eBay To Move To PayPal Only In Australia

After negative publicity about an eBay plan to require users in Australia to use PayPal-only, its online payment system, rumors about a similar policy in the U.S. were met with a forceful denial from the company.

"In the U.S., we are not mulling, planning, or otherwise seriously considering a move to PayPal-only," wrote spokesman Usher Lieberman on the company's eBay Ink blog. "There are U.S. market-specific reasons why PayPal-only is something we simply cannot do in the U.S."

In Australia, the PayPal- only policy goes into effect next month, it has raised concern from users who do not want their payment options limited and sparked complaints about its impact on competition from bankers.

"It's a test case," Ina Steiner, editor of Auctionbytes.com, told the Mercury

Beginning June 17, items sold on

The online auction company says the switch to

Australian bankers don't agree and have filed submissions to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in an attempt to stop the changes. The affect on eBay's 5 million registered users there, according to the Australian bankers Commission, will be that, "competition will be restricted, innovation and development will be constrained, new entry will be discouraged and PayPal will be able to increase fees and charges to eBay users."