Already, back in July, eBay Australia had fallen foul of the authorities with their attempt to axe bank deposits, cheques and money orders from the site in favour of PayPal exclusivity or cash on delivery. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had signalled their intention to reject the policy on the grounds it would lessen competition in the online payments market and deny consumers choice.
But it seems the Reserve Bank of Australia are still unhappy with a rule to make all sellers offer PayPal as one of their payments options.
“Over recent months, the board has received a number of comments on the no-surcharge and no-steering rules that apply to payments using the PayPal system as well as the mandated acceptance of PayPal on eBay’s auction site,” says the RBA in a statement.
“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.”
