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eBay To Disallow Checks and Money Orders In US
Sir_Kurt writes "In eBay's latest FAQ, they explain that sellers (for the good of the buyers) will no longer be allowed to accept checks or money orders as payment. They can take electronic payments only. So, will Google Checkout, Checkout by Amazon or Amazon Flexible Payment be allowed? No, says eBay: 'Google's and Amazon's products and services compete with eBay on a number of levels, so we are not going to allow them on eBay.' Options are limited to PayPal, ProPay, direct credit payments to the seller, and 'payment upon pickup.' But remember, this is for our own good!"
eBay ran into trouble earlier this year for trying to restrict payment options.
Too many people fall for the "I will send you X+Y and you send me back Y with the item".
Besides if your dealing on the net the protection of a CC is a must
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
The more restrictions they put on their service, the less interest I have in using it.
I liked the good old days of ebay where you could buy a few sparc stations and then drive over to a guys house and give him cash for them. (craigslist has filled that void)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Basically paypal and e-bay are ridicuously bad about protecting people from scams.
However this is a move in the right direction. Recently they put a 30 day escrow on pay pal payments. Which they should have done years ago.
Now it's much safer to shop.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
eBay has been going this route for a while. I don't see them backing down. I am in agreement that Craigslist is filling the void that eBay used to fill very well. Now it's just a bunch of 'PowerSellers' reselling product they don't even have. It was a nice flea market while it lasted, but they got big $$$ in their eyes and got greedy.
For example, I sold an item for $150, final value fee was $12.35 and paypal took another $4.82. That's a good chunk of the sale when you are the one designing the auction page and putting the items up for sale. All in hope that the buyer isn't going to rip you off by reversing the charges after pretending they never got the item and you can't leave them negative feedback anymore.
There is a need for a new auction site to open that is like eBay used to be.
and every day, companies send million-dollar checks through regular US mail to each other. and the system actually works pretty well. for 47 cents, plus envelope , paper, and special laser cartridges, you can transfer a million dollars. try doing that on paypal, or setting up eletronic systems to do that, and now try to keep those systems secure. now try to do it for 47 cents per transaction.
checks are dying, but they are not a horrible system. they work.
what's really going on is this: meg whitman left ebay, now some 'genius' MBA has come in and said 'omg we are not screwing the customers enough. take away their freedom of choice, and change it into profit for us'.
in other words: capitalists hate us for our freedom.
eBay needs to be split into a marketplace where you can go to buy new things (like Amazon), and the good old auctioning of used personal stuff. Until they do that, they won't see me again.
Ebay IS split into a "market place" (ebay stores) and an "auction". The trouble is the marketplace people want visibility in the auction side and so flood the auctions with their stuff.
And then on top of that there are the boatloads of garbage sellers, who just stuff the auctions with worthless crap that never sells... 'guides' and crap like that. And the people with scammy sounding auctions...
"I will randomly pack a few valueable items into one of 500 lots of near worthless items" buy a lot of lots and hope you get lucky!
Of course there is no accountability that any of the 500 lots ever had the valuable item in the first place...
Will suddenly be "pay when you pick up" customers. Payment can be pre-sent via USPS mail, and shipping will be concierge service automatically 24 hours after payment if they can't pick it up because they suddenly got too busy. :)
Well, of course the excuse they are using is factually correct. We have to look deeper, at what they're really intending to achieve by doing this. It doesn't take a tinfoil hat wearing loon to see that eBay are trying to shoe-horn everyone into paying by Paypal. They've already tried it once recently!
There's also one point the summary missed:
The thing is, they ran into trouble in Australia. Will the US DOJ take an interest? Am guessing, but I doubt it.
This is a case where the course of action for the DOJ is clear however. eBay and Paypal should be split into two separate companies, that would stop this -- and any future -- nefarious deals between the two. Returning competition to the market.
I'm going to transform myself into a mighty hawk. Either that or I'll just go and work at Dixons, haven't decided yet.
