ebay does it again

by **wez** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:24 pm

has anyone seen this latest trick from ebay? when you list items for sale, you now get this message -

"Attention: New eBay policy
If you state in your listing that you accept certain payment methods, you cannot discourage buyers from using them."

....followed by some examples....

"You cannot say the following in your listings:
I only accept PayPal from international buyers
â€œI do not accept PayPal.â€

by **Kurt** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:35 pm

I fail to see the problem?

ebay provide a service and have rules regarding it's use. Don't like the rules, don't use it.

by **Futureman** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:38 pm

Yep.. thems the rules.. they do suck tho.

Especially as you pay the ebay fees for a listing (To be expected) then you get stung with paypal fees (About 3% from memory) when you get paid.

by **heathen** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:41 pm

Futureman wrote:Yep.. thems the rules.. they do suck tho.

Especially as you pay the ebay fees for a listing (To be expected) then you get stung with paypal fees (About 3% from memory) when you get paid.

Or for international transactions you get stung about 20 bucks too, so sometimes paypal can be cheaper.

by **wez** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:43 pm

ok what i'm specifically pissed off about is the slimy insidious attitude behind a statement like "well your ad says you take paypal" when they know full bloody well that the customer is not given a choice. it's like someone stealing your wallet at knife-point and then using your credit card and saying "well you said i could have your wallet".

of course we've had this discussion before and when the whole paypal thing flared up a few months ago i just went with it, even though i hated it. this might just be a bridge too far for some people... maybe not others. but for me it's just arrogant, rude and disengenuous.

by **HA_DA_JA** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:51 pm

Sent you a PM how I get around this.
Cheers

by **Futureman** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:20 pm

HA_DA_JA wrote:Sent you a PM how I get around this.
Cheers

ooohhh... a secret.. ;]

by **HA_DA_JA** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:29 pm

Well once you post something on the www it stays for a long time and it can bite you in the furture. I know there are different sorts of biting some pleasurable and others not so. Well these are one of those "shark" like bitings not pleasurable !!

by **smash** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:31 pm

Could you do what alot of the big retail chains do...

"Paypal cheerfully accepted however all Paypal purchases automatically incur a 3% fee to be added to shipping to cover higher merchant costs"

I know a lot of shops who charge CC surcharges, even when they "cheerfully accept" the card in question.

by **Kurt** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:40 pm

I have seen sellers doing that, dunno if they're allowed but it seems reasonable to me.

smash wrote:Could you do what alot of the big retail chains do...

"Paypal cheerfully accepted however all Paypal purchases automatically incur a 3% fee to be added to shipping to cover higher merchant costs"

I know a lot of shops who charge CC surcharges, even when they "cheerfully accept" the card in question.

by **Futureman** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:43 pm

smash wrote:Could you do what alot of the big retail chains do...
I know a lot of shops who charge CC surcharges, even when they "cheerfully accept" the card in question.

That also is against ebay listing rules & regulations... ;[

I once did a listing asking for the extra 3% is paying by paypal, and ebay canned my listing saying this was not allowed..

by **wez** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:20 am

so i can confirm that you are not allowed to say this -

"please don't use paypal without asking first (in which case buyer pays fees). "

i just had 11 auctions cancelled because i had that in the buyer instructions (i've been using the same phrase for years)

i know there's a few lawyers on here... could i get a quick legal opinion? if i implore buyers to use paypal, and begrudgingly offer a 3% discount if they insist on using bank deposit, could that be seen as 'discouraging' them from using paypal?

by **HA_DA_JA** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:27 am

Maybe post your 11 items on turtlerock first for us to have first crack of buying?
Cheers

by **wez** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 12:34 am

yeah i did (it's all academic music texts and scores, not the usual turtlerock fare so no bites)

i've relisted some of them, all with different wordings - will be interesting to see which ones get canned.

i just also realised... the rules seem to specifically avoid saying it's about Paypal, but we all know that's what it's about. they say you're not allowed to discourage buyers from using any method your ad says you accept. so if i implore buyers to use paypal, and tell them i'd rather they didn't use bank deposit... would ebay kick up the same fuss? by rights they should.

ebay does it again

ebay does it again

Who is online