eBay Neg’d by Google
The PayPal fiasco in Australia has not lost it’s juice yet, it’s indeed getting more and more interesting. Today’s article in The Sydney Morning Herald titled Clerical error exposes Google as anonymous eBay critic shows a document source screenshot identifying Google as the source of a very good document prepared in response to eBay’s attempt to stifle payment methods competition on it’s Australian site.
This 38 page document demonstrates an excellent knowledge of eBay’s inner workings and summarizes eBay’s motivations quite well:
It is submitted that:
(a) There are two markets relevant to eBay’s proposed conduct. They are:
(i) the market for the supply of online marketplace services to online buyers and sellers in Australia - in which eBay operates; and
(i¡) the market for the supply of peer-to-peer online payment processing services in Australia - in which PayPal operates or, alternatively, the market for the supply of online payment processing services in Australia (including peer-to-peer and non-peer-to-peer online payment systems) - in which PayPal operates.
(b) eBay has substantial power in the market for the supply of online marketplace services to online buyers and sellers in Australia.
(c) PayPal is likely to have substantial power in the market for the supply of peer-topeer online payment processing services and the market for the supply of online payment processing services, more generally.
(d) eBay’s proposed conduct will immediately increase transaction costs for all eBay sellers and buyers, and remove any impediment to PayPal further raising prices to eBay sellers in future.
(e) eBay’s proposed conduct will reduce the quality of producVservice provided by PayPal on the eBay Site and elsewhere as PayPal will have little incentive to innovate, improve its product offering, or provide beüer quality customer service and support once it has secured a ‘captive market’ of online sellers on the eBay Site.
(f) eBay’s proposed conduct will foreclose competition from all competitors of PayPal currently allowed on the eBay Site.
(g) eBay’s proposed conduct willforeclose competition from existing competitors of PayPal, more generally. Exclusion from the eBay Site and the network effect of increased adoption of PayPal outside the eBay Site will deter or delay innovation by existing competitors.
(h) eBay’s proposed conduct will foreclose potential competition from new entrants into the market. Exclusion from the eBay Site, the network effect of increased adoption of PayPal outside the eBay Site, and the difficulties of building critical mass against PayPal’s installed customer base, will prevent or delay entry by new competitors.
(i) The proposed conduct is not necessary to achieve eBay’s claimed purpose, nor is likely, of itself, to be effective in achieving that purpose. One of eBay’s substantial purposes for the proposed conduct, is anti-competitive.
1.3
0) The public benefits claimed by eBay should be disregarded entirely, or alternatively, be given very little weight, by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the Gommission), because they either:
(i) will or are likely to exist in the absence of the proposed conduct and, as such, cannot be said to result or be likely to result from the proposed conduct; or
(ii) are illusory.
(k) eBay’s proposed conduct will result in significant public detriments including a reduction in consumer choice and a reduction in the overall quality of online payment processing services in Australia.
1.4 Accordingly, it is submitted that the proposed conduct has the purpose and is likely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in the market for the supply of online payment processing services, and that any likely benefit to the public from the proposed conduct will not outweigh the significant detriment to the public from the substantia, lessening of competition,
1.5 The Commission should revoke eBay’s Notification by giving eBay a notice pursuant to section 93(3) of lhe Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (the Act).
Here is the 38 Page Document submitted to ACCC, most likely by Google requesting that ACCC prevents PayPal from being the only payment method allowed on eBay Australia.
Last year in June, eBay temporarily discontinued it’s ads on Google in retaliation to Google’s plans to hold a Party that coincided with eBay Live event. I guess we’ll see if the retaliation streak still permeates eBay’s corporate culture or if it has left the building with Meg Whitman.
and eBay will gladly host it for the scammer for months after any listing it was uploaded for expired so the scammer can reuse it
This scammer using jameswittt@gmail.com email address hijacked another eBay seller Seller: me***74( 164) Feedback: 100 % Positive Member: since Apr-21-03 in United States and uploaded scam eBay auction for 
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