[SEL] ot ebay

[Glen Harris]

Yep, that's been going around most of the news sites today. It looks 
like AU is the testbed, with the UK starting shortly after. No news yet 
about other countries.

There's been noises about complaints to the ACCC(and other competition 
and regulatory bodies), but it's impossible to believe that ebay would 
announce this without a solid legal footing. They are not a financial 
institution(with the associated regulations), and can dictate terms of 
use of their service to a large extent.

A similar situation which springs to mind is the use of the virtual 
precious metal coinage in online roleplaying games - they don't allow 
exchanges of "real" money inside the game, but you can add or remove 
money through their account system. Real-world items can be bought in 
some games with the virual money, too.

Of course I'm not a lawer, so it's always possible that this move will 
be blocked somehow. Each country's laws are different, so this move may 
be possible in some places, but not others.

My two cents: For buyers it's not a bad idea, as the paypal system is 
tied into the auction system and payment is easily proven, something 
that is not possible with direct deposit, cheques, etc. For sellers, it 
prevents fraud but makes them to pay up to 2.4% of the sale price as a 
transaction fee. That might be a problem for sellers with small margins, 
but it's across the board so no seller is disadvantaged. The question of 
whether paypal *deserves* that cut is another matter. :-)

One recurring complaint from sellers is that money has been refunded(for 
whatever reason) from their account. Why they leave money in their 
account where paypal can get at it, I don't know. Lazyness springs to 
mind. I mean, come on. It's MONEY! Keep it in a regulated financial 
institution, for goodness sake.

As a buyer, what I've done is to get a second Visa debit card from my 
credit union, with it's own account. My ebay account is tied to the Visa 
card. When I make a purchase, I transfer only the required amount and 
put through the payment. If a charge is made without my premission, it 
fails at the Visa level with no penalty to me.

There's a rumour, unconfirmed, that paypal might disallow credit cards 
as payment methods and require a bank account to be attached. The same 
method of dealing with it applies, have a separate account and leave it 
empty with "zero overdraw". As I said, that one's unconfirmed, and I 
doubt it'll happen. That *might* cut into their customer base.

Anyhow, that's my take as a buyer. If some more sellers want to chine in 
with their experiences and opinions, I'd appreciate it - I'll trust the 
views from people here more than the average /. poster.

Later, glen.

Russell Gilbert wrote:
> G'day all, just wondering if any one else has received this e-mail from ebay:
> 
> Hi Russell L. Gilbert
> Because you are a valued seller we'd like to let you know about some 
> changes to eBay.com.au that are going to make our marketplace an even 
> safer place for you to buy and sell.
> 
> These changes will be introduced in two stages:
> 
>  From 21 May you must offer PayPal on all your listings as well as 
> currently permitted payment methods.
> 
>  From 17 June you will only be able to offer PayPal on your listings 
> and pay on pick up (i.e.paid for when picking up the item).
> 
> I will be one who will dramatically reduce the use of ebay. Much of 
> the gear we trade is valued in the hundreds. Be buggered if Im gonna 
> let them cop another 3% for nothing. Maybe if we all voice our 
> concern things may change??? Most times we sell something it is to 
> fund the resto of an engine or to make another purchase similar, I 
> don't think you are gonna be happy when they take a greater chunk out 
> of it. Direct deposit works fine for me, never had any trouble.
> just my 2 cents worth,
> regards Russell
> Russell Gilbert
> Sunny Sunraysia
> russell at ncable.com.au
> http://community.webshots.com/user/russellsrelics
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