Currently studying Architecture at RMIT Uni, the author enjoys travel and coffee. Occasionally he is productive and blogs. Single Blog Post
Forced Use of Paypal - The Arrogance of Ebay
As you may well have heard recently, eBay plans to allow only “secure” methods of payment (actually only PayPal) for auctions in Australia as of June 17. This smacks of flagrant arrogance by eBay, and is also a threat our to consumer rights.
PayPal is owned by eBay, and this decision certainly is a gross case of monopolising self-interest. Not only would sellers and buyers be forced to use Paypal, but no other (competing) systems are offered, such as Google Checkout.
PayPal isn’t bad, but like the banks we all detest, it takes yet another cut out of every transaction. For example, to transfer money from PayPal to one’s bank account, there is a deduction of $1 (regardless of the amount transferred). Every transaction also has an certain commission overhead, and even more if credit cards are used!
Not only is this a dictatorial proposal, is it disadvantageous to both sellers and buyers. Not everyone wishes to use PayPal, and certainly bank deposit transfer for many is a much streamlined method. The right of consumer choice of payment method needs to be maintained.
Indeed this is a tricky situation, since the middleman is eBay, making both the “sellers” and “buyers” customers of the company. eBay claims this change will benefit buyers (giving them more protection), but it also forces them to use a monopolistic system, and at the whim of eBay and PayPal when fees are (inevitably) increased. Indeed, PayPal does have it’s haters, as seen on sites such as paypalsucks.com. In my personal experience, using PayPal has been generally hastle free (although the fees do sting a little), but many sites require “credit card authorisation”, something which I cannot do (as I don’t wish to own a credit card).
Fortunately, the ACCC is allegedly looking into this case.
Update: eBay has “decided” to discontinue this idea! :-)