eBay forced into humiliating backdown on PayPal only attempt

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Thursday, 03 July 2008

Page 1 of 4 ! eBay has suffered the ultimate embarrassment of being forced to cancel its ridiculously anti-competitive plan to force buyers and sellers to use PayPal only. But is eBay’s flip-flop enough to restore any credibility? What about the problem of negative seller feedback? What about PayPal’s extremely poor customer service? And will heads roll at eBay Australia simply for being so incredibly stupid, or do we point fingers at eBay HQ in the US? Obviously keen to avoid the even harsher embarrassment of facing an ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) notice that eBay’s plan to force PayPal onto buyers and sellers was to be officially denied, eBay has put out a notice saying it has “withdrawn its notification to the ACCC about removing other payment methods” and that it will “continue to allow all existing payment methods on eBay.com.au.” It only took massive Australian and worldwide concern if not disgust at eBay’s actions, a “town hall” style meeting where eBay members asked questions and made their wrath obvious to eBay Australia executives, a draft ACCC notice suggesting it would deny eBay’s request and an additional ‘conference’ in front of the ACCC where pre-registered parties could share their views. The conference in question essentially went as well as eBay’s own “town hall” meeting, which is to say, not very well. Clearly, either someone at the ACCC tapped eBay Australia on the shoulder, or the penny finally dropped that a) ripping off one’s own customer base is a bad, bad, baaaad idea, and b) trying to break Australian law and get official permission to do so isn’t much smarter, either. eBay’s statement then says: “We have decided to withdraw the notification to stop any further confusion and disruption among the eBay Community.” Well, duuuuh. I guess it wasn’t obvious that a radical change to payment plans wouldn’t cause “confusion and disruption among the eBay Community” from the very start. Perhaps eBay Australia thought they could simply railroad their way through and ride out the storm, but honestly, in the 21st century, empowered consumers simply are not stupid. The only form of apology eBay offers the world for its seemingly greed inspired action is a rather lame and weak statement, saying: “eBay regrets any uncertainty that this process has caused among the Community and believe that today’s decision will remove further doubt.” Well, eBay, I’m sure none of your users regret the utter humiliation you’ve suffered as a result, and I’m sure they all hope you’ve learned a very valuable lesson, and won’t now try to do everything possible against your users while staying within the bounds of the law, because you know what? You’ll face the same massive revolt and action once more, and you’ll only drive more users and sellers away. Continued on page 2, where more strips are torn off eBay, the company that is now firmly on the “naughty mat”!! Over on page 3 you’ll find Sensis questioning eBay’s credibility, and Paymate happy to “be back”! Please read on. << First page <   1 2 3 4 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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