Paypal only eBay world - A game of Monopoly?
Source: SMH.com.au
The Reserve Bank of Australia (in combination with the Australian Competitor & Consumer Commission) are allegedly considering to take action against eBay’s upcoming policy which designates that their users must only use their Paypal system to process payments on their website.
Paypal is an online payment system that allows registered users to place order in paypal money, requiring users to pay back the balance using various payment methods, such as EFTPOS or Credit Card. It is a secure way to process transactions online, with various useful rules and functions in place for wary users. For example, compensating for members who have paid however have never received an item. The problem with using this wonderful system is that there are associated transaction charges which may be unfavourable for those who prefer more conventional payment solutions, such as cash.
eBay’s decision will not only will this eliminate the user’s ability to place bank deposits, cheque or money orders to sellers; it will mean users will inevitably pay between a 1-2% charge fee for every transaction processed via Paypal - hardly a fair game for buyers and sellers alike, who normally shop on eBay due to lower prices and transaction fees.
It is interesting to see what happens in the next few months, but user groups believe that this decision will ultimately phase and provide an extremely large barrier to entry for all new and upcoming online payment solution startups, particular when eBay.com is ranked as one of the top 15 websites visited worldwide.
The key question is - will this make ebay users (and online shoppers in general) converge to a single paypal solution? Or will startups be provided the attention they deserve?
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