eBay Australia replied to a May 26th submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which is inquiring into eBay's PayPal-only policy. While the May submission, which called the public benefits of the PayPal-only policy "illusory," was published anonymously to the ACCC site, AuctionBytes reader David Bromage revealed it was most likely submitted by Google (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y08/m05/i29/s01).

eBay Australia told the ACCC the submission is based on analysis that contains a significant error in its consideration of PayPal's market. eBay said it would not provide a detailed critical analysis of the submission, but replied "merely to draw the ACCC's attention to this analytical error." It went on to say that "it is apparent that the submitter is attempting to distinguish P2P online payment providers from non-P2P online payment providers,..."

eBay submitted its reply to the ACCC on Tuesday (http://tinyurl.com/3jw3p2). It also pointed to recent developments as supporting its arguments, citing the increase in sales reported by OZtion, Jimbuck Entertainment's acquisition of OZtion, the entry of Trading Post into online auctions, and "the reported 21% increase over the last 12 months in credit and charge card fraud, largely attributed to "card-not-present" transactions...."

eBay's policy is slated to go into effect on Tuesday, June 17, and it is believed the ACCC may publish its ruling on Monday.

Update 6/12/08: New developments!
The ACCC has told eBay to hold off on implmenting its PayPal-only policy next week.
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y08/m06/i12/s00

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