EBay’s rules still annoy Australians

Australians are again expressing their displeasure towards the policy of the auction giant eBay which not long ago tried to impose PayPal service as the only payment method in Australia. Australia's central bank which has the power to regulate all payment systems, including PayPal stated that it is determined to make eBay to remove rules that could favor the use of its PayPal payments system over other payment methods.

According to the official statement of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) a number of complaints were submitted to the bank against eBay’s no-surcharge and no-steering rules.

The rules adopted by eBay prevent sellers on the auction from charging extra to recoup the cost of a buyer using a particular payment method such as Paypal. Besides, eBay imposed a ban on stating a preferred method of payment, such as direct deposit or credit cards.

"Where no-surcharge and no-steering rules have existed in other systems, the Board has encouraged their removal on the grounds that these rules can diminish competition in the payments system," the RBA said.