Half.com is still pretty good for used stuff, though.
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
I can't for the life of me understand why so many people continue to waste their time using eBay. What exactly is the appeal of going through a bidding process to end up paying over retail prices on stuff that may not ever even get shipped by whatever douche happens to be scamming at the moment?
Ebay was, is, and will continue to be for the foreeable future a good place to purchase difficult to find collectibles at reasonable prices.
This includes used books, board games / table top games / role playing games / collectible card games, used toys (lego, playmobil, fisher price, construx, action figures, etc...), console video games and systems, etc.
Its not so much that you get them 'cheap', but you do get them for a fair market price, instead of either not being able to find them at all, or paying the monopolistic pricing that a local collector shop will charge. (I've seen used out of print paperbacks books listed at $50-$100 in local bookstores... they know they've got the only copy easily found for sale within 1000 miles... but you can often get the same book for $10-15 on ebay, if you search regularly.
Another example would be the famous lego "Yellow Castle" or "Galaxy Explorer" sets. There's often a couple up for auction on ebay, and finding them elsewhere can be downright impossible unless you are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of cash.
The other area ebay is alright is getting small new items with high retail markup. They tend to go on ebay for much lower markup and you can get good deals even after S&H and fees. (Although you can generally get them for the same price online elsewhere.)
Paypal acts like a payment processor, not a bank. They don't have a bank charter among other things. Payment processing regulation is very lax.
They are a teeeny-tiny player in the payment processing world dominated by hook-and-crook by the Visa association of banks.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Considering PayPal wants access to my bank account in order for me to purchase anything through their service, I absolutely refuse to do business with merchants who only take PayPal. Why would anybody trust a company like PayPal with their bank account details?
Now that I can't pay for items via Money Orders, I'll be even less inclined to purchase stuff through eBay.
eBay is in serious need of competition.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
I used to work at a high-end guitar store in the Northeast, and my boss put his entire store inventory (that he owned) on Ebay. The reason was simple enough: his inventory was pretty unique, expensive, and collectable, so he felt he needed to reach a global audience to have the best potential to move his gear.
He stopped accepting PayPal for international bidders after an incident in which a international scam artist purchased an item online and reversed the purchase the day it was shipped out the door. Unfortunately, PayPal offers no insurance to the seller in international transactions. So PayPal is a no go for him.
Credit cards are also a problem. He has been burned before. While credit companies and credit card processing companies generally protect you more than PayPal, it can still complicate international small-scale business. In order to verify that the person is not using a stolen credit card, he has to call up the credit agency in its respective country and verify that the shipping address and billing address are the same. Interestingly enough, some banks (particularly in the UK) will flat out refuse to give you this information - even a simple yes or no response when you give them the address you have is against their policy. Also interestingly enough, this service is not automated for international transactions , although it is for US transactions. Now imagine doing this many, many times a day, especially if you sell cheaper items, lets say in the 10-20 dollar range. Also keep in mind that the more times you give a customer an indication of distrust (such as calling them at their residence to confirm other information or ask the bank to release information), the greater your chance to drop the sale becomes.
I'd estimate that roughly 80% of his international transactions over eBay were done via check, money order, or direct money wire, because these methods of payment were convenient while also fairly risk-and-hassle-free. Without this option, I don't see him making as many sales overall, especially in today's market, where the US economy is floundering and the majority of his sales come from overseas. Nearly 3 out of every 5 guitars we shipped last year went overseas, despite high shipping rates, and many of them went to England. Nearly 4 out of 5 of every 1000+ plus item went overseas.
