eBay CEO Says Payments Switch Will Be Like a Big Bang

by: cfrphoto

Keeping track of transactions could be a major issue. Payment and transaction data can no longer be discarded or made inaccessible after only a few months. Financial records should be maintained and available for at least seven years and cannot disappear for closed accounts. Maintaining transaction histories has never been an eBay strong point. Imagine what would happen if your bank discarded your data or rendered it inaccessible after 60 days.

by: comments

Honestly in the the age of technology we are in today there is no reason why ebay should not be able to process their own payments. Taking creditcards is not a novelty that requires paypal anymore. But paypal would still be a welcome option for those who choose paypal.  

by: AlBeSure

Does this mean that the bay will be holding seller funds and subbing out fees like a bank? Would this give ebay more funds to earn interest on in the short run like a bank? Does this give them the control to get sellers to do things by their order to get the scraps of payments?

I think that these questions will have answers in the new fee schedule and new terms of agreement to sell on ebay coming up in the new Spring adjustments.
What's your take?
One of the reasons sellers use ebay is that when their item sells, the seller gets paid when the buyer makes the payment into the sellers paypal account.
Instant payment they called it, when a sale is made, you get paid. Not delayed payments like other selling platforms do, like Amazon.  

by: Marie

@pace

IMHO the reason they aren't releasing details is because the policy is too fluid right now.  I don't mean that in a negative way.  I just don't think they are ready yet to say as they still have a few months until they are going to start the 5% test.  So I'm not surprised we don't have details yet.  Heck I would be more surprised if we did.

I'm not willing to guess what Ebay will or will not do with the program at this point.  I'm also not going to worry about it now.  I'm happy to wait until the time grows closer and Ebay has things but in place.  Besides whatever they would say now is more than likely going to change by the time they start the 5% test.  I have no need for a roller coaster ride.

by: Marie

@cfrphoto

My thoughts exactly.  I too am looking forward to that.  They can't get rid of the info so quickly.  In fact they are going to have to give us good solid reports to work with for our taxes.

@comments
It isn't that Ebay hasn't wanted to do this long before now.  They just can't because of the contract they have with PP.  That is why they have to phase this in, starting with 5% this year.  They can't do more than that per the contract they have will PP which runs out mid 2020.

by: Watching the Wheels

BUT, Ina also ran an article that stated that it was Paypal who wanted out. <--- THAT makes a whole lot of difference. Sounds like "holy chit! What are we going to do?" spin, to me.

Add the new $600. threshold that Paypal now reports income at, and all the other money grabs wandering in to prove that our economy is still firmly entrenched in the toilet, and that the powers that be, are continuing to screw things up.

by: Rexford

Was this his "I woke up on the wrong side of the bed" presentation?  Using phrases like "won't beg" and  "not going to hold peoples' hands" show him to be  obtuse and detached, and speaks volumes about how he really feels about eBay sellers. Warm and fuzzy he isn't.  If he spent the time trying to wow eBay's customers (sellers) like he does trying to wow Goldman Sachs and Wall Street  eBay would be much better off.  He doesn't care about the experience, he is only driven by money.   I've known some great leaders in my life......I would not use that word to describe him.

After reading his statements I could not help but think of the illustration that shows a true leader, who is at the front of the rope line. pulling the load with his employees behind him.  The second frame of the illustration shows the bad leader who is delegating, and not at all involved in the pulling of the load.  Second frame Wenig.

If you want to know how a leader is doing, look to the morale of those he leads.

by: heart2heart

After eBay becomes the payments intermediary, how will sellers print their shipping labels if they don't pay with Paypal?  Is eBay going to provide the same discount that Paypal provides for a business account??   If eBay is handling the payments then what about shipping labels?  Also, separately, I predict that once eBay gets their greedy hands in the mix, they will eventually not allow Paypal payments at all.  

by: Barbbie

@feelingfroggy
This is my full time job. As much as I would love to work less and have someone just give me a regular check, I am way too old for anyone to hire me now.
I have almost all my business expenses coming out that paypal account. It's convenient for me. Paypal gives me a lot of benefits. One of those is the knowledge that I will have some money everyday, even though the other marketplaces do not provide for that. They also don't take chargebacks out of my funds right away, and most issues they pay for with actual seller protection. True, sometimes I do not agree with the outcome, but generally, I am satisfied with them on whole.  Also, I am single and have dependents and sometimes there are unexpected issues that come up that can't wait 2 weeks. Schools are really good at asking for money tomorrow and kids suddenly forget they needed a book or money for something, they grow out of clothes, sometimes suddenly. They like to eat too.

All the marketplaces do not make you do everything on their sites.
Etsy's works pretty good right now, lots of difficulties in the beginning and just heard about another with the 1099 double reporting.  
Walmart does not have a shipping option set up, I use paypal for that. Walmart enjoys being a week late with sending a biweekly check and that is on top of taking about 3 days on average to process once the period ends. That kind of negligence in payments coming from ebay could be a disaster for a lot of sellers. The providers you need to use to sell on Walmart and Jet, do not set up their bill payments based on when these guys pay you.
Amazon is great at paying you within a couple days of period end and the shipping now works pretty well and they have it where almost anything I can think of can come out of the proceeds. Again, this took years to get to and there are still some ways that it still doesn't work for everyone's needs.

