TOP AUCTION TOOLS

eBay to Tell Shoppers, No Checks or Money Orders
By Ina Steiner

Sellers are saying eBay's ban on checks and
money orders is, in effect, a move to a
PayPal-only policy - at least for the many
sellers who don't have their own credit card
merchant account. Buyers may be unaware of
the policy that goes into effect during the
holiday shopping season - and it's unclear
what those shoppers who can't or don't wish
to use PayPal and credit cards on eBay will
do in response to the policy.

Soliciting Paper Payments
eBay confirmed that sellers may still
accept checks and money orders after the policy
goes into effect - as long as the request comes
from the buyer and sellers do not solicit paper
payments in listings or via email.

Many sellers remain unaware of this fact, and
others may be reluctant to accept paper anyway
out of fear of eBay's Trust & Safety
enforcement team.

Seller confusion could lead to buyer confusion
if they receive conflicting information from
sellers about whether or not they may accept
paper payments.

Google Checkout
The ban on paper payments will take effect in
late October and eBay will continue to ban
competitive online payment services, except
for a service called ProPay.

eBay had for several years cited concerns
over Google's track record of providing safe
and reliable financial and/or banking related
services, as well as concerns about privacy
issues, as the reason for banning its Checkout
payment service.

But eBay added messaging to its website
last week saying it would ban Google Checkout,
Checkout by Amazon or Amazon Flexible Payment
Services because "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."

Antitrust Lawsuit
It's not clear what effect, if any, eBay's new
payment policy may have on the class-action
antitrust lawsuit filed against it in 2007.

In its motion to dismiss last year, eBay wrote,
"Plaintiffs acknowledge, as they must, that eBay
sellers are free to accept a wide variety of
payment forms. They can accept Visa, MasterCard,
Discover or American Express. They can accept
cash, checks or money orders. They can accept
online payments from at least four online payment
services other than PayPal: Bidpay, Propay.com,
Checkfree.com, and Hyperwallet.com."

eBay banned cash payments in 2006 and further
limited payment methods last year. Beginning in
late October, eBay will limit acceptable payment
methods to merchant credit card accounts, ProPay,
and PayPal.