A Texas eBay seller sued eBay earlier this month for violating antitrust laws. He contends that eBay is using their ownership of PayPal and monopolizing it’s use among eBay sellers to raise fees above market value.
claiming the company engages in “illegal tie-in and steering practices” that lead customers to pay above-market fees for transactions. Malone, who said he sold a pair of stereo speakers for $200 on eBay in 2005, was charged a $5 processing fee by PayPal to complete the sale.
I’ve often found it interesting that no one has called eBay on their PayPal connection. While it is awfully convenient to only use one transaction source, it would be nice to have some competition in the field such that fees would be competitive rather than whatever PayPal and eBay deem appropriate.
I hope that even if he loses, it will open up the market to the use (possibly integrated) of alternate transaction processors such as Google checkout.
[tags]google,ebay,paypal,ebay,antitrust,google checkout[/tags]
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April 13th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Interesting! I always thought the Paypal fees were closer to reality when compared to other merchant solutions that eBay itself is for its store fees when compared to other stores!
August 31st, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Sad situation,
Ebay is indeed monopolizing the market. Come October 2008, Ebay will not allow sellers to accept ANY other forms of payment except for Paypal. Also, unless you maintain a customer generated 4.6 detailed seller rating (Pathetic system at best), plus near 100% feedbacks, have a total of so many feedbacks, and be selling for 6 months or more, Paypal will actually hold your money, expect you to ship the item, then wait up to 21 days to post the funds to you. Scam? You bet, as when Paypal holds this money, be assured they are not only taking fees, plus commision from this seller, but they are also sure to be making interest off these funds. You think other big businesses were shady, Ebay’s found a way to make it legal, as they seems they are accountable to no one. Sure hope sellers unite to bring an end to this Ebay total control of seller’s, and their items.