Ebay is still almost half my income so what they do does matter to me greatly.
I am glad some people have enough where it doesn't matter to them, when I still had a full time job and this was just extra money, I would have not worried about this for one second. But, at this point I have to worry about a company that has proven to me that they just do not care about me or my business as long as it puts more money in their pocket, its all good. We are talking about a company who still can't figure out online selling and how to fairly allow a buyer to return 1 of multiple items for a refund without providing a refund on the whole thing and now I have to just let ebay give that refund instead of sending the buyer a refund of 1 and letting ebay keep their FVF. And if they disagree, I get a black mark on my record! Great, so much to look forward to!

On the positive side: I think the "lower" fees will be the basic paypal 30 cents fee. Cancellations probably will not be so bad.  I cannot see them actually lowering any other fees. They will just site the average fees for the other sites.
I am sure any added visibility for older sales will come with added ability for those sales to come back to bite you.

by: maxmad

Sounds like Devin is already getting some resistance,

At least with etsy if a buyer pays with PayPal the funds goes directly into our PayPal account like normal,,,,,, Most sales on etsy are still paid with PayPal

We will be staying with PayPal for our websites,
   

by: FREDDY

Wonder if payment will go to seller after 30 day return policy expires??

by: Mark4

The day I can't use paypal for my purchases any longer is the day I stop buying on ebay. I can find the same items on Bonanza.com (often for less) and can still use paypal there.  

by: VeryGoodVintage

We are all right. Everything is relative/subjective. That being said, I am hoping that I am not one of the 5 to 10% of people chosen to be totally screwed by ebay in the initial "limited testing".

by: pace306

Marie :) Im not sure I understand what you are saying.

Bobby Boy Kupbens says "Putting you, our sellers, at the center of everything we do in 2018" but they cant explain what the new payment terms are/will be?

Whether or not anyone believes that Paypal said "no more" (since as they told me) eBay causes most of their problems (funny how eBay is always causing people problems) or not - its impossible to believe that eBay signed a deal and there are no tangibles. If so then they are as bad at law as they are at ecommerce.

Im not arguing with you about anything - just that again - eBay is lying, They have details - they just refuse to tell sellers - and thats not "Putting you, our sellers, at the center of everything we do in 2018".

Another day, another eBay lie.

by: epuise

so... if buyer claims w/ eBay...
then claims w/ paypal...
then claims w/ credit card...
that's 3X seller has to waste time, energy, possibly be defrauded...
thru eBay's Payment Portal ?

by: a_c_green

I'm sensing that he may regret using the term ''Big Bang'' in future. He does, however, strike me as someone who's smooth enough to arrange a nice buyout for himself after making a complete mess of whatever it was he was hired to do, so I think he will land on his feet regardless.

by: toolguy

There is NO reason to complain!

There are many venues to choose from to sell your goods on if you are unhappy with what eBay does. . .In fact there are more choices today then ever before!

by: Marie

@pace

It just seem logical to me that at this early stage they have not hammered out ALL the details, so they aren't releasing any details.  Certainly they know some of them, some important ones that we would all like to know.  I'm just of the opinion until they will wait until the day is closer to activating the test run of the program before releasing the details.

I know it drives many of us crazy and some come up with some crazy ideas of what Ebay will actually impose on us with this program.  Much of it comes from fear of the unknown and some comes from Ebay's history of dealing with sellers.

I'm not now or then defending their position on this.  I don't have enough information to feel one way or another about the program.  I prefer to wait until I know more before formulating my opinion is on all of this.  For me, I'm not going to guess what it all means, get all worked up about it and give myself more things to worry about when it is not helpful in any way nor does it benefit anything.  I have no problem waiting for more info.  I know for some that is really hard, but I'll wait.

I NEVER said that Ebay said they did NOT have details nor have I read that in anything released by them.  I could have missed it.  But I don't remember seeing anything like that.  So I can't agree that Ebay is lying about this as I don't think they ever stated that.

I simply think they will not release the details of the program until it is much closer to doing the 5% test.  While I too would prefer details now, I understand why they would wait.

by: maxmad

In all the History of ebay saying it's going to be good for sellers , less expensive for sellers. never not even once has it been

Always ends with worst for sellers and will cost more money for sellers....

Anything different this time would be so far out of normal, almost impossible  

Count on it, being MORE expensive, and having MORE problems, 100% guaranteed  

by: RKTOYS

@toolguy
Yes, there is.  People like Dummy Wenig take silence as consent.  People not speaking up lets fools brazenly say "nobody saw that iceberg coming" with far more credibility than they should ever have.

Second, more venues doesn't matter if they're all the same.  That's alot of the motivation behind complaints about eBay: they're turning into Amazon.  If they're just a crappier Amazon, WTF is the point of pretending there are two "different" choices.

No offense but if you ever went shopping for an alternative venue, you'd find the options pretty disappointing.  Same fees, same payment processor, same lack of shipping options, same one-sided dispute handling, same everything.  It doesn't mean they're right but it might mean they're all lacking in imagination and ambition.