eBay seller can’t use PayPal until next year. Why?

November 18, 2018 9:05 AM

So I committed to buy an item on eBay, went to pay, and it says the seller doesn’t accept PayPal. Additionally, a pop up window says they will be allowed to set it up next year. Two questions: 1.) How do I cancel, as I don’t want set something different up for a $8 item. 2.) Curiosity. What is this about. It seems so odd.
posted by MountainDaisy to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

I don't know, but the "until next year" part gets my spidey-sense tingling for sure.
posted by rhizome at 10:09 AM on November 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

You should review the terms of the eBay auction/offer. If it stated that the means of payment had to be something other than PayPal, e.g. by check, you are obligated to complete the sale using that method. While it is unlikely you would be sued for failure to complete a minor transaction such as this, eBay looks very unfavorably upon buyers failing to complete transactions because it increases their workload and decreases their income.
posted by uncaken at 10:25 AM on November 18, 2018 [5 favorites]

My guess is PayPal put the seller in a temporary freeze for one reason or another, and the freeze ends next year. Was there no warning on the item page saying no PayPal? Seems like that should be something said up-front.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:32 AM on November 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: eBay spun off PayPal in 2015, and have been slowly moving to replace PayPal with their own payments system, eBay Managed Payments. Sellers have been able to opt-in to the new payments system for a couple of months, which allows them to accept a credit card right on eBay without going through a third party payment processor. However, sellers who opted in to the new eBay payment system cannot accept PayPal until PayPal support is integrated into this new system next year. You very likely saw a message about this change; while not all sellers have transitioned to this new system and have chosen to stay on PayPal, many other sellers have transitioned and this is not a situation idiosyncratic to this particular seller.

If this rings a bell, you're able to just enter a credit card number directly on eBay to complete the transaction - it's the path of least resistance. It may be worthwhile to take the time to set up payments directly through eBay, as you may well encounter other eBay sellers who are now using eBay Managed Payments and also cannot accept PayPal until it gets integrated.

On the other hand, if you use PayPal in place of typical payment methods (ie, via a PayPal balance, and you do not have credit cards or other payment methods accepted by eBay directly), you should message the seller to explain the situation and politely ask them if they can accept payment for the order on PayPal outside of eBay or if they'd be willing to cancel the order if they cannot.
posted by eschatfische at 11:26 AM on November 18, 2018 [15 favorites]

Response by poster: Escharfishe, I just heard back from the seller and that’s pretty much what they said. And we are going to do just that. Thank you. Puts my mind at ease.
posted by MountainDaisy at 11:31 AM on November 18, 2018 [1 favorite]