Now, of course, many of you are probably saying "Well now, why didn't he just start a website?". He did. The problem is this: eBay just has too much exposure to let go of. He will probably keep his eBay store, but mostly because advertising through Google or anywhere else is just so damn expensive. He used to pour 500 dollars a month into AdWords. Guess where that got him? Nowhere. Analytics even said so. But when the customers contact him through Ebay, ethically he has to complete the sale through Ebay (or lose his merchant account). If he is restrained to completing the sales through Ebay, he will probably make less sales because for him credit card is now the only option (pay on pickup doesn't really make sense internationally), and his business and Ebay will both suffer. But if he behaves unethically by taking those contacts and processes them through his own website , Ebay still loses and there is the potential of him losing his account and exposure, along with the additional "untrusty" flag that comes along with telling a customer you are going to "bend the rules".
I don't see how this can be a win for Ebay.
I don't think you pay attention to the overall market. The stock may be half what it was 3 years ago... but it's also half of what it was just in October of 2007 (less than a year ago).
But then again, take a look at Google's stock... Yahoo's stock... Amazon's stock... really ANY tech stock.
Glancing at a stock chart for a minute is meaningless if you don't understand what's been going on with the economy. All things considered, eBay's stock price isn't that bad compared to the rest of the market.
In fact, a good way to tell the legitimacy of the seller, especially if they were a "private" seller, is to see if they would accept a USPO money order.
As a seller, I used to love the USPS money order, and gave a discount (I think it was around 5%) to anyone who paid with it. I'd cash in the money order while dropping the package off at the post office (which was right down the street from my house). Cleared instantly, no chargebacks, no bounced checks, no need to go to the bank *before* shipping. It was well worth giving away the discount, which was more than the what I'd have paid in paypal fees.
They allow you to move money from your bank account to your paypal account.
So do any number of gift cards. Sorry. Not a bank.
They allow you to elect to make payments from your paypal "balance"
As do gift cards, a positive balance on any given utility, your cable bill, etc.
They offer a "debit card" that draws from your paypal "balance".
Any company with a few thousand customers could do the same thing. Visa pays a bounty in the $40/per sale range. It's a Visa product originated by a Visa member bank with an Ebay logo on it. Other than the bounty and providing a logo for the card, Ebay knows nothing and has nothing to do with the branded debit card.
If someone sends you funds, it goes towards this balance.
When you pay a bill it does the same thing... Your average utility/store credit card is not a registered bank. They may use something that SOUNDS like a bank, but they do not offer simple interest savings accounts, originate home and business loans, provide business banking services... I could go on and on.
If they put a hold on your account, they deny you access to this "balance" that is your money.
This is not banking. I don't care if you think it is, it simply isn't.
Bottom line: I know Paypal sucks, but they are not a bank. Not even close. You and the informative moderators don't have a clue how it works. Please learn something from this post.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
You don't need more or less regulations. You need better regulations.
You don't need more or less government, you need better government. Code quality is not strongly correlated to the number of lines of code.
Less regulation does not mean a better state of things (nor does more regulation either).
For instance, if it were up to me, I'd have imposed a "Bailout Tax" or levy on all companies in the financial industry during the good times. The money goes to a Bailout Fund.
Then during the bad times, the Bailout Fund is used to bail out companies. If the fund is not enough, the bailout tax is increased. If bailouts aren't needed after a few decades and the industry "grows up", the tax is reduced/removed, (but the fund is still kept just in case).
The other industries seem to manage themselves better and not have to run to "Mama" every decade. So as long as they haven't grown up, they need extra rules.
During the good times, they get all the money, and during the bad times the taxpayers have to pay? Yes there are already corporate taxes, but do they really cover the bailouts?
As someone said, what we have here is: privatize the gain and socialize the pain.
We need better regulation than that.
From the buyer's POV I'll say that the money order was perfect for me. I get the money order and drop it in the mail in one easy motion at the post office, and I never have to worry that my credit card number is out there. My total exposure is limited to the amount of the money order. I'll also add that I never even once was ripped off on Ebay. I also never bought an item over $40. Anyway, with this move, I'm done with Ebay, not that I was ever a big part of it I'm sure, but there are probably millions of casual buyers like myself, picking up maybe a dozen schotskis a year, and I think that portion of the business is going to all but die now.
Jealously hoarding mod points since 2007.