The Whine Seller

(I planned to reopen The Whine Seller next week with a more positive note but eBay went and ticked me off so, sorry, two bitter rants in two days!).

eBay added two more approved Payment Methods to its approved list yesterday, Mooneybookers and Paymate now join eBay owned PayPal and newcomer ProPay. As part of the same announcement, ProPay will be opening up to all PowerSellers (they had previously only been open to certain levels).

While the big debate yesterday in various eBay related blogs was the trustworthiness of these two new options, I have to admit that I don’t really care what the details of these new services are. All I care about is that eBay just added some new payment methods and now I feel forced into offering them.

I rejoiced when they banned money orders. Why? Because money orders were more work (wait for them to arrive, check the mail every day, take them to the bank, wait for them to clear, too easy to fake) and only a tiny percentage of my buyers used them. Then why did I offer them? Because in an auction driven business, to me, every payment method you don’t offer is another bidder that you are alienating who may not bid on your stuff. If eBay makes it an option, you basically have to offer it or you risk losing bidders and buyers.

So by adding these three new services, they are basically forcing me to sign up for them. Might these new services be better than PayPal? Sure, it’s always an option. Might they even be cheaper? It’s possible, I haven’t even looked. But it doesn’t matter if they are all worse and more expensive. I will have to sign up for them anyway and that is what annoys me.

I know some people hated what they saw as the monopoly of eBay requiring only PayPal (which they owned) but, to me, the marketplace needed to be standardized. Throwing 3 new services with three new policies, processes and confusions into the mix isn’t going to help but only hurt in the long run.

I know, I sound like the oldest woman ever. I swear to god, I’m not. See? But everytime they add a new approved payment method, no matter what it is, it annoys me.

Maybe one of you can sell me on why adding new payment methods is a good thing because I am just not feeling it.

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