eBay Australia Pressured on PayPal Payments Policy

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eBay Australia announced it would expand its Accepted Payments policy so sellers would no longer be required to offer PayPal as a payment method. The revised policy requires sellers offer at least one of the following three accepted safer payment methods: PayPal, Paymate, or a merchant credit card. There will be no change to other payment methods currently permitted on eBay.com.au, meaning sellers may not state in listings that they offer services such as Google Checkout.

Two years ago eBay had proposed banning all methods of payment except for its own PayPal service on its Australian marketplace, but was forced by the ACCC government regulatory agency to back down.

According to today's announcement by eBay Australia, "Increasing the number of accepted safer payment methods will help eBay develop an enhanced checkout experience in line with industry best practice. The introduction of the two new accepted safer payment methods have been discussed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), who have welcomed the initiative."

The ACCC meanwhile issued its own statement, acknowledging eBay's cooperation with the ACCC's inquiries and stating, "The ACCC has decided to discontinue its current inquiries into eBay's payment policies. However, this does not restrict the ACCC from reviewing the effects of eBay or PayPal's conduct in Australia if it raises competition concerns in the future."

The agency also acknowledged it was not customary for it to refer to investigations that were not in the public arena, "however a substantial number of complaints have been received about certain eBay policies which affect the offering and acceptance by eBay traders of online payment services."