may have to think about including a small packing/handing charge, on locally purchased items where other methods such as direct deposit are available. In the past I have not done so and have absorbed material costs but you can't keep doing that ad infinitum, especially when most of the items I have sold on eBay have been at a loss..

Cheers

Chris

tmuir

I usally add $2 or $3 ontop of calculated postage costs to cover my time, fuel ect to get to the post office and it also gives me a little buffer if I underestimate the postage which I have once before and I don't have a problem with other people doing the same. I only get cranky if people add $10 or more to actual postage cost.