eBay Australia Pushback

It looks like eBay Australia may not force sellers to accept PayPal as the only payment method. It appears Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will be investigating the pending policy change by eBay Australia. ACCC is basically Australian counterpart of United States’ Federal Trade Commission. According to this article, ACCC will review the changes and weigh whether the changes will have more benefits than the obvious downside for buyers and sellers.

I just had a chat with a friend in Australia and he tells me couple surprising facts. It turns out most of the transactions are done with direct deposit. Close second is a credit card transaction. Distant third would is PayPal. It appears eBay Australia is trying to make PayPal more “popular” by forcing it down buyers and seller’s throat. This sort of thing will not sit well with Australians.