At last: the end of the Ebay–Paypal two–step!

 Ebay and Paypal walk hand in hand, we all know this. They have the same ultimate parent company. That is the reason why they send business to each other as often as possible.

One of the nastiest ways they used to do that was by making it mandatory, when selling something on Ebay, to list Paypal among the possible ways to settle the price of the object.

Why was it nasty? Because, on top of the seller’s commission you had to pay to Ebay (which, in the principle, is normal), the seller ALSO had to pay a commission to Paypal, even though Paypal rendered absolutely no service whatsoever to the seller.

On the contrary: Paypal rendered a service to THE BUYER, by making it possible to get reimbursed if anything went wrong  with the purchase. That was (and still is) indeed a great service, and certainly worthy of a commission... IF PAID BY THE BUYER, who benefited, and not by the seller!

Something serious must have happened (most likely a lawsuit endly badly for Ebay/Paypal), because I have learned today that it is no longer mandatory to include Paypal among the means to settle the price for an Ebay auction or sale.

That is great news for all sellers! At last, that utterly unfair one–two punching sequence no one could do anything about has ended.

Of course, I paid the price for this bit of news, and I paid twice and dearly: first, I may have to purchase a lens by paying by ordinary bank transfer, even though I am not at all protected as a buyer, because I can no longer argue that the seller’s terms contradict Ebay’s rules. And second because I have just received a first bid on a big and costly lens I am selling, and I have just found that the existence of a bid prevents me from modifying the terms of payment for that object. In other words, I will still have to pay Paypal’s commission on that one...!

At least, I have modified all my other Ebay sales, and I encourage you to do the same right away.