eBay Managed Payments vs PayPal ??? * Forced managed payments

[cc-192]

I'm going to ignore the small % cost differences when comparing.

For decades buyers and sellers have been able to buy and sell items domestically using Aus. bank accounts to send and receive payments for eBay items.
The cost of doing so has always been ZERO. Just as most basic bank transfers between Aus. banks has no charge.
So eBay have now forced themselves into the middle of these normal transfers , and claim now they "manage" it.
I can see they have managed to charge % for what has always been a free transfer, I see that they are guaranteeing their earlier payment of fees, and I can also see they are managing to delay $ transfer times between buyer and seller...so what exactly is the benefit to buyers and sellers ?
Specifically what would be the benefits of forced eBay managed payments for buyer and seller over that which the prior option of  having the choice between bank transfer and/or PayPal payment ?

I'm no staunch advocate for either eBay or PayPal but I am noting people getting bogged down in the fee percentage comparisons rather than the services these fees are actually claimed to be charged for.

PayPal has always charged fees for the service of most often instant money transfers and does function as a stand alone account for members,  from which they can use funds to purchase other goods - whether those goods on eBay or elsewhere.
Paypal has offered transfer services similar to that of Western Union International Money Transfer for those who send moneys or gifts to family members overseas for example, they handle currency conversions, and also offer buyer and seller assurances that many opt for given those guarantees.

The fees PayPal have charged then could be considered in line with a company and fee structure that offers a unique package of services to its members.

For me then eBay Managed Payments vs PayPal charges is comparing apples to oranges.

I am in fact a little perplexed as how eBay have gotten away with it to this point, ie stepping in the middle of standard Aus. bank to Aus. bank money transfers as to glean a % and also slow the transfer time.

I am so puzzled by this I will be contacting appropriate government regulatory departments to see if my speculative curiosity can be appeased.

[xkell]

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@novo2020 wrote:

What I deduced as my best course of action was to email RBA. I did this after lengthy phone conversation with them. They have an email address for sending concerns  and I was given a direct staff member contact to send email to during phone convo.
ACCC being the department that acts on what they hear from RBA.
ACCC also consider action according to the trends of concerns they hear via phone contact, so i spoke with them also.

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Worth noting the RBA took an interest in payment services competition on eBay in 2008, when the ACCC began looking into it following eBay's plan to mandate PayPal for most transactions. Not sure what's allowed in this forum re linking to third-party websites so I'll refrain from that, but the RBA's submission is easy to find: "Reserve Bank" "eBay and PayPal". Even though managed payments only directly applies to sellers, the first 2 out of the 3 issues they raised remain relevant.

For those not familiar with what happened afterwards, have a look for "ACCC welcomes changes to eBay payment policies".

It didn't fully address the competition issue, though. While the ACCC left open the possibility of looking into it further, it said they were basically done for now, having come to that agreement. It left eBay free to heavily advantage PayPal in various ways, so alternatives like Paymate never stood a chance in practice. That's probably where the ACCC should have taken another look as they'd foreshadowed.

There's another opportunity with this latest change, if enough people take the time to invite them.

[case2018]

Thank you for the input, and referencing.

I remember when eBay instigated the required PayPal policy , and also that is was soon recinded.

There seems to be a reasonable amount of sentiment against the MP scheme so perhaps if that's directed toward RBA and ACCC as you say, in so drawing their attention to the situation, the scrutiny I personally think it deserves may just come about.