Ebay paypal exclusivity shot down

According to The Age, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC to us Aussies) is planning to disallow the trial of eBay's new business plan - the compulsory use of PayPal.

[by way of background, eBay has been proposing ceasing allowing the use of any payment mechanism in Australia other than PayPal or cash on delivery... its corporate filings indicate that if successful it intends to roll this out worldwide].

The competition watchdog has flagged its intention to scuttle a plan by online auctioneer eBay to force its Australian users on to a PayPal-only payments system.

Citing concerns about the "anti-competitive effect" of the proposal, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Graeme Samuel, has issued a statement calling on eBay to delay implementation of the plan, which was supposed to take effect from next Tuesday.

eBay's proposal would have required items bought and sold on the site to be paid for using PayPal, which eBay owns.

...

"The ACCC is concerned that the [PayPal proposal] will allow eBay to use its market power in the supply of online market places to substantially lessen competition in the market in which PayPal operates," Mr Samuel said in the statement.

"Given eBay's position as Australia's leading online market place, the [PayPal proposal] will substantially reduce competition to supply online payment services to users of online market places more generally."

The ACCC has issued a draft notice proposing to revoke eBay's request for immunity from prosecution, which the company lodged in April.