ACCC ruling on Ebay/Paypal

[Kris]

ACCC rejected Ebay's application to force users to use Paypal for Ebay transactions, citing anti competition as the key factor in handing down the decision.

Score one for the little guys.

[David W]

I wonder how this applies to transactions in other countries?

Is it just that this ruling applies in Australia on Ebay.aus or all Australians trading on Ebay.
Or does this apply worldwide ??

[Aearth]

Has anyone been paid by Paypal for a seller not suppling the goods, I though Paypal was a safety net for such dealings.

nIC

[David W]

I was paid by ebay the max amount for two sepetate Items fron 1 bad Ebayer who was eventually banned.
I paid VIA International Bank Transfer, just had to show documentation and write a letter.

I also was able to track the guy down (While my dispute was in progress) by his buissiness name on the net and found his address. Sent a very thretning letter and the goods arrived on my doorstep 2 weeks later.

[heathen]

You don't have to use paypal, just offer it, I've done a few direct deposits on ebay, though only after being certain the seller is legit.

But yeah paypal are pushing the boundaries of fairness, they charge quite a bit to send money, but...... sending money to other countries is pretty expensive and paypal sometimes turns out to be the easier and cheaper option.

The modules I just bought from germany were going to be a pita to pay for without paypal, the guy did'nt even want to accept paypal but in the end he did after I said I'd pay the fee's, still worked out cheaper than a wire transfer, was going to be 70Euro for the transaction and it worked out about 30 with pp.

I dunno I sort of have a mixed opinion of them, but yes good the ACCC are keeping an eye on them, also would only apply to ebay.au, any other countries would be exempt but would not show items without paypal offered from other countries.

[Kris]

The fees paypal charges are usually the credit card vendor fees. A lot of businesses are passing that cost on to buyers now anyway, especially the 4% charged by American Express. One thing I have noticed recently is that Paypal gives you the option to be billed in your local currency at their exchange rate (which is always crap) or be billed in the local currency of the seller and let your bank do the currency conversion. The latter option will always work out in your favour.

As far as the ACCC ruling, their jurisdiction only relates to Australia and it's territories, so... only Ebay AU is my guess.

[astrovic]

yep, it only applies to Australia. Possibly not just eBay AU though, as the Trade Practices Act can apply to any trade where there is a sufficient connection with Australia - so a buyer or a seller in Australia might suffice. Then you'd have to look at where the deal was done, whose laws apply to the deal etc etc etc...

But given that eBay's Paypal monopoly plan only relates to eBay AU (so far), that would be the extent of it in practical terms.

Curious to see whether eBay challenges the ACC ruling, though

[norm]

I have been burned thru paypal. The problem being is that you cant get at the seller. Thats because you go thru paypal. Paypal stuffs up you wear it and their own stinking self preserving rules stop you getting your cash back. Norm

[davemc]

The thing that interested me was the push that Paypal was safer.
If you read the Paypal blurb on ebay the seller has to have 50+ sales and 98% freedback score to be covered for bigger $ purchases.
Remember Ebay brought in recently that sellers could not leave bad feedback to buyers and also could not dispute bad feedback.
So very soon every seller will be under 98%. So no cover over $400.

from Paypal website
https://www.paypal.com/au/cgi-bin/websc ... nt-outside
Top tier up to $3k The seller's eBay feedback rating is 50 or above, and at least 98% positive.
otherwise Basic Tier up to $400
From ebay
http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/feedback/ ... dback.html
Buyers may leave sellers positive, neutral or negative feedback depending on how the transaction went. Sellers may only leave buyers positive feedback.