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eBay Moves Closer To Forcing Users To Use PayPal
from the it's-good-to-be-the-king dept
You may recall earlier this year that eBay experimented with requiring customers to use eBay-owned PayPal for payments on eBay auctions down in Australia. However, public backlash, combined with government threats convinced eBay to hold off for the time being. However, folks over at Slashdot are noting that eBay has now changed its terms of service in the US to push more people towards using PayPal. Specifically it's no longer allowing checks or money orders for payments on most items, saying that electronic payments, merchant accounts or direct payment for in-person exchanges are the only options. However, as the Slashdot post notes, in the electronic payment space, eBay then blatantly says it will not allow Google or Amazon's payment programs to operate on eBay because they compete with eBay.
While eBay may be allowed to do this, it definitely seems like a good way to shoot itself in the foot. If customers don't want to use PayPal, they're simply going to bypass eBay entirely, and use an alternative. That not only cuts eBay out of the transaction, but also the listing fee. eBay tries to position this as being about making the experience better for both buyers and sellers, but that's clearly untrue. Instead, it seems like eBay is afraid to compete on the merits with its payment solution, knowing that many, many users are increasingly fed up with PayPal. Yet, rather than fix PayPal, the company's response is to ban the competition.
