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eBay forced into humiliating backdown on PayPal only attempt

Opinion and Analysis

Paymate CEO Dilip Rao has put out a statement celebrating the fact they’re staying on eBay.

Saying “we’re back, baby”, Paymate advises that it is holding its “special prices on all Paymate eBay payments until 15 July, 2008.  And possibly beyond!”.

These prices were in place while Paymate planned to leave Paypal on July 15, and were originally classed as a “Going off eBay sale”.

Paymate notes that eBay “withdrew their proposal to make Paymate and other services  ‘illegal’ in the eBay world” and gave back “freedom of choice to the many buyers and sellers who may prefer an Australian provider like Paymate.” 

Paymate then says that it applauds “this decision and look forward to helping make eBay a safe and secure trading platform.  We would like to thank the many, many people who pledged us their support and encouraged us to take the battle up to the ACCC.”

Also noted was some telling parts of the ACCC’s original draft notice which indicated that the ACCC was unlikely to acquiesce to eBay’s “request”.

Quoted from that draft notice was the statement that: “PayPal offers sellers more protection than some other methods of payment, however, PayPal is not unique in this respect as it offers similar seller protection to that provided by Paymate.”[5.160]

Paymate also says that it offers some strong advantages to its offering, saying it gives “local service from an Australian company based in Sydney”, has a top client satisfaction rating on 8 of out 10 since 2001, no buyer registration, straight through payments to your bank account (80% the same night), no fees to withdraw funds, world class risk management protects buyers and sellers and a TrustMark Program for safe trading.

Whether that is enough to tempt Paypal users from either the buying or selling side of the business will be seen, although it seems to be working pretty well so far.

All up, there are still many questions eBay must answer. Sellers have talked of the problem of buyers leaving unfair negative feedback and denying the receipt of items, with Paypal seemingly always taking the buyer’s side and doing chargebacks.

Paypal’s customer service is also legendarily bad. Will eBay shake up its act? Or will it try to find other ways to get its way while staying within the strict bounds of the law?

Can eBay still be trusted, or has it lost much more credibility than it ever bargained or bid for? Can it gain that credibility back?

Please tell us your thoughts, and tell us whether you plan to continue with eBay or seek out an alternative, and why!

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