Is eBay Going Back In Time To Accept Checks, Money Orders & Cash For Offline Payment?
Sellers were perplexed today when they noticed a strange recent addition to the listing creation form - eBay appears to be promoting the ability to accept offline payments in the form of checks, money orders, and cash in a throwback to the old days before PayPal and Managed Payments.
Previously, those offline payment methods were only still available in limited categories but now it appears the option is on the listing form for all categories without limitation.
Sellers are discussing the new addition in the eBay community, wondering if this is an intentional change or just another one of many technical glitches that have hit the site in recent days.
One seller said:
Just started doing my daily "Sell Similar" listings and saw an " Allow offline payment" button just below the "Schedule your listing" button. It's a bit hard to believe that after all the fuss when eBay forced managed payments that they would backtrack and allow sellers the freedom we used to have.
Others strongly opined they had no desire to go back to the old days of waiting for a check to show up and wondering if it would clear.
Maybe they are testing a response to seller desires to go back to the good old days. I'll pass, thanks Ebay.
Nothing like getting a check that doesn't clear. Been there...done that...not a good idea.
The best decision eBay ever made was to adopt BillPoint circa the turn of the millennium.
No more waiting for the arrival of money orders in the mail.
No more rubber checks.
Then the somewhat smoother Paypal was brought it.
And now Managed Payments, which seems to be being used to clear out deadwood and stop scammers, in addition to being more transparent and slightly cheaper than PP.
Online payment for online purchases.
And another seller wondering what impact this would have on handling times, Seller Protection, and the eBay Money Back Guarantee.
I saw this option to accept check, money order or cash on pickup while creating a listing for a BOOK today. So definitely not one of the previously designated categories. I selected "check" and a pop up advised me that "immediate payment" would be removed if I chose it. (I then unchecked it)
But devon@ebay , can you explain what is going on here? If this is an actual policy change, it's a pretty significant one, and certainly merits an Announcement. And follow up questions: how does this impact my stated handling time? What about ebay Seller Protection and Money Back Guarantee?
If it is an intentional change, it will be an interesting one as just last year, eBay removed cash on pick as an option for the German marketplace, calling eBay payment processing more secure.
Liz Morton
We've reached out to eBay and will update if we receive more information about this change, but in the meantime, let us know in the comments below if you would go back to offering checks, money orders or cash on pick up instead of eBay Managed Payments!
