eBay Selling

Wow! If you got the email about the changes, you’re probably as surprised as I am. Coming so soon after the last round of major changes, this new set of changes is a shocker. Some of these new changes will radically change the way a lot of people do business. It’s going to take several days to get through a thorough discussion about what some of these changes will mean for small to medium-time sellers.

Among the most shocking of the many surprises is this: no more checks and money orders can be sent as payment! I am really blindsided by this one. eBay has long been pushing PayPal for payment, but this is something that I never thought I’d see them do. The reason behind this bold new move could be that:

1. eBay is trying to prevent the proliferation of check and money order fraud that seems to get worse every year (fakes), or

2. They want more fees from PayPal and they’re completely giving up any pretenses otherwise.

I think that the changes are probably more motivated by #2, but expect to see them defend the change by mentioning #1 a lot.

I have always, always advocated using electronic payment methods for ease, convenience and some level of seller protection. I know that there are a lot of sellers who don’t want to use electronic payments, however, and rely on their check and money order payments.  This is likely to be devastating to many, many sellers.

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