rodney@ebay.com - Paperless Payments chat - 11-noon EDT Apr 15, 2009

[Anonymous]

Earlier today, we announced plans to implement a Paperless Payments policy for eBay Canada.

As most of you are likely aware, a very similar safe electronic payments policy was implemented for our US site last year.

On April 15, we'll be here from 11am until noon EDT to do our best to respond to any questions that you might have with respect to the new policy.

[pierrelebel]

Let's do it Wednesday!

The announcement today refers to paperless payment on eBay.ca.
However, it is silent about Interac email money transfers (CertaPay) owned by Canada's five Big Banks (are they safe? 😉 ).

Will CertaPay continue to be allowed or not?

[pierrelebel]

"PayPal will be improving Seller Protection for all eBay.ca sellers residing in Canada."

"The coverage is available for items sold on eBay.ca paid for with PayPal"

Could you please expand on what the .ca restriction means?

Most large volume Canadian sellers list on .com. Will the same coverage apply to Canadian sellers listing on .com?

[pierrelebel]

I recall a discussion a few months ago about Moneybookers being allowed on eBay.

I cannot find any mention of Moneybookers in the annoucement. Will it be allowed for Canadian sellers or eBay.ca or not? on eBay.com?

[toby_le_pue]

I guess you can still pay with Loonies & Toonies as they are paperless.

[eserafini]

Rodney, no matter if the listing is on .ca or .com, quite a few sellers indicate in their listings that they accept MC and Visa but the buyer must phone in their credit card information. This is NOT safe for buyers and scammers do use this method.

When eBay implemented the "paperless payment" it says the payment had to be through PayPal or a merchant account. There is no proof that the seller has a merchant account if it does not go through checkout You had originally said on online payment. A phone in method is not an online payment method.

Why is this tolerated by T & S?

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Probably because saying MC and Visa were not allowed would really tick off the banks....and you don't want to do that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWUW2Vcb_-k

[toby_le_pue]

How will you be able to pay for your Adult Toys now because you cannot use Paypal

and you cannot use certapay in the USA?????

[pierrelebel]

"Why is this tolerated by T & S? "

For the same reason they allow sellers to charge GST/HST and PST whether they are duly registered to do so or not.

It would require an effort to make sure buyers are not being ripped off.

[canadiancindyb]

I am an "old" eBay seller who actually just popped in yesterday to look into selling again.

I am also wondering if Certapay will still be allowed.

I did find the following interesting...

All items appearing on eBay.ca must be paid for using either:

* PayPal
* Credit card payment to a seller (through a seller's Internet merchant account)
* ProPay
* Payment upon pickup

I don't know what ProPay is, but I guess I'll be looking into the details of it. Also, this is really not how they must be paid for, but how you must describe the payments accepted. Because...

What should I do if I have long-standing, repeat customers who insist on paying with cheques or money orders, even after I explain the benefits of electronic payments and offer suggestions?
We know this may happen occasionally. A seller can accept cheque and money order payment from a buyer if (and only if) the buyer requests it. We will not take action against a seller who is trying to accommodate their buyer, complete a sale and be in compliance with the policy. Sellers cannot in any way solicit cheque or money order payment from a buyer. This is considered abuse of the payments policy.

Remember also, you can refuse to accept these payment methods. If the buyer doesn't pay, you can file an unpaid item (UPI) complaint. Buyers who insist on paying with these prohibited payment methods in a UPI claim will lose the claim and will not be allowed to leave negative Feedback.

So...I'm a bit confused. The "policy" is that you can only accept one of the 4 methods stated, but then says you can accept money orders etc. as long as you don't initiate it. But if a buyer asks, you could potentially accept money orders, Canadian Tire money, Certapay, Google payments, etc etc?? (But the buyer loses out on their buyer protection by doing so.)

Those are my comments for now.

Cindy

[eserafini]

When eBay announced that only online payment methods would be accepted on eBay "to insure buyer protection", most sellers saw this only as another money grab.

By allowing sellers to place "MC and Visa accepted when buyers phone in their credit card information" in their item description, eBay's T & S seems to be proving that sellers were right after all. Phoning in credit card information is not an online payment method and is certainly not a method protecting buyers.

As you say...and life goes on...

[rykkm]

From their website, Propay appears to be a third party company that accepts credit card payments on your behalf, so you need not set up something through your bank. Although they state they are a privately held company, it does make one wonder whether Ebay has a stake in it (as per the advertising on the home page...sign up for an Ebay account).

It does seem, though, that they are trying to get their cut off of everything. And I used to like accepting Canadian Tire money...sigh...

[pierrelebel]

" I used to like accepting Canadian Tire money..."

There is nothing preventing any seller from accepting payment from any buyer in Canadian Tire money (I do), cheques (I do), money orders (I do), cash (I do), Western Union money transfers (I do), Interac - CertaPay (I do), etc....

The restriction is in advertising those (relatively unsafe for buyers) methods of payment in your eBay listings.

And life does go on.

[Anonymous]

Hi pierrelebel

> Will CertaPay continue to be allowed or not?

Interac Online was invited to review the minimal technical standards required in order to integrate with eBay checkout under the eBay Accepted Payments Policy and declined to participate in the eBay checkout integration. To date, ProPay has completed this process for eBay.ca. Sellers on eBay.ca will also be able to offer credit card payment to their merchant accounts or PayPal. We are also working closely with the other electronic payment providers currently accepted on eBay.com and hope to be able to integrate them as eBay.ca payment methods later this year.

[Anonymous]

By the way, Certapay is now called Interac Online, in case anyone out there was wondering who we were talking about. 🙂

[Anonymous]

Hi pierrelebel.

Thanks for asking about Moneybookers. I do remember our thread on it because I initially gave you the wrong answer. 🙂

Moneybookers is set up as an accepted payment method on eBay.com, but is not yet one on eBay.ca. We do anticipate they will be coming on board at some point in 2009, along with some of the other vendors that are already approved on eBay.com

[Anonymous]

Hi pierrelebel.

Thanks for seeding the thread with great questions.

> "PayPal will be improving Seller Protection for all eBay.ca sellers residing in Canada."
>
> "The coverage is available for items sold on eBay.ca paid for with PayPal"
>
> Could you please expand on what the .ca restriction means?
>
> Most large volume Canadian sellers list on .com. Will the same coverage apply to Canadian sellers listing on .com?

Seller protection is offered on eBay.com as well as on the eBay.ca for CA residents. The same eligibility requirements apply.

[Anonymous]

Hi toby_le_pue

> I guess you can still pay with Loonies & Toonies as they are paperless.

You can only use electronic loonies and toonies. 😉

[Anonymous]

Hi toby_le_pue

> How will you be able to pay for your Adult Toys now because you cannot use Paypal
>
> and you cannot use certapay in the USA?????

The Canadian site does not have a Mature audience section so all the purchases have to be made through the eBay.com site. Paperless payment rules don't apply to these categories so Cheques and money orders are still allowed there.

[pierrelebel]

Good morning Rodney

"If you're seeing listings where sellers are soliciting telephone credit card payment, please report them to Trust and Safety. "

Great in theory - waste of time in reality.

There is an auction listing offering an item with a starting price of thousands of dollars, located in Asia (listing heading claims Ontario), offering PayPal, claims money will be "held in escrow for 4 to 6 weeks" until the item arrives from Asia and the total proceeds given to well-known charity (link in listing).

This listing has all the red flags, has been reported several times, yet is still there! 😞