Changes to eBay Payment Policy?

[pierrelebel]

Over the years, we have seen many changes to eBay's payment policy.

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html 

Basically, except for a few categories or pick-up, over time eBay has restricted or prohibited Canadian sellers from offering these methods of payment in their listings:

Personal cheque (check)

Interac email money transfer (Certapay)

Bank or postal money order

Cash

Western Union wire transfer

Canadian Tire money

Bank wire transfer

HyperWallet

etc...

These methods of payment were available to Canadian sellers many years ago.  Instead, eBay has been pushing the use of PayPal for most sellers.

Now, we all know PayPal offers "protection" to buyers.  The method sof payment outlined above do not.  Buyers need to rely on the honesty of the sellers in case of non-receipt or quality dispute.

My question today, for Canadian sellers exclusively (please), would you consider other methods of payment if eBay allows them?

[pierrelebel]

Personally, I would welcome a return to the world of "free enterprise" when eBay sellers were free to determine the methods of payment they were willing to accept and let buyers decide if it was acceptable and/or convenient to them.

Look around the online North American world today. While most sites offer credit card payment facilities, thousands accept purchases from buyers willing to pay by cheque (check) or money order. 

[coolthings123]

Good idea Pierre but I doubt eBay/PayPal would entertain the notion of allowing alternate forms of payment.   They have gone through a lot of effort to slowly whittle away at the payment options to where now almost everything has to go through PayPal.   They would stand to lose the 2.9% to 3.9% plus 30 cents per transaction as well as the 2-3% on the exchange when funds are transferred. I think it would affect eBay/PayPal's bottom line too much for them to allow it to happen.  Even a small percentage of buyers using other methods of payment I am sure would have a significant impact on PayPal's bottom line.  If they did allow it then there would have to be fee increases elsewhere to make up the shortfall.  

[ggsale27]

I agree about eBay/PayPals bottom line. We are not allowed to put alternate payments in our ads, but if a buyer asks for options, then we are allowed to give them some. I would be tempted to put a small blurb in my shipments , stating that people should ask for payment options, and in return , I would take electronic bank transfers, and maybe offer a small discount on price for doing so. I do find PayPal useful for buying goods elsewhere ( other than eBay ), but if I can save a few bucks on auction fees, I am more than happy to do so.

[catnip2002]

"I would be tempted to put a small blurb in my shipments , stating that people should ask for payment options"

Is a statement like this allowed? I for one will do this if allowed.

[pocomocomputing]

No, you are not allowed to mention in your listings that other payments options are allowed.

If you did, your listings can be reported and there is a specific report category in a listing for this.

Report -> Listing practices -> Banned or inappropriate payment methods -> Payment methods not allowed on eBay

Also when you submit a listing, the listing may be scanned for keywords like checks or money orders and the listing may not be submitted.

Not that these things deter some sellers from specifically asking for alternate payment methods. I see listings with these alternative payment methods like checks and money orders and Interac transfers occasionally. How these sellers get away with it I do not know.

So is it worth being reported and getting a policy violation and having your eBay id penalized.

[msmaggie060]

I always accepted cheques and any form of money orders and never had a problem with any. I'd love to go back to that. I still accept them but never get asked to pay with them any more. A lot of my payments from buyers used to be in the form of an envelope with cash folded inside. Still have a stash of US dollars to spend.

Was never offered payment with Cdn Tire money though, although I do remember lots of sellers taking payments with it.

[art-in-the-making]

I would have voted to allow all three of the other options.

In a highly competitive world, eBay must lose us some sales because of the paypal only policy - however we probably lose more because of the uncompetitive Canadian postage rates.

[westernstargifts]

I agree about eBay/PayPals bottom line. We are not allowed to put alternate payments in our ads, but if a buyer asks for options, then we are allowed to give them some. I would be tempted to put a small blurb in my shipments , stating that people should ask for payment options, and in return , I would take electronic bank transfers, and maybe offer a small discount on price for doing so. I do find PayPal useful for buying goods elsewhere ( other than eBay ), but if I can save a few bucks on auction fees, I am more than happy to do so.

You can't mention alternate payment methods in your listings but you CAN include the information in the package when you ship it.  That way the customer knows that, for future purchases, you will accept other payment methods.

