posted on November 17, 2000 12:50:32 PM
I just got the letter below from [email protected]:
eBay appreciates the fact that you chose to list your auction(s):
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
with us. However, practices designed to circumvent or defeat the eBay fee structure are not allowed on eBay. Not only is avoidance of fees unfair to eBay, but it is also unfair to eBay users who do pay their
fees.
eBay prohibits the listing of items that:
(snip)
6) offer direct sales, including offers to sell or ship
the product before the auction is completed
(snip)
Your auction violataed example number 6. By using the PayPal instant purchase link you are actually offering to sell the item before the auction if finished.
Therefore, we have ended this auction(s) and all fees have been credited to your account.
(snip)
The last I knew, PayPal's Instant Purchase worked just like BillPoint's service, in that you can't complete the transaction until after the auction is complete. I just followed a link from another seller's auction, though, and it appears that when you use the HTML that PayPal provides, you can send the money even before the auction ends, and regardless of whether you're the high bidder or not. This appears to be the case when you manually insert the HTML into the auction, but I haven't tried it with the button that PayPal can add to your existing auctions.
I don't want to try paying somebody else for something that I haven't won, so I haven't followed the entire process through. Has anybody else done this? Can you actually send the money in advance of the end of auction? Has anybody else had auctions ended for this?
posted on November 18, 2000 08:46:35 AM
The more I think about this, the madder I get.
It would appear, even if you can pay through PayPal Instant Payment before the end of the auction (which is still not clear to me), that eBay's position is that any information that would allow money to change hands prior to the end of the auction (which would include email addresses and any links to payment services including BillPoint) are illegal. This conclusion is obviously absurd, but I can't find any other way to rectify what eBay has told me.
Basically, they're saying that my auctions tried to circumvent their fee structure because I allowed a payment method that (they claim) would have allowed me to be paid prior to EOA. I made no reference in the auction to ending it early, but apparantly that doesn't matter. (Nor does the fact that I have never ended an auction early!)
Naturally, eBay hasn't responded to my request for clarification yet. I suppose I'll relist for now and hope that they don't end them again for having BillPoint information or my email address in there.
posted on November 18, 2000 09:09:09 AM
PayPal will let people pay for anything at any time, regardless of whether the auction is still running or not.
The auction must have ended to be able to pay with Billpoint instant purchase.
posted on November 18, 2000 09:45:18 AM
It is a matter of trust. If you want to be technical if you provide all your contact information that has the same effect of facilitating early payment but the key is it is not through a competing service. They will use any excuse they can to discourage anything that competes with Billpoint.
posted on November 18, 2000 11:33:53 PM
Thanks for the input, Glenda and macandjan.
I just got a response to my inquiry from eBay. It reads, in part:
At this time, eBay has reviewed the Paypal instant purchase link, and
determined that we will not allow it to be placed within our auction
listings. The link allows bidders to purchase the item before the end
of the auction, thereby circumventing eBay's fee structure.
Additionally, since the transaction is not binding until the auction has
ended, this feature works contrary to eBay's user agreement.
This sounds suspiciously like, "We don't like PayPal, so we're going to make it a pain for you to use." No big surprise there, I suppose. I'm still irritated by the fact that they used this tripe as an excuse to cancel my auctions, but it's no different from what I've read here a hundred times from other sellers. "We're eBay and can do whatever we want to mess with your livelihood," seems to pervade the corporate culture.
