eBay Australia said a government agency's review of its plans to go PayPal-only could continue until the end of July. Therefore, the company announced it would postpone the new policy's effective date from July 15 (originally scheduled for June 17) "until the review process with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding its recent draft notice is complete."

eBay Australia & New Zealand spokesperson Daniel Feiler wrote in an email, "eBay has delayed the changes taking effect because the ACCC have indicated that the review process could continue until the end of July. Given the process has taken longer than expected, eBay cannot speculate on a specific date when the process will end and believe it is only fair to our community to delay the further changes."

eBay had been requiring sellers to change listing descriptions to comply with the new policy by July 15, even though the agency had issued a draft notice of its intention to bar the policy on June 12. The ACCC notified eBay and interested parties this week that it would hold a conference on Monday in Sydney "to discuss the draft notice, to canvass points of view and to assist the ACCC's weighing of issues and its interpretation of the information given to it" (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/cab/abn/y08/m06/i25/s0).

eBay said it remains committed to improving safety and that it will continue to look for ways to improve the shopping experience for buyers that will subsequently benefit both sellers and eBay.

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/au/200806261418322.html