Perfect Pieces Specialists in British Pottery

eBay Australia’s battle to win user and regulatory acceptance for their proposed PayPal-only payment policy looks like it will continue for some time.

The company has had to suspend the introduction of its PayPal-only payment policy pending the outcome of an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The ACCC is concerned that eBay may be abusing its position as the clear leader in online auctions by using it to eliminate competition in the online payment sector.

As I’ve documented before, one of the largest objectors to eBay’s proposed policy was Google itself, presumably anxious that its PayPal competitor, Google Checkout, will be unfairly disadvantaged by the planned restriction.

Naturally eBay simply claim that the policy will help eliminate fraud and provide a better user experience… This seems to be their explanation for every unpopular change they make (of which there are an increasing number).

Somehow I suspect the real reason may be that eBay spent a lot of money when they bought PayPal…

eBay Australia’s attempt to ban all payment methods other than PayPal and cash has attracted hundred of written complaints to the Australian Competition Commission and Consumer Commission, which is considering the fairness of the proposed policy. The ACCC has promised to make a ruling on the planned change before it’s due to go live in June.

One of the complainants, however, has turned out to be a rather large company that’s worried about the prospects for its own payment processing system. Google has not yet launched Google Checkout in Australia but is likely to do so eventually and sees an eBay ban on its system as anti-competitive and a thorough pain in the neck.

Google’s submission to the ACCC was meant to be kept anonymous but was not - witness this article on the Auctionbytes website.