While eBay has always been a great place to buy and sell – it's also a haven for those of us with a penchant for the quirky, the unusual, or the inspiring.

Today we are pleased to launch Best of eBay, which will showcase the most popular, interesting and unique listings on eBay.

One of the greatest things about this is that the “best” is determined by the people who come to eBay every day to buy, sell, interact and have fun.

Best of eBay lets you nominate the most interesting listings, vote on your favourite ones, and talk about them with others.

Go to http://bestof.ebay.com.au where you can:

• Nominate Listings: You can nominate listings you find on eBay – they can be fun, weird & wacky, different, or a great deal …whatever captures your attention! Just look for the "Nominate to Best of eBay" button and follow the instructions.

• Place Your Votes: Vote for the nominated listings and see which ones rise to the top. Voting is easy – you just click on the "Vote for this Item" button icon located to the right of each item.

• Make Your Voice Heard: Add your comments to the Best of eBay nominees to back up your votes. You can also share your favourite nominees with all your friends with the "Email to a Friend" link at the bottom of each listing.

We also have prizes of $2500 each for 2nd and 3rd runners up, and $1000 for the nominators of the next 13 items, so head to Best of eBay now and let everyone know about those cool collectables, the weird & wacky items and great bargains. Terms and Conditions apply.

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Changes that came into effect on 21 May 2008, requiring all sellers to offer PayPal, will remain. These changes mean that all buyers have the option of choosing PayPal, the safer payment method for shopping on eBay.com.au. Payment methods that are currently permitted will continue to be allowed on eBay.com.au until further notice.

Other recently introduced safety measures, such as PayPal Seller Protection and increased PayPal Buyer Protection (now up to $20,000) will also remain.

eBay regrets any ongoing uncertainty that this further delay may cause and will advise you of any future plans for implementation following the ACCC process.

As always, eBay appreciates the feedback received from the Community and will use this input to consider where we can make improvements that benefit both buyers and sellers.

eBay remains committed to improving safety and we will continue to look for ways to improve the shopping experience for buyers which will subsequently benefit both sellers and eBay.

Please note that some of our onsite communications may still refer to changes taking place on 15 July 2008. These communications are in the process of being updated.

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Today we’re pleased to launch eBay’s Playground and you’re invited to have a sticky beak. Our Playground works and looks just like eBay.com.au so if you buy or list an item, it’s not pretend. You will notice however a few differences when searching for your bargains.

Find out more about Playground and how the new finding/search functionality works with our PDF guide. Sellers – this is a great opportunity to take advantage of all the bargain hunters shopping on eBay. Read the tips for sellers and learn how you can have your items displayed to the right buyer at the right time!

It’s still a work in progress and we’ll continue making adjustments to improve the experience.

We’re very interested in hearing your thoughts so please email aucategory@ebay.com with any suggestions, comments, thoughts or feedback.

Playground can be accessed at http://playground.ebay.com.au and you can easily get back to eBay.com.au at any time by clicking the ‘Go to the regular site’ link at the top of the page.

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From 26-29 June we’re giving you free insertion fees on all auction listings with a starting price of $9.99 or less.

What are all the bargain hunters looking for? Find out what the most searched for items on eBay.com.au are.

All other eBay fees including listing upgrades, final value fees, format fees, subscription fees, as well as all PayPal fees apply as normal and terms and conditions do apply.

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If you receive error messaging stating 'Checkout is currently unavailable' please click the 'try your payment again' link. If you reattempt payment after clicking on this link, the coupon and payment should successfully apply and complete. If you continue to experience problems redeeming your coupon, please contact Customer Support.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused and are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

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Firstly, the amount of protection has increased from a maximum of $3,000 to an impressive $20,000 and applies to the full value of your purchase (including postage) for almost every eBay purchase when you pay with either:

• PayPal or
• Visa or MasterCard processed via PayPal

Are there any exceptions to PayPal Buyer Protection?
Items listed within certain categories are not eligible for PayPal Buyer Protection. These include, amongst others, Cars (where up to $20,000 Vehicle Purchase Protection is available), Real Estate, Services and Business for sale. Learn more about these exceptions.

Want to know more about PayPal?
Learn how quick and easy it is to buy with PayPal or watch the PayPal tutorial for simple tips on setting up your PayPal account.

