EBay is postponing plans to force its Australian customers to use the PayPal service following the intervention of the country's competition watchdog, but says it will challenge moves to block its new payments policy.
EBay applied to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for an exemption from the Trade Practices Act in April as part of its plans to stop Australian customers using payments methods such as direct bank deposits, cheques and money orders, on its online auction site from 17 June.
Last week the watchdog issued a draft notice proposing to revoke the notification lodged by eBay, amid concerns over the "anti-competitive effect" of the proposal. Graeme Samuel, chairman of the competition watchdog, released a statement calling on eBay to delay implementation of the plan until the ACCC makes a final decision.
The auction house now says it will delay the removal of other payment methods from its site until 15 July.
But in a statement on its Web site, the firm says it "challenges" the ACCC draft notice and is "disappointed that the ACCC's current view delays the opportunity to provide consumers a more secure way to shop on eBay.com.au with confidence".
EBay says it will work with the ACCC "to achieve a final outcome which has the safety and security of eBay's members as its paramount objective".
EBay and other parties can lodge submissions in response to the draft before the ACCC decides whether to issue a final notice revoking the notification.
Separately, PayPal has outlined plans for a new Developer Central portal, to encourage the development of online payment applications.
The portal, to launch in July, will offer free business and technical kits, including a marketing library, best practice advice, sample code, training and education materials and discussion forums.
Developer Central offers 25 free APIs to enable merchants to send and receive money online, refund transactions, manage subscriptions and track transaction histories. In addition, the site will provide a directory to connect merchants with certified PayPal developers.
"Our active developer community is one of the drivers of PayPal's growth, and supporting their success is a top priority for us," says Glenn Lim, general manager, alliances and developer services, PayPal. "We've created a wealth of new resources to help developers respond to the skyrocketing demand for safer, easier online payments."