I would welcome back all methods of payment. 

[i*m-still-here]

What are the chances that eBay is going to change its payment policy?

About Zip! 

As far as I'm concerned my buyers can give me their money any way they want ........... but paypal is hands down the best option.

Especially for eBay, and so it's a moot question......... irrelevant.

EBay is controlling transactions more and more all the time.

Since they allow every whatnot on the site, they have painted themselves into a corner and no longer have much choice in the matter.

To give up control now would be chaos, and allowing buyers and sellers a choice in how to pay would be giving up control.

Not Gonna Happen!

[my3dotties]

paypig

[lady.stark]

I voted for personal cheques or cash, but I would accept money orders too. In the past (with my old ID), I accepted all these methods and it was working perfectly fine.

I remember, there was one time when I had to send back a green money order to my customer and ask for a pink one (even if I advised the buyer, he shipped the green one anyway).

I also remember that we had to make our own invoices in an email at that time too... Much more easy today with eBay's invoices, although they send too much emails to my buyers. Too much is not better than not enough...

[doumb21]

Do you really think eBay would do any effort to lose 3% (and more when money conversion is needed) on all their sales?

They slowly take on our profit more and more year after year with a 1% here and there and it won't stop and they won't think of anything that could provide users with an alternate option.

They know sellers do not have anywhere else on the web right now to reach that much buyers so they will continue ripping us off as much as they can.  But what can we do?  They to not have any viable competitors.

[Anonymous]

I have many buyers asking me for the other payment methods but I have to tell them I cannot accept any other payment methods than PayPal. 

It is because I am mobility limited and I have no way of knowing when I would go to the bank or post office to cash the money orders.   Too often I don't go to the bank for 5-6 months at a strength as I am using my debit card and online dealing all the time.  So it is not ideal for eBay dealings having to make my buyers wait for them to cleared first before I can ship any items.

My bank often didn't want to deal with US money orders as they claimed that they often come across fraud money orders from USA. 

The only option for me is to use PayPal only and that way I can ship any items right away. 

Before eBay changed the policy for PayPal to be the only payment method, I used to received money orders and cash. The issue with my bank for money orders has become too serious and too much hassle that I no longer accept money orders from USA.

I often received US cash which is okay for me as I usually use them when I go to Grand Forks, ND, 2 hours drive to do shopping and I have to admit that I miss receiving the US cash from time to time. 

[jt-libra]

I don't know where I've been, but I thought that although we couldn't include in our listing that we accept money orders, we could accept them if a buyer asked before their purchase.  When did this become a hard and fast rule -- just recently?  Does eBay monitor our PayPal accounts to see whether they processed the payment?

I haven't had a money order in a couple of years so I guess I never gave it much thought.

[dipmicro]

Ebay policy scrutinizes payment method offered in listing, not actual payment method used. Also I think it's not against Ebay policy to offer alternate method in the email or FAQ.

[jt-libra]

Ebay policy scrutinizes payment method offered in listing, not actual payment method used. Also I think it's not against Ebay policy to offer alternate method in the email or FAQ.

Thanks dipmicro.  That's the way I had viewed the policy but wanted confirmation.

[recped]

What's the point of this "survey"?

I'm quite sure 100% of all sellers would like to be able to have the exclusive choice to pick whatever payment methods they accept or not.

So what?

Of those 100% a small number would really like being able to accept other than credit cards or PayPal, they could go back to their original easy ways to rip people off.

[goodnotes88]

Yes, U are right, too many fees, Paypal is taking out fees too, that is why.

[chairmanmuscc719y]

Pierre i totally agree with you i too have seen many changes on eBay especially the fees i have been on eBay over 12 years it quite upsets me that all the fees that we have to pay we really do get any benefit from eBay we just keep them in business and all they come up with is new rules and regulations they want our business but are not prepared to help they give you money in one hand and take it back with more in the other as for speaking to an agent about anything all you get is a generic answer i understand your situation blah blah blah they don't understand our concerns i was on with an agent about duplicate listings i tried to tell them that no 2 stamps are the same unless they are in booklets or sheets they did not understand they took my fees but my customers can not see my listings what right with this i know you are also in the stamp business but eBay well i may have to sell somewhere else if they is a place