[LINK] Land of the Free, and the Expensive

[Scott Howard]

The difference is that in the US people probably won't notice or care if
this goes ahead.

Banking in the US is for the most part years behind where it is in Australia
- and the concept of transferring money into someone elses account is
completely foreign to almost all Americans, and Cheques (err.. checks!)
still rule as the primary form of payment for anything other than small
payments.

Even EFTPOS is only just starting to take off - and then only by banks
marketing the cards as "check cards" (which are generally actually just
Debit Visa or occasionally Mastercard cards).

The nett result of this is that the vast majority of sales on eBay in the US
are already either PayPal, COD or occasionally (non-PayPal) credit card.
Without the additional option of a fast/free/easy payment method like direct
deposit, PayPal has already won here.

Sure, there will be people who complain, although most of those complaints
will be on principal rather than due to the additional cost which most
people are already paying anyway.

  Scott




On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 2:11 PM, Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au>wrote:

> >
> >       eBay to Force U.S. PayPal Use (After Australian Rejection)
> >
> >             http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000415.html
> >
> >
> >Greetings.  Months ago I mentioned to various eBay sellers in my
> >acquaintance (mostly sellers of collectibles not suitable for "fixed
> >price" sales) that eBay was moving to force the use of PayPal for
> >all transactions in Australia -- and wanted to do the same here in
> >the U.S.  Most of these eBay diehards, used to being manipulated by
> >eBay's fee structure and recent detrimental changes (like the
> >abolishing of "negative feedback"), still refused to believe that
> >eBay would make such a move.
> >
> >Subsequently, Australian regulators have made it clear
> >( http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20152/1103 ) that they would not
> >accept such an arrangement down in Oz -- a plan that would have
> >primarily benefited eBay itself (which charges significant
> >percentage-based fees for the use of its wholly owned PayPal) --
> >so eBay apparently has cancelled the scheme there.
> >
> >But knowing full well that U.S. regulators can be easily cowered
> >into inaction in similar circumstances, eBay has announced today
> >that PayPal (or credit cards) are to be the standard required
> >payment mechanism on eBay for all transactions.  For most sellers
> >this means that they must use PayPal, and eBay will be assured of a
> >nice juicy PayPal commission from each of those sales.  eBay of
> >course claims that this is mainly a consumer protection measure --
> >interesting that the Australian regulators didn't see it that way,
> >eh?
> >
> >eBay is also making other changes to de-emphasize auctions entirely
> >by making fixed-price sales more attractive -- essentially
> >undermining the basic auction model on which they built their
> >business, and turning eBay even more into Just Another Online Store
> >in many respects.
> >
> >There are numerous alternatives to selling on eBay.  I've wondered
> >why so many eBay auction sellers have been willing to be fleeced for
> >so long by eBay's increasingly callous practices toward this bedrock
> >group.
> >
> >It will be interesting to see how the eBay auction community reacts
> >to this latest punch in the gut from eBay itself.
> >
> >    [ There are definite privacy implications to the forced use of PayPal
> >      vs. simply mailing a check! -- Lauren ]
> >
> >--Lauren--
> >Lauren Weinstein
> >lauren at vortex.com or lauren at pfir.org
> >Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> >http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> >Co-Founder, PFIR
> >    - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> >Co-Founder, NNSquad
> >    - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
> >Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> >Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> >Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
> >_______________________________________________
> >privacy mailing list
> >http://lists.vortex.com/mailman/listinfo/privacy
>
> --
> Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
>
> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
>                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
> mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/
>
> Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
> Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
> Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
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