Power Sellers Unite

psunite · Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 6213 Location: Columbus OH

eBay's (Nasdaq: EBAY) Latest News about eBay recent decision to ban Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Latest News about Google Checkout as an acceptable payment method raised the eyebrows of some in the online community who cried that the restriction is unfair to consumers. Yet the move opens up a debate as to how online merchants should balance the risks and benefits of accepting alternative payment methods.

On July 6, Rob Chesnut, senior vice president of eBay's global Trust and Safety organization, placed a message on the company's Web site, informing the public that eBay had changed its global payments policy, which it had first introduced in October 2005.

The current accepted payment options include credit cards, debit cards, bank-to-bank transfers, PayPal and cash on delivery as well as about a dozen nontraditional methods such as cash2india, hyperwallet.com and Paymate.com.au.

Google Checkout -- and roughly three dozen other alternative methods such as GearPay, Moneygram.com, sendmoneyorder.com, Stormpay and wmtransfer.com -- have been designated as unacceptable.

Violations of eBay's policy could result in a range of actions including listing cancellation, forfeit of eBay fees on canceled listings, limits on account privileges, loss of PowerSeller status and account suspension.
Google Late to the Game

"We have the policy in place to make sure our marketplace offers a variety of choices, but those choices are safe," Catherine England, an eBay spokesperson, told the E-commerce Times. "We spell out several factors we take into consideration, including making sure the providers have a substantial historical track record of having safe methods of transaction services. We don't have a lot of insight into if, and how, the market will use Google Checkout."

Google assures shoppers that they can enhance their security TechNet Security Center: Tools & Guidance to Defend Your Network when making purchases through Google Checkout because the service conceals the buyer's credit card number and provides reimbursement for unauthorized purchases. However, the service was only announced in July.

If Google Checkout proves itself, eBay eventually may consider it as an option, according to England. "In general, we're constantly trying to communicate with buyers and sellers to see what they want," she said. "Decisions are based on demand from our customers and looking to protect our community from a safety/fraud perspective."
more.. link to news article

psunite · Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 6213 Location: Columbus OH

psunite wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
If Google Checkout proves itself, eBay eventually may consider it as an option, according to England.

How long will it take for google checkout to prove themselves? Once they do will ebay really consider adding them as an option. Or is ebay just stalling and telling us what we want to hear.

Pipphoe · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:11 pm Post subject: Re: eBay: Just Playing It Safe

I was thinking about this Google Checkout issue and eBay the other day. I was thinking that eBay plays in Google's backyard 24/7, but it seems like eBay doesn't want Google playing in their backyard.

I think most of this is just a way to hurt the competition. And as far as Ebay listening to what their members want? When was the last time they really did that? And I'll say it again, Hani Durzy's attitude seems to be take it or leave it.

I really think, though, if Google handles this right, Checkout will succeed in spite of eBay. In any case, this continues to be a very interesting eBay-Google soap opera.

nopaypal · Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 2008

this is very odd, because under the OLD acceptable payments plan, stormpay was OK. even tho many people considered it questionable at the time.
:?: :confused:

HowardH · Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 159

Simple solution: Google should ban Ebay (because of potential fraud, unreliable information, whatever...). Any bets on who caves first?

memfoamfurniture · Joined: 29 Sep 2005 Posts: 301 Location: Wisconsin

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is a reason that google checkout doesn't work with ebay. See this post:

Would you use Google Checkout?

The problem is that you don't have access to the funds until after you ship a product. With Paypal (YUCK) you have immediate access to your funds and can use it to purchase postage and pay expenses that arise from sending a customer their product. Google checkout makes this impossible. It also makes it difficult for people that make their living on Ebay and don't have a ton of excess money lying around.

HowardH · Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 159

memfoamfurniture wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")Would you use Google Checkout?Yes, I would. I have no problem with shipping in order to get paid. The simple solution is to keep enough in the account to ship a typical day's orders.

I don't ship anything that costs more than about $20 to ship (some of my smaller items go with a first-class stamp, which brings up the question of how you notify Google Checkout of shipment), and I could simply allow for a few of those. Then I ship some stuff, collect my money, and bootstrap from there (just leave enough to ship expected orders in the account). If you are selling stuff with shipping costs that are a large fraction of the price of the item, you might want to reconsider whether you should even be on ebay -- that sort of thing is doable, but I wouldn't want to.

GeorgiaRose · Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Ringgold, GA

I'm reading on the Google Checkout boards that it's taking 3 days to review an order - in other words, the order sits idle for 3 days before the seller is notified to ship it. That's a little slow for my liking.
RLW

memfoamfurniture · Joined: 29 Sep 2005 Posts: 301 Location: Wisconsin

To rectify that, all you have to do is check the orders on google base every day. You log in and the new orders are there waiting for you. It is a nice system for taking payments, if used correctly.

HowardH · Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 159

GeorgiaRose wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")I'm reading on the Google Checkout boards that it's taking 3 days to review an order - in other words, the order sits idle for 3 days before the seller is notified to ship it. That's a little slow for my liking.
RLWWhat is the URL for the Google Checkout forum that you are reading? I tried looking this up (in Google, of course), and all I found were some domain names for sale, and some empty fora.

GeorgiaRose · Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Ringgold, GA

It's the Google Checkout Merchants Forum in Google Groups.
Google Checkout Merchants Forum

CompassRose · Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 79

I spent most of yestereday struggling to create the perfect tab-delimited file to upload my items to Google Base. I'd loaded a few individual items before, but got really annoyed when I had to recreate everything from scratch after they expired (Base says they move to "inactive" but in fact they're deleted. it is a beta after all!).

Anyway, I made my special column for payment options, and in my comma-delimited list I included Google Checkout, Visa, etc., and also added Paypal. And when it uploaded - with no errors - Paypal had been neatly deleted from my list. Not even a stray blank space to mark its passing. My note about Paypal remained in my payment notes, so it must have been something specific to the options field, but it still gave me a chuckle.

GeorgiaRose · Joined: 05 May 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Ringgold, GA

Did you see the new Ebay fees?

CompassRose · Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 79

Oh yeah.