Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 16 July 2008 15:29
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 4
Following on from a letter to Australian banks asking whether Direct
Deposit is a safe transaction method, an aggrieved group of eBay
sellers and buyers unhappy at eBay’s attempts to force and promote
PayPal to all users have a simple question for Australia Post: just how
safe is the decades-old money order?
iTWire has received notification of yet another
letter being sent by aggrieved eBay members questioning the safety
credentials of the PayPal system that eBay is relentlessly promoting to
one and all.
This follows on from a similar letter sent to banks to check the safety
of the Direct Deposit system, and even the start of legal proceedings
against eBay, all in an attempt to gain clarity from all sides on
eBay’s claims of PayPal’s safety.
The introductory information and the letter sent by the unhappy eBay
members to others in its group, and to Australia Post itself, is
reprinted in full, with permission. The text appears in italics:
“With all the propaganda about transaction safety I decided to write
to Australia Post and ask them to reassure me that Money Orders are
still a safe transaction method in Australia. If PayPal wishes to
portray itself as the safest transaction method, then perhaps we need
to seek the views of our postal services provider and the responsible
Minister on this outrageous assertion.
“I urge all of you to also send the two letters (addressed as follows).
“Senator Stephen Conroy
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
GPO Box 2154
Canberra ACT 2601
“Mr Michael McCloskey
Corporate Secretary
Australia Post
GPO Box 1777
Melbourne VIC 3001
“15th July 2008
“Dear Sir
“Re: The Safety of Australia Post Money Orders
“I have become quite concerned lately over statements being made
publicly by eBay Australia about the safety of using Australia Post
Money Orders vs eBay’s preferred payment method of PayPal.
“I have been an Australia Post customer for many years and an Account
Customer for the past two years, and have never had occasion to feel
that allowing my customers to purchase my products using Money Order
has in any way placed me at risk of fraud in the use of that service.
“For four years I have been an eBay member buying and selling online.
Most of my customers live rurally and, given the distance to their
nearest bank branch office, payment by direct deposit is often
impractical for them.
“Many others of my customers do not have internet access to conduct
online banking and/or are uncomfortable making on-line funds transfers
or payment by credit card. When these customers purchase a product
from me they prefer to make payment using Money Order.
Continued on page 2.
