Citing security issues, eBay Inc. plans to eliminate most of its payment options for users in Australia and require auction participants to pay for most items in person or through its PayPal Inc. unit.
In an online bulletin last week, eBay said, "Those using PayPal were almost four times less likely to have a dispute over their purchase than people who paid with bank deposit" in Australia. "Plus, PayPal sellers were almost half as likely to experience an unpaid item as sellers who did not accept PayPal."
The plan has sparked dissension among Australian eBay users; by Monday afternoon, more than 3,000 had signed an online petition urging eBay not to impose the new policy.
The new policy is scheduled to take effect in stages. Starting May 21, all Australian eBay auctions will have to list PayPal as a payment option. Starting June 17, PayPal, or a credit card payment made through PayPal, will be the only payment options available for most transactions; buyers and sellers would still be able to pay through other means if they complete the sale in person.
However, eBay will continue to allow other means of payment for some big-ticket items, such as vehicles and real estate.
Avivah Litan, a vice president and research director at the Stamford, Conn., market research company Gartner Inc., said that eBay eventually could impose similar restrictions in other countries.
"I think this is an experiment," she said. "I think they want to roll this out everywhere," though specific policies in other countries might not be "as extreme as it is in Australia."
For example, in certain countries eBay is likely to restrict payment options in fraud-prone categories while allowing more options in others, Ms. Litan said.
This would not necessarily be a bad thing, she said; when its customers use PayPal, eBay has more control over both the auction and the payment and can provide protection for all parties.
PayPal spokesman Michael Oldenburg said Monday that some U.S. eBay auctions have similar restrictions. In some categories that are prone to disputes, such as consumer electronics and gift cards, sellers must accept Pay-Pal or credit cards, but they are not restricted to only those two options.
However, "there are no plans to go to a PayPal-only model for eBay in the U.S.," he said.
