Aussie Reserve Bank Eyeing eBay's PayPal Policy

Bulldust writes "Regular readers will recollect the recent story that eBay is forcing Australian users over to PayPal or COD as the only forms of payment in June 2008: eBay Australia Makes PayPal Mandatory. It now appears that the Australian Reserve Bank will consider throwing its weight behind users, should the eBay policy be deemed to breach trade practice and competition laws."

Comments

Re:why all the greed

[blahplusplus]

"What's wrong with being content with a reasonable profit?"

The culture and economic system demand the greed, remember Ebay is public company owned by shareholders, whose sole purpose is growth of profits.

As for people. People want power, when people say they want to be "rich", it's not that they want to just be rich (10 million or so) they want as much wealth as possible. Being 'rich' is relative to the richest, what they mean is "I want to be among the richest".

Re:Ooops

[NightRain]

I am guessing eBat/PayPal forgot there are regulatory bodies they should consult before doing such things.

They forgot nothing at all. They actually submitted notice to the ACCC specifically asking for permission to be excluded from regulations that would stop this sort of thing, as it's "more secure" for the end user, and thus ultimately in the end users benefit.

They have not yet got, and likely will not get said permission, making their decision to broadcast their intentions publicly somewhat strange...

Re:Aussies are crazy.

[Anthony]

Rudd is still having his "honeymoon period" in government. This has been extended by the ineptness of the Opposition and some toadying on behalf of the media. He has said a lot about what his government will do and has not made a complete fool of himself overseas. The budget comes out next month and it will be the first real test of policies and practice.

The major worrying factor is that he will have to make deals with a number of people in after June when the new Senate sits. Most have dubious track records. Steve Fielding (Family First) is the biggest worry. We have already seen ISP filtering being declared an essential service for all Australians. The morons have also caved into pressure from Fielding to arrange for an Internet filter to be installed in Parliament House so members can no longer visit reproductive health sites and a whole bunch of other sites that are essential for staffer research.

He may also have to try to do deals with the Greens. They have shown little aptitude for deal-making or legislative creativity so we may even see a double-dissolution of Parliament within a year. They generally vote with the ALP on social and economic issues however so the threat may be small. Headline-grabbing environmental issues will be the sticking point.

Finally there is the Independent Nick Xenophon who ran on a popular anti-poker machine campaign. Already Rudd has made noises about limiting their spread which is a bit late. I for one see benefits in limiting these discretionary taxation devices.