Regards
The eBay team

A message from our lawyers
The PayPal service is provided by PayPal Australia Pty Limited (ABN 93 111 195 389) which holds an Australian Financial Services Licence, number 304962. eBay is an authorised representative, number 308318, of PayPal for the purpose of providing information about PayPal. eBay and PayPal are not acting as your agents, are not providing personal financial advice to you and do not take your individual circumstances into account in providing information about PayPal. You should consider the Product Disclosure Statement and Financial Services Guide before deciding to sign-up for or use the PayPal online payment service at https://www.PayPal.com.au

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The statement reads as follows:

ACCC draft notice undermines online consumer protection

eBay will continue to fight for safety benefits for consumers

13 June 2008: eBay challenges yesterday’s Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) draft notice and is disappointed that the ACCC’s current view delays the opportunity to provide consumers a more secure way to shop on eBay.com.au with confidence.

eBay intends to work with the ACCC and hopes to achieve a final outcome which has the safety and security of eBay’s members as its paramount objective. eBay will delay the removal of other payment methods from the site until Tuesday 15 July.

PayPal offers consumers a range of payment choices, including bank transfer and credit cards. It’s a safer and easier online payment system that significantly enhances protection for eBay buyers and sellers.

eBay is pleased to confirm that PayPal buyer protection will jump to $20,000 on eBay.com.au for purchases paid for using PayPal from Tuesday 17 June.

eBay believes the consumer benefits of this initiative are worth fighting for on behalf of its buyers which will ultimately benefit sellers.

From 15 July 2008, the only payment methods sellers may offer on eBay.com.au will be PayPal and pay on pick up.

Selling on eBay.com.au
Current policies regarding accepted payment methods do still apply. This means PayPal is required on all listings on eBay.com.au. Other payment methods (i.e. bank deposit, cheque/money order) may also be offered until 15 July 2008.

As previously communicated any listings that do not comply with eBay’s Accepted Payments Policy will be removed.

There are a small number of categories excluded from these changes. Learn more about these exclusions.

Buying on eBay.com.au
To ensure you benefit from PayPal’s Buyer Protection Policy, eBay strongly recommends you use PayPal when paying for your purchases on eBay.com.au.

From 15 July 2008 the available payment methods will be limited to PayPal, Visa/MasterCard, or pay on pick up.

Please note that some of our onsite communications will still refer to changes taking place on 17 June 2008. These communications are being updated and should reflect the new date of 15 July 2008 within the coming days.

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You could pick up some bargains on eBay, pay off your credit cards or mortgage, splurge on a holiday, perhaps pay the kids school fees?

Between 7 and 21 June 2008, every purchase you make on eBay.com.au and pay for using PayPal gives you an automatic entry into the prize draw. So you could be lucky enough to win one of four $10,000 PayPal credits or one of ten $1,000 PayPal credits.

We’ve got your back…

From 17 June PayPal Buyer Protection will increase to $20,000 plus we’re removing the tiers and the seller requirements making it simpler to understand and giving you greater peace of mind. PayPal Buyer Protection will be available whether you pay with PayPal, Visa or MasterCard (all payments processed with PayPal).

If you don’t already have a PayPal account open one today.

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PayPal apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your business. Once the maintenance has been completed the PayPal site will return to normal functionality.

We appreciate your understanding.

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• PayPal
• Visa/Mastercard (processed via PayPal)
• Pay on pick up (ie paid for when picking up the item)

Accepted Payments Policy

eBay will be enforcing the revised Accepted Payments Policy from 17 June and there are a few things you should consider to ensure your listings comply.

Any item listed before 17 June can still offer other payment methods along with PayPal. These listings will be allowed to expire naturally as the only payment methods visible to buyers from 17 June will be PayPal and pay on pick up.

However listings that contain details of payment options other than PayPal or pay on pick up within the item description will be removed from 17 June.

What you should do to ensure you comply

1. In order to ensure your item(s) are not removed by eBay as of 17 June, please update any templates you might use and remove any information regarding payment options other than PayPal and pay on pick up from your item description. Note: you cannot revise listings within 12 hours of expiration or once you've received a bid.

2. If you have Good 'Til Cancelled store inventory listings that do not currently offer PayPal or contain details of payment options other than PayPal or pay on pick up within the item description they will be removed from the site as of 17 June.

3. If you use a third party checkout provider ensure you offer only PayPal and pay on pick up within your checkout flow from 17 June.

4. Learn more about revising your listing.

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If you need to contact customer support during this maintenance period please do so via email - http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/contact_us/_base/index.html. Alternatively, you will be able to use Live Help once the scheduled maintenance is completed after 5pm AEST.

Regards,
The eBay team

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