The Ebay Paypal Agenda

There has been a recent change in the policies of Ebay. Apparently, you can no longer use alternative online payment processors to do business on Ebay. You can only use Paypal. NO e-gold, no Stormpay, no e-Bullion. In fact, if you so much as offer this as an alternative, your Ebay AND Paypal accounts could be frozen.

This was actually announced way back in Oct 2005, but has only been implemented since January 2006. From Ebay's viewpoint, it is just a way of killing a few birds with one stone:
1. Reduce fraud by eliminating alternatives.
2. Reduce competition by eliminating alternatives.
3. Increase profits by eliminating alternatives.

Sound familiar? Think Microsoft.

Compare the policies on Ebay's country-specific sites (use an online translator if necessary):
Ebay US
Ebay Canada
Ebay UK
Ebay France
Ebay Netherlands
Ebay Italy

Ebay Germany
Ebay Germany hasn't been changed yet, but I'm guessing it's probably because of strict antitrust laws and other business regulations.

So what is the average Ebay user to do?
Of course, you can always stick with traditional payment methods: debit/credit cards, cheque, postal orders, etc.

We all like alternatives. We yearn for it. So, if you really need to use something other that Paypal, perhaps you should be on the look out for alternative auction sites.



Other sources:
GoogleRumors