I just tried to pick up a couple of buy-it-now items, and apparently there is NO DEFAULT OPTION for using a credit card to do that sort of thing. If the buyer can’t take a credit card, it’s PayPal* or nothing. Which is… how they do business, apparently; but I’m kind of surprised that eBay isn’t in the credit card processing business. There’s money in it.
*Obligatory Filthy Lucre button:
eBay bought PayPal a couple of years ago.
Here in Australia they tried to require buyers to use PayPal on all transactions. After an uproar, they relented.
I’d rather buy used from Amazon for a lot of the stuff I used to buy on Ebay. It’s just easier anymore.
The last couple of things I’ve looked on eBay for, I could get cheaper from local retail. There’s no value on eBay, let alone bargains.
Ric: try looking for OGRE miniatures sometime. 🙂 I’m trying to get as much as I can prior to the release of the game in (now) December, and while I fully understand that the stuff’s out of print $400 for a Mark VI is a bit hardcore.
It’s not that surprising. There may be money in processing, but PCI compliance can be, unpleasant. I can see why they may not not want to be the middleman.
“Officially” it’s Paypal or nothing, but most sellers will work with you if you want to pay some other way, although a credit card is out of the question for most private folks. Though I’m not sure why you don’t pay with Paypal, if it’s a cash flow situation you can use the Bill Me Later option. Not that I’m shilling for Paypal, mind you. Ebay is kind of walking that line where you piss people off as much as you think you can yet still make gobs of money from them. I’ld be more up in arms about it if I didn’t have a predisposition to respect naked capitalism…
Yes, eBay *is* in the credit card business. It’s called Paypal. That’s why the tight eBay-Paypal integration.
Part of that integration is encouraging sellers to accept Paypal only.
my ebay feedback is 1926 and I just hit my 10th anniversary with them. Ebay is just one place to look for bargains. I usually go there first for hard-to-find items but Amazon and other online sellers are also great places to look. You can still accept payment forms other than Paypal, but you must also accept paypal. That being said I could really go on with stories about my bad experiences with both Ebay and Paypal; but, in the end, I keep coming back.