A question about ebay's new policies

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Posted By: Cy

I am curious about ebay's new policies for payment. I am wondering if any of the lawyers, or others, can shed some light onto this.

Ebay has always stated that they are not libel for any sort of fraud because they are just an in-between moderator. This in-between situation shields them from any problems. However, now they are forcing everyone to use their form of payment. Wouldn't this put them right in the line of fire? If everyone must use their form of payment, aren't they directly connected with each sale and not just an in-between moderator?

I would be happy to hear any thoughts about this.

Sincerely,

Cy

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Posted By: barrysloate

Since I am not a lawyer I don't want to tackle this, but I do want to mention that I sell weekly on ebay and I am still getting a few checks a week from buyers. So I don't think ebay really is forcing people to use paypal. I must admit I don't fully understand what this is about.

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Posted By: Marty

I had a discussion with some low level person at PayPal. They pulled $1400 from me 4 months after a sale because the buyer said that he did not authorize the charge. I said that I am charged a fee by PayPal and for that fee and the fact that they accepted the credit card and not me, I should not be the one on the short end. She told me that she would note it in my file. I had the signature conformation to fax to them, so I got my money back. I just believe that if I took the credit card directly, that is my issue. If PayPal does, then it should be their issue.

When I send out my notifications, I thank them for buying and I give them payment options of PayPal, credit cards and checks. I get all three.

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Posted By: Red

They're not forcing buyers and sellers to only use PayPal. They're forcing sellers to provide an electronic means of payment. This is most easily accomplished with PayPal, or the seller can set up their own merchant account to handle electronic payments. Buyers can still pay via check, money order, or cash but the seller can't in any way promote that they accept this type of payment. If the buyer asks the seller if he can send paper payment the seller is allowed to say it's okay.

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Posted By: Anonymous

seems to me like most of the ebay dealers i've dealt with still take money-orders.....since i don't have paypal, i usually have to ask....but it hasn't been a problem....about 9 out of 10 dealers i've communicated with still take money-orders

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Posted By: Jim VB

I recently set up a sellers account. Ebay does not allow me the option of saying I accept checks. They may not be enforcing this on sellers set up previously, but it is coming.

From their web site:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html

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Posted By: Bob Pomilla

At this moment, there are still items up on ebay that the seller states he will accept paper payment for. So, are these dealers in violation of ebay's current policy?

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Posted By: Jim VB

Bob,

I don't know (can't tell for sure from the link I posted) if they are "grandfathered" in or just in that period where ebay is not enforcing their rule until January. But just setting up, I had no options.

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Posted By: barrysloate

If you receive a check in the mail without the buyer saying he is sending it, why wouldn't you accept it? You're not going to return it to him, but process and ship his order.

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Posted By: Jim VB

Barry,

The way it reads to me, they intend to remove any reference to alternate payments (anything except Paypal, credit card, or Propay) from their listings, except in the few areas they mention (cars, commercial equipment, real estate, etc.)

As a seller, you could always contact the buyer and offer to take a check, but eventually, as more people get used to Paypal, these contacts will be viewed by the buyers as a sort of scam. (I fully realize they are not, but some buyers will view them this way.)

This will get ebay to 90-95% paypal in short order, whether we like it or not.

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Posted By: boxingcardman

What if you don't want to accept credit cards?

It is way too easy for a buyer to charge back on a credit card.

I think Ebay may be losing a lot of small sellers over that. Of course, that seems to be their purpose anyway.

Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc

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Posted By: D. Bergin

Ebay learned from their attempt in Australia they can't demand sellers only accept Paypal. This is their attempt to get around that by removing any mention of alternate payment methods on their site but not technically creating a monopoly or anti-trust situation.

You can still accept checks and money orders but you are not allowed to advertise that fact on Ebay.

I've ammended by own descriptions and invoices stating that "Paypal and other payment methods are accepted on request" from the customer.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I can run my business either way, with or without accepting checks, but ebay just wants the paypal fees.

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Posted By: D. Bergin

What if you don't want to accept credit cards?

It is way too easy for a buyer to charge back on a credit card.

I think Ebay may be losing a lot of small sellers over that. Of course, that seems to be their purpose anyway.


I have a merchant account but I choose not to use it for Ebay sales because of the extra hassle involved. I'm starting to consider using it. It's a lot easier for a buyer to charge back a Paypal sale then it is to charge back a typical merchant account transaction.

In my experience a merchant account will investigate a transaction to see if it was actually fraudulent or if a package was actually lost before issuing a charge back.

Paypal will more then likely just issue a charge back on request without instituting any sort of an investigation.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I agree with Cy in that the more eBay takes control over the transaction, the more responsible they become for the merchandise. I'm not suggesting they are responsible for card grades or fakes, but it's now hard for eBay to argue that they take a hands off approach to transactions.

In the face of Louis Vuitton and Tiffany lawsuits, eBay's "not our responsibility" mantra was that the sales transaction was strictly between the buyer and seller. Merchandise, shipping and payment method was strictly up to the buyer and seller. eBay said they were completely removed from the transaction, other than charging a formulaic fee for generic use of their website. eBay has now interjected itself as the third party in the transaction, and the mantra may not be as convincing at dispute time.

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Posted By: S Gross

I just sold a few cards last night on ebay.

When I went to send the invoices, both checks and money orders where available as a payment option ----- HOWEVER ----- the paypal option was "checked" while both checks and money orders were "UN-checked." So you manually had to "RE-check" them as an option.

So not too hard ----- BUT ----- if you go too fast you might "forget" to re-check checks and money orders.


........ so remember to check and re-check the un-check checks. (check ? )

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Posted By: D. Bergin

Funny, I just sent a bunch of invoices out today. On my International buyers the Check, MO, option were still available but you had to check them.

On my U.S. buyers all options had completely disappeared.

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Posted By: Chris

Ebay is allowing sellers time to adjust to the new rules. They will actually be enforcing it starting Jan. 20th.

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Posted By: Dan P.

When I did my ebay submissions on 10/19 I was able to select checks and money orders for payment. On 10/20 those choices weren't available--only paypal.

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Posted By: Jimmy

The key is to ask the seller, when I post a new auction I can not write money order or check in my description and it will not be included in the eBay payment list. What buyers need to due is if they win an auction to request through email that they can only pay with a money order or check. I have payment instructions on my web site. Sellers cannot request money orders or checks the buyers need to contact the seller first

Jimmy

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Posted By: leon

When I am selling on ebay am I allowed, per ebay rules, to say I don't accept paypal?

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Posted By: Jim VB

From the link I posted above:

Sellers must offer to accept one or more of the following payment choices:

PayPal

Credit or debit card processed through an Internet merchant account

ProPay

Sellers may in addition offer to accept:

Payment upon pickup




Leon,

They go on to offer more options in other selling classifications, such as automoblies, but in most areas you must accept at least one electronic payment option, and you can't mention that you take checks.

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Posted By: Keith

When I listed some items the other day (and I had money order checked as an ok form of payment), I got this warning page come up after the item was listed stating that I was allowing an unauthorized form of payment in my auction, and starting in January, any auction like this would be removed by ebay.

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Posted By: D. Bergin

I just noticed when you send out your invoices to auction winners, your Ebay seller address was no longer included with the invoice.

I didn't even realize this until a couple customers e-mailed me asking for my address so they could send a check or money order.

It would be nice if Ebay would let us in on these changes ahead of time. The Amazonization of Ebay continues.

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Posted By: Lastra, Frank

Looks like not a good trend to me. I have won several auctions recently and had to ask for the adress to send money order. One of the sellers told me he was not even aware of the new rules.

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Posted By: L.F.

Hope it changes

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Posted By: D. Bergin

What a hassle. Not only are the intent on driving away sellers, now they're looking for ways to create a stumbling block for the buyers.