Does Paypal’s Buyer Protection still apply?

You often mention that ebay Q buyers can get refunds through Paypal’s Buyer Protection, but has this been affected by ebay no longer giving sellers money through Paypal?

A The short answer is, no, it hasn’t been affected – at least for now. Buyers will be able to use Paypal to pay for goods, and receive protection, until July 2023 (as Keith Seed does – see case opposite). What’s changed is that ebay has stopped placing payments in sellers’ Paypal accounts. Instead, they’ll go straight into their bank accounts.

Selling fees are now automatically deducted from earnings at the time of sale, regardless of how the buyer pays. There are no Paypal fees now, only ebay’s flat rate of 12.8 per cent of the total sale, plus a fixed fee of 30p, for all sales under £2,500. The old system was 10 per cent to ebay, plus Paypal’s fees, plus 30p.

Ebay claims these changes make transactions easier to carry out, and gives buyers more payment options, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as credit and debit cards. However, neither Apple Pay nor Google Pay provide buyer protection, while protection offered by debit cards mostly covers fraud, not the kind of blanket protection offered by Paypal. You can of course use Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act for items over £100.

For sellers, the new system is like direct debit in that they’d have to talk to their bank to challenge any chargeback or unauthorised payment taken by ebay. But for both buyers and sellers there’s the last resort: the Financial Ombudsman Services can overrule a bank’s decision ( www.financialombudsman.org.uk).

Ebay’s decision has angered many buyers and sellers, but it’s too early to know whether substantial numbers will cancel their account and move to rival sites.

CASE CLOSED