eBay can start experimenting with other payment services in July, and PayPal can begin courting additional marketplaces in 2020 when their original divorce agreement, signed in 2015, expires. But even though the two companies have agreed to "see other people," they vowed to remain friends for at least 3 years beyond that with the signing of a new agreement, which was officially confirmed in a press announcement today.

In late January, eBay announced it would become a "payments intermediary," meaning buyers pay eBay rather than sellers. And while it said Adyen will take over payment processing on eBay, PayPal will remain as a ... Read More

Auction ending times are of vital importance on eBay, but the marketplace has some idiosyncrasies around dates that make things more difficult for bidders. And while they are irritations that may hinder rather than actually prevent buyers from bidding, they are symptomatic of a larger problem - that of management's preference to pursue the novelty of innovation rather than address the many humdrum but necessary fixes of their legacy platform.

A reader pointed out one such oddity she encounters when searching the site: eBay rounds off auction ending time on search results pages.

"Almost everything that I sell or buy on ... Read More

Sellers say PayPal is no longer showing them email addresses of their eBay buyers, and PayPal told us it's due to eBay's policy. 

Not only is PayPal leaving out the information in email notifications, but it's not allowing sellers to view the email address of buyers even when signed in to their PayPal accounts.

Confusing matters is that PayPal is phasing in this change - the first indication of a change was in this Letter to the Editor we published on April 7th - some sellers were still seeing email addresses at that time, others were not. Also confusing were ... Read More

Supreme Court Justice Alito displayed skepticism over states' future restraint if Quill is overturned, and we have a recent example of why his skepticism is justified. It involves two states - Massachusetts and Vermont - that actively went after micro sellers and small businesses in the pursuit of additional tax revenue.

Justice Alito made his comments on Tuesday during oral argument in South Dakota vs Wayfair, a case in which the High Court must decide whether to overturn Quill vs North Dakota and allow states to compel out-of-state sellers without a physical presence to collect ... Read More

Supreme Court Justices showed they were sensitive to the plight of small businesses during oral argument in the South Dakota vs Wayfair sales tax case on Tuesday. The state asked the High Court to overturn its 1992 "Quill" decision so that states could require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax on items sold to their residents. Quill vs North Dakota prohibits that practice unless the seller has nexus (a physical presence) in the state.

When South Dakota Attorney General Marty J. Jackley said the state's small businesses on Main Street are being harmed because of the unlevel playing field created by Quill, where ... Read More