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eBay Australia Delays PayPal Change Indefinitely
Daehenoc points out news that eBay Australia has postponed their ban on all forms of payment other than PayPal. The ban had already been delayed once, but eBay Australia has now decided to simply wait for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to determine whether or not the move is acceptable. We discussed the beginnings of this story back in April.
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It's a good idea to check that AC box when doing that so you don't get the karma hit from trolling.
Cardboard box cartel? I've now heard it all... Crazy Aussies ;)
ACCC action has nothing to do with ebay stopping the trial, it's more likely the very public backlash they are feeling.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Although officially eBay does not allow Google Checkout, you can simply put that you "accept credit cards" with some credit card logos on your auction and then send people an invoice when they win.
Unfortunately a lot of people assume that everyone on eBay takes PayPal and are shocked to discover that you don't, but PayPal is such a terrible system for both buyers and sellers I don't use it any more.
In the UK PayPal make it impossible to deal with them. Any dispute always comes down to who can get a "police report" (crime incident report) which is impossible to obtain because the transaction is covered by civil law. In the event you can lie you way into getting one from the police, you automatically win - and if they refuse you automatically loose. If you are a buyer you can't ask your credit card company for help either because they only cover the transaction you make with PayPal, not the transaction made with the seller.
Worst of all is the customer "service" which is split into two groups. The first group are useless time wasters whose job is to make you go away. If you email them you always get a standard copy-paste response, which is usually not even related to your question. Basically it seems like they deliberately avoid the question. If you call them they know nothing, can't do anything and can't help. The second group will never ever talk to you, but is responsible for making all decisions and controls everything. These are the people you need to deal with, but they are impossible to reach.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
No, it's something to do with the ACCC trying to stop Australians getting ripped off. I'm glad someone finally stood up to Paypal and their bullshit.
I'm on to you...
Don't laugh, my mother was roughed up by cardboard box goons only last week! The scariest part was when they used the double corrugated bats - she's lucky to still be alive..
Commodore64_love: I don't comprehend people who're so frightened of death that they'll bankrupt themselves to stay alive
The detail with the cartel is the ACCC can take no personal action against the perpetrator but they would like to so it as not seen as being a complete success. Rules are being changed so that they can do so in the future.
That PayPal sucks?
I'm not trolling here either. The serious problems that PayPal has are widely known. From buyers to merchants, everybody has a horror story that has prevented them from doing business in confidence. There is even a well known anti-PayPal website out there.
A few months back when eBay started making those changes I canceled my account and told them reason why I was canceling the account. Apparently, I was not the only one. eBay used to be a place where the "common" man could go to sell his used items. Sure, it turned out to be a nifty place for people to setup shop as professional sellers, but it did not start out that way.
Since eBay made it mandatory that you accept PayPal, regardless of what type of seller you were, it forced people to make a decision. I think there has been QUITE A LOT of those decisions made and possibly eBay is taking notice of it's user base diminishing quite rapidly, from casual sellers to professional merchants.
Heck, I have not even visited eBay's website since that last announcement. I used to check it for prices and good deals, and now I just use Google Shopping instead.
Cardboard box cartel?
;)
Yep!
Crazy Aussies
That we are.
One of the perpetrators is currently facing criminal charges for lying to the investigation.
But I take your point, pricks should have been sent to jail for the crime not for the technicality they committed while in the process.
Only problem I had with Paypal it took forever to transfer money from my bank account... well 2 whole weeks.
I find this intresting because I have never had any problem with them.
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
I have major problems with paypal.
I've never been scammed but I've heard they frequently favour the buyer over the seller (I'm a seller)
My real issue is the god damned *expletive* fees. .01% of all auctions and still make a killing, they don't though, not even close.
For an ONLINE system which costs them absoloutely stuff all to run (when you factor in the quantity of auctions on the system) the prices are ridiculously high.
They could take
I really wish I purchased ebay shares long long ago.
I don't really think they are that worried about the ACCC - when the ACCC released there draft ruling all they did was delay the changes a little, they were still going to be put in place in blatent defiance of the ACCC draft ruling and before the actual ruling was due to be released.
What I don't think they bargained for was the media coverage on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Telegragh which framed the issue as if eBay were scamming their own customers - the stories were quite blunt and less than flattering of eBay Australia.
