eBay Cancels Plans to Go PayPal-Only in Australia

“eBay has cancelled plans to go to a PayPal-only marketplace in Australia. It had intended to limit buyers and sellers to using its own payment service exclusively, but withdrew its notification to government regulators after the agency indicated its intention to prohibit eBay from doing so.”

In a refreshing comment by one of Auctionbytes readers;

“How refreshing it is to actually see a government in action whose primary interest is protecting its constituents rather than acting as a rubber stamp for the interests of big business.”

Post from: EveryJoe

There Will Be No eBay PayPal Only Requirement For Sellers In Australia

Referencing the current results (subject to change) of the attempt to impose a PayPal only payment process on eBay Australia which eBay has been told by the Australian government it could not implement and the latest $63 Million fine by a French court for not properly policing the eBay site for counterfeits Dee reminded us;

eBay: In France – “today’s ruling is about an attempt by LVMH to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law-abiding sellers that eBay empowers everyday.”

The ACCC in Australia to eBay: ‘‘consumers are in the best position to determine which service offers the best features… consumers are in the best position to decide which payment method is most suitable for them.”

eBay in France: “We believe that the overreach manifests itself through an attempt to impose, in France, a business model that restricts consumer choice through an anti-competitive business practice.”

Dee says: “Replace ‘in France’ with ‘in Australia’ and you’ve discovered eBay hypocrisy at its ugliest.”

Sorry folks, you still can’t have your cake and eat it too…

Post from: EveryJoe

Australian Cake Eaten In France – eBay Wants It Both Ways

Developments In eBay Plan To Go PayPal Only

“The Australian IT website reported that eBay Australia sent a “strongly worded” letter this week to users warning that failure to comply with the new policy would result in an immediate removal of product listings and repeatedly emphasizing the deadline.”

After they told everyone that the date for implementation of the new policy would be pushed back to July. So, eBay feels powerful enough to countermand the Australian government though they had said they would work with the ACCC to come to an amicable solution.

Solution be damned – full speed ahead – we care not about your ACCC – height of obnoxiousness.

Post from: EveryJoe

Approaching The Height Of Arrogance!

Australia Says No to eBay’s PayPal-Only Policy

“The Australian government told eBay it could not implement its PayPal-only policy in Australia next week and would make a final determination on the matter. It issued a 42-page draft notice today that said consumers are in the best position to determine which service offers the best features. The agency waded through submissions by eBay buyers and sellers, online payment providers, financial industry organizations and other interested parties.”

Ooops! In another article on the same topic, Ina quotes the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Graeme Samuel, saying something that strikes me regarding consumers and their best interests. eBay really tried to give the impression that the consumers’ interests were at the heart of their changes. Well, Mr. Samuel says;

“While the organization (the ACCC) believes a PayPal-only policy has the potential to deliver some benefits to users, such as increased buyer protection insurance in certain circumstances, it believes that ‘consumers are in the best position to decide which payment method is most suitable for them.’”

I.E. eBay ought to leave the consumers’ best interests to what the consumer wants, not what eBay wants, or – Do you think eBay might have had a self-centered motive? :)

Post from: EveryJoe

Australia Tells eBay – Rethink Your PayPal-Only Plan

Another h/t to Ina at Auctionbytes for this news;

eBay Feedback Extortion Alerting Service

Which introduces AfterTheGavel.com. Dr. Ben Bishop, the founder, describes his site as

“A way for sellers to leave feedback about buyers to prevent problems. ‘Perhaps the buyer is trying to threaten the seller with negative feedback to try to extort a lower price,’ he said. ‘This is a mechanism for sellers to report that to other sellers so this buyer can’t go on doing this indefinitely, hopefully.’”

From the FAQ’s at the site itself;

“AfterTheGavel is for sellers to be able to manage risk for their online auction businesses. As the world of online auctions changes sellers need to know who they are dealing with as buyers as much if not more than buyers need to know sellers. AfterTheGavel.com will serve as a balancing weight to keep this information available to sellers.”

While this appears to be the founding basis;

Q: How can AfterTheGavel.com help me protect my auction business?

A: It has been a long held belief that when someone that is doing wrong is exposed they can be stopped. If you know there is a thief in your neighborhood you will lock your doors. The same is true online. If you know someone is a problem customer you can block them from doing business with you and causing you problems including ruining your seller reputation with unjustified negative feedback. All sellers even if they are not registered can search buyer IDs and find out if they want to block a buyer due to their history. That is fair and justified on the sellers part. Sellers can also leave feedback to warn other sellers. This will create a strong deterrent to buyers being unfair & unreasonable to sellers as it has always been.

Seems like a nice effort. I hope it becomes worthwhile.

Post from: EveryJoe

eBay Feedback Extortion Alerting Service

Ina Steiner at Auctionbytes gives us the scoop;

OZtion Sees Sales Spike after eBay Plans PayPal-Only Policy

“OZtion, an online auction site based in Australia, issued a press release to announce it has seen a 50% increase in sales for the month of May compared to the month of March. The company has seen a significant increase in sales since eBay Australia announced in April that all items must be paid for using PayPal.”

Ouch – 50%??? Could statistics be misleading? It doesn’t look like it as Ina also tells us;

“It has experienced a 65% increase in Gross Merchandise Volume (the value of merchandise traded), and has 670,000 items listed for sale.”

That’ll work…

[image from OZtion itself]

Post from: EveryJoe

Dr. Phil Might Be Asking eBay…

We’ll take a look at the second court determined legal standard, the Per Se Test.

In Northern Pacific Railroad Co. v. United States (1958), the U.S. Supreme Court found that illegal restraints can sometimes fall outside a rule of reason analysis. In such cases carefully defined categories of restraint are illegal per se because “their pernicious effect on competition and lack of any redeeming virtue are conclusively presumed to be unreasonable and therefore illegal without elaborate inquiry as to the precise harm they have caused.” Related is the Socony Vacuum Oil Company case (1940) in which the Court found that even though there were previous specific exceptions, tampering with price structure is nonetheless illegal, and stated “raising, depressing, fixing, pegging, or stabilizing the price of a commodity in interstate and foreign commerce is illegal per se.”

Pernicious: Causing much harm in a subtle way.

Speaking of subtle harm, this announcement regarding eBay from AuctionBytes certainly might be of interest;

eBay Australia Files Response to PayPal-Only Policy Complaints

“eBay Australia has filed its response to submissions to the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding its PayPal-only policy slated to go into effect next month. The company rejected claims from sellers, banks, competitors and other organizations that the policy would lessen competition in the online payments market and that the public benefits were illusory.

eBay Australia said in its filing, “No party has adequately demonstrated that the benefits submitted by eBay as resulting from the Project will not outweigh any likely detrimental effect on competition.”

Post from: EveryJoe

Restraint of Trade – The Per Se Test

Ina Steiner has attempted some analysis at Auctionbytes;

“I was curious if the numbers might hint at any boycott effect. Looking at the numbers month-to-month, it shows a 13.21 percent drop in page views from January 2008 to February, and a 6.48 percent increase from February to March. There was also a 10.85 percent drop in time spent per person from January 2008 to February. It’s always tricky looking at month-to-month numbers, as seasonal effects can cause swings.”

Once again, the action is really in the comments!

This is simply my own personal thoughts – I think eBay’s future success or failure will be measured by their arrogance and sad attempts at PR spin… but those are other posts to come…

Post from: EveryJoe

eBay Traffic Trending Downward