eBay to Eliminate Buyer Protection for non-PayPal Transactions

[regic]

eBay will double PayPal Buyer Protection on its site, offering up to $2,000 of coverage for qualified transactions on eBay.com, but is eliminating buyer-protection for non-PayPal transactions. The move is a dramatic effort by eBay to push buyers to use its PayPal online-payment service at a time when it faces increasing competition from Google Checkout, a method it prohibits sellers from accepting on its site.

eBay has had a buyer protection program since 1999. The eBay Standard Purchase Protection Program provides buyers coverage of up to $200, less $25 to cover processing costs, in cases of non-shipment or significant misrepresentation. eBay is eliminating the program as of January 17.

eBay is keeping the PayPal Buyer Protection program, but doubling its coverage from $1,000 to $2,000. However, the program covers only transactions with qualified sellers who maintain a 98 percent positive feedback rating and have at least 50 feedback points...

full article: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m01/i10/s01

[thentavius]

Not so subliminal message:

Use PayPal on eBay ONLY. Use PayPal on eBay ONLY.

[regic]

The official message:

***A Message from Rob Chesnut – Changes to Buyer Protection on eBay in the U.S. and Canada*** 

Hello...This is Rob Chesnut, eBay's Senior Vice President of Trust & Safety. I've been working with my partner at PayPal, Dan Levy, Senior Director of Consumer Protection, on a joint effort to increase the protection we offer buyers on eBay. Buyer Protection is important to the Community – buyers and sellers alike – because the confidence and trust that buyers have in transacting on eBay fuels the whole marketplace.

As you know, we've built our Online Dispute Resolution system to ensure that buyers and sellers get the opportunity to work things out before a dispute results in a claim. But when a buyer is making the critical decision whether or not to place a bid or buy an item, just knowing up front that there is protection answers the "what if" questions – this peace of mind gives buyers the confidence they need to choose eBay, especially when buying more expensive items.

To help increase buyer trust on eBay, next week we will be expanding coverage on eBay.com in the U.S. and eBay Canada on items paid for with PayPal in these ways:

    * PayPal will be offering $200 of protection with NO processing fee on ALL PayPal transactions for tangible goods in the U.S (excluding Live Auctions and vehicles). In Canada, all PayPal transactions for tangible goods will be covered up to $315 CA. PayPal is offered on over 95% of listings in the U.S., so buyers can choose to be protected on the vast majority of listings. There is no processing fee, no minimum purchase price, and no seller requirements.

    * PayPal Buyer Protection will be increased to cover up to $2,000 for tangible items listed by qualified sellers in the U.S. This is a huge increase in coverage for high-end items being bought and sold on eBay. It doubles the current $1,000 coverage offered for tangible items listed by qualified sellers. And over 75% of listings in the US qualify. Note: in Canada, tangible items listed by qualified sellers will be covered for up to $2,000 CA.

Qualified items will clearly indicate the amount of coverage available on the item page. This means that buyers will know – right at the time they are making their buying decisions – that they are covered if they pay with PayPal.

There is one more important change we'll be making at eBay. Beginning next week, eBay will discontinue the eBay Standard Purchase Protection Program (SPPP) in the U.S. and Canada.

This program, which was established in 1999 before eBay acquired PayPal, has covered all eBay transactions, except for items paid for with cash or instant money transfer services, for up to $200 minus a $25 processing fee. In the early days of eBay, the program served an important function, providing some measure of purchase protection for paper transactions (cashier’s checks, money orders and personal checks) that constituted the bulk of eBay transactions. The time and costs associated with verifying a dwindling number of non-PayPal paper claims, however, has led to a poor user experience. Buyers also expressed frustration with the $25 processing fee.

But there's another issue with SPPP that becomes more important as eBay grows. From a risk management and fraud prevention perspective, SPPP is flawed, because it offers coverage on the riskiest payment methods. This is clearly not in the best interests of the marketplace long-term.

While eBay has established an Accepted Payments policy and we do allow other established payment methods on the site, one thing is true - PayPal is a safe way to pay on eBay. PayPal enables eBay members to shop without sharing their financial information with sellers, and PayPal's sophisticated fraud prevention mechanisms are eBay's best defense against internet fraud. We want to build on this solid foundation. These changes in our protection programs are important in our efforts to encourage safer transactions, improve customer satisfaction, and provide more coverage for more transactions than we can today.

These changes to the protection we offer buyers are important to the future health of our marketplace and the growth of our sellers' businesses. We'll be answering questions about these changes in an upcoming workshop, so please stay tuned for the date and time.

[sneakymagenta]

on a joint effort to increase the protection we offer buyers on eBay.

The folks who pay with money orders will be ecstatic when they hear the news. :asshat2: