eBay's Payment Policies Spark Two Antitrust Lawsuits
eBay's Payment Policies Spark Two Antitrust Lawsuits
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
May 04, 2007
"Two antitrust lawsuits were filed against eBay in April 2007 and have been assigned to the same judge because they are related, according to court filings. The plaintiffs in both parties have complained of eBay's practices with regard to its online payment service PayPal. The same judge had presided over a PayPal-related class-action lawsuit that was filed in 2002.
AuctionBytes previously reported on the recent antitrust lawsuit filed by Michael Malone on April 4, 2007 (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m04/i06/s01). Malone's lawsuit alleges that eBay "utilizes its nationwide monopoly of the on-line auction market to monopolize the available forms of payment that sellers can use on eBay."
eBay restricts which payment methods its sellers advertise in listings and bans sellers from accepting cash, wire transfer services like Western Union, as well as several competing products, including Google Checkout. And in January of this year, eBay eliminated buyer-protection for non-PayPal transactions, while doubling coverage for qualified transactions in which PayPal is used (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m01/i10/s01)."
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