I think they cared a lot more about all the negative press and the SMH was throwing down the gauntlet pressuring the ACCC to become engaged prior to release of the final ruling - that's something no company wants. Angry media representatives do more damage that your average government pen pusher.
Two Parts Swash, One Part Buckle
EBay are only attempting this because they are a monopoly and are vigorously trying to monetize that point.
I think it is high time there was a competing auction service in Australia (although unfortunatley the nature of action sites gravitate to one).
In New Zealand there is a site called TradeMe.co.nz and it was first and saw off eBay. The Service is much better, and there are many features which eBay (in Australia) don't bother with (better pictures) anti snipe delays etc etc.
Unfortunately it will take a mass of people power to unseat eBay, and so ultimatley they will get away with this.
Frankly I'm sick of it and going back to the trading post..
'They're dreamin' - The Castle
Move along... there is no sig here.
eBay has been spamming Australian customers with PR drivel like this one they sent me: "eBay challenges yesterday's Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) draft notice and is disappointed that the ACCC's current view delays the opportunity to provide consumers a more secure way to shop on eBay.com.au with confidence"
With confidence? I had a dispute where the seller did a runner. I thought PayPal protected me, but it turns out once the seller has taken the loot and run, tough luck. To try and pass this off as fighting for *us* is laughable. eBay looks out for eBay. Don't insult our intelligence by pretending this is anything other than a grab for more money.
How is it every single petrol station, no matter which company they claim to be, all have identical prices? And all of their prices rise and fall at the exact same days?
How can anyone hear these facts and still reject the fact that there is price fixing going on.
...the ACCC can allow them to only accept PayPal, but PayPal is not allowed to collect any fees on the transactions. If eBay is doing this for "consumer safety", I'm sure they won't mind freely offering their payment service.
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Because all petrol stations get their petrol from about 3 or 4 different sources in Australia, all of which come through the exact same supply channels, all controlled by Big Oil. The price fixing happens at a far higher level than at the petrol station. Some smaller petrol stations that try to buck the trend (buying petrol on cheap days and selling it lower priced on high days) find themselves quickly unable to buy petrol from Big Oil.
I hate printers.
Interesting. I wonder if that's illegal (forcing distributors of my product to sell it for a particular price)?
Also I just realise I replied to timmarhy so I wasted my breath.
How is it every single petrol station, no matter which company they claim to be, all have identical prices?
Where is that? Maybe they copy each other.
Here in WA its certainly not true. That is prevented by the fuelwatch scheme:
http://www.fuelwatch.wa.gov.au/
Sydney. Not only are the prices identical, but they go up every Wednesday and then go back down on Monday. Glad to see some government has stepped in to do something about it. If only mine would :(
Well, in a highly-competitive market, price changes from one merchant follow another. Take an example from Vancouver BC - the drivers here are literally stupid enough to drive across Metro Vancouver (GVRD) to save a penny per litre. As a result, a station may decide to lower their price a bit, and if they do it enough, a lineup will form down the street for a couple of blocks. (Yes, it's stupid since you're more likely to waste more gas than the amount you save waiting at the station, or driving across the many cities).
So if the station across the street lowers their price (hurting their own profit - they may briefly sell below cost), the other stations often quickly follow suit. Then when one station is hurting enough and raise prices, the other stations notice, and judge to see whether or not they can raise prices as well (remember - profit motive - the higher the price, the higher the profit for the station). Thus prices tend to march upwards as well.
It works for gas really well compared to other stores because with gas, effectively, every station is equivalent. There aren't many intangibles (return policies, customer service, checkout times, etc) that differentiate one station from another (only one - location, but that's nullified if people are willing to drive to you).
Effectively, you could replace all the stations around town with generic ones, and no one will know the difference - the only real differentiator is price, and all the competitors ensure that no one station can maintain a price advantage, or if they can, stop losses and increase profits as soon as possible. Station profits are around a penny or two per litre.
A few years ago here, Arco opened up and had the guaranteed cheapest price (for the first few years, anyhow). Lines would extend for blocks (always easy to find an Arco station - just look for the lines). Then the price differential became slimmer and slimmer, and Arco withdrew in the end. Business was brisk, but profit from the volume wasn't.
It's a somewhat wierd phenomenon - when I go to the US, all the stations seem to have different prices within a few blocks of each other - up to abou 20 cents or so per gallon. Not so back home - they're practically all identical.