"eBay to ban cheques and money orders...:-(" Topic

As of September 16, 2008, eBay will no longer be accepting cheques or money orders. It will either be Paypal or other electronic payment system. link
Discussion: auction
As usual, their reasoning is complete male bovine droppings. Unless it's international or below $20-$25 or Paypal only, I always send an USPS Money Order – with the latter, I'm less likely to bid/buy. If something goes wrong, I've always been able to reclaim my money through the USPS. Unlike some, I'm not against Paypal, just prefer it that way, as I like to pay down my credit cards and bank deposits are a pain – I know you could Paypal through your bank account. The funds are accumulated tips, so there's a monthly cap on purchases. The post office and bank are about a mile away and I like to walk there at least twice a week, so there's a health motivation. Anyone recall Billpoint?

I recall eBay tried to pull this stunt in Australia, but lost, so they're being underhanded by offering another epayment service. If this were a Commonwealth or EU country, there would be plans to head this off at court, but being as there are a lot of pro-monopolists in various agencies, it won't end well.

I rely on eBay for wargaming, movies, music and books, so soon my purchasing will be limited to small value stuff, with the occasional large purchase through my bank account.*sigh*

Yeah, that'll have a positive effect on their image…

One more flea market gone to the big sellers, with no room for the little guy.

simple way around this if your buying from me. Ebay will allow them if your picking the item up in "person" wink wink, nudge, nudge.

Its so nice to meet peoples payments in the mail…

BTW this makes about the 20th change this year to ebay, the 5th that affects the listings themselves. I'm not editing anything for them until there done with all the changes…

The new shipping fee structure for some items is nuts, if I sell a DVD they tell me I can now only charge $3.00 USD to ship it when if I use USPS Priority mail it will cost me $4.75..Ill be out $1.75 USD by their new genius system.

I swear they must employ the same sort of people who screwed up the last two companies I worked for..

simple way around this if your buying from me. Ebay will allow them if your picking the item up in "person" wink wink, nudge, nudge.

Its so nice to meet peoples payments in the mail…

A creative solution I can get behind. Everyman's buddy Ben Franklin could show up at your door.

"If this were a Commonwealth or EU country, there would be plans to head this off at court, but being as there are a lot of pro-monopolists in various agencies, it won't end well."

Er…what?

Those in favor, however slight, of what's considered a monopoly in other parts of the world. It's why GW can't pull the IP stunt with internet retailers in EU countries.

If I understand correctly the other electronic payment company is set to be purchased by eBay/Paypal, so it won't be a real choice. That they could pull this underhanded stunt here shows a favorable climate for such activity.

"Discussion: auction "

Proof that irrational arguments dont just occur on TMP.

I like the tin hat comment…

Allen

yeesh… Ebay looks less and less attractive to me as a seller…

"Those in favor, however slight, of what's considered a monopoly in other parts of the world."

That's an…interesting definition of monopoly.

Are you in favor of this? It's not a definition, meant as clarification.

I use Paypal exclusively anyway, but I can see why this will be a problem for a lot of people.

I see also that ebay.com is going to be screwing with searches in the same way that ebay.co.uk has been lately, jumbling all the shop/store/'buy it now' options in with the auction results. I hate that – ebay is NOT a shop, it's an auction site. If I want to look at the store listings, I know where to find them, I don't need them cluttering up my auction searches.

Mind you, ebay UK has been constantly tinkering with the search system lately. I swear, there have been times recently when it's been different at every visit – multiple changes in the span of one week.

Are you in favor of this? It's not a definition, meant as clarification.

I don't really care. I find PayPal to be a useful tool, and eBay will find out how well this works one way or another soon enough.

I just find the application of the term 'monopoly' to this situation a bit odd.

No problem. As I've said, they tried to go with all Paypal in Australia, but had to drop it after legal action. Learning a lesson, they're offering another e-payment source, but AFAIK, it will be bought by eBay/Paypal. The choice for sellers will then be Paypal or another "Paypal" which is a monopoly of the payment system. Buyers won't like this, as it will limit payment choices and sellers are fed up with all these unnecessary changes of an auction site/ cyber mall, not an exclusive store.

So, eBay is finding more and more ways to go through your wallet and give you back what they don't need at the moment.
And, you are surpreised … why?

Pretty soon, the fee from soup to nuts will be 10% or more. I still get rid of unwanted junk, err treasures.
I still have more moey to spend than I did before.

Yes, it's more of a pain in the ass than it was before, but what today is not?

So if I only pay with money orders, which I do, I won't be able to buy anything from there anymore?

You'll have to ask the seller if he'll accept MOs. The seller won't be allowed to mention other payment methods in the listing, nor could he email you about options, unless you ask, as these will now be monitored by eBay's system. Only about 16% of a seller's sales per month could be remunerated through checks and money orders.