Technology news and Jobs arrow Our Blogs arrow The BeerFiles arrow Mayday! eBay raises white flag over forced PayPal in US
Mayday! eBay raises white flag over forced PayPal in US E-mail
by Stan Beer   
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Apparently being uniquely local in Australia for eBay is attempting to gain a monopoly by using market dominance to eliminate competition. Unfortunately for eBay, however, it now has more to worry about than phlegmatic regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and a few small local competitors. No less than the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Bankers Association have come out publicly against the eBay Australia move in submissions to the ACCC.

Both the small online payments competitors and the large banks are concerned that eBay will by stealth convert a large proportion of its 5 million Australian users to PayPal. This in turn could go a long way to eliminating alternative payments systems on sites other than eBay.

With such powerful forces aligned against eBay Australia, the ACCC may have no choice but to issue a competition notice designed to block the PayPal-only move under the anti-competitive provisions of the Australian Trade Practices Act.

If eBay is forced to back down in Australia over its attempt to enforce PayPal-only transactions, it will be a serious loss of face for the company, which is already facing revolts from its users over fee hikes worldwide. In that case, the "e" in eBay may well be interpreted as shorthand for egg-on-face.
Powered By Joomla Tags

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment!



 
< Next story in category   Previous story in the category >
iTWire user statistics Visitors last 30 days
694,279
Subscribers 15,210
#1 independent technology news advertise here
  •   *  
  • Search
  • AdvSeach
  • Login
  • Events
  • FreeStuff

- Advertisement -

Featured Whitepapers

The Beerfiles IT BLOG BeerFiles is an in-your-face and sometimes irreverent blog concerning all things to do with IT, technology, people and the media from the point of view of a hard boiled technology journalist and commentator.
Follow iTWire on Twitter

About iTWire

iTWire is all about technology news, information, jobs and community for the IT and telecommunications industry professional. Subscribe to our free ICT daily newsletter