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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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eBay woos AU sellers with PayPal discount August 17, 2004 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/eBay-woos-AU-sellers-with-PayPal-discount/0,139023166,139156460,00.htm
eBay is stepping up its efforts to woo Australian customers to its PayPal online payment service, offering a discount to sellers who use PayPal to complete transactions. PayPal e-mailed its Australian user base over the weekend, announcing it was cutting its cross-border selling charges by 0.5 percent for an indefinite period. Cross-border fees apply when currencies are converted, and are thus a necessary feature of PayPal sales by Australian traders to overseas customers. Currently, PayPal adds a 2.5 percent service fee to currency conversion transactions. A similar discount is being offered to users registered in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. The discount does not apply to buyers using the service. The e-mail said the discount period is "provisional" and doesn't specify a cut-off date. In practice, many local sellers are reluctant to use PayPal, as the fees involved can be high. A common strategy for Aussie-to-Aussie transactions is to take direct deposits to a bank account, but that approach won't usually work with overseas buyers. eBay acquired PayPal in July 2002 as a replacement for its own Billpoint payment system, which had failed to gain a significant audience. Billpoint was never launched in Australia, though eBay offered support for locally-developed payment service PayPal. At the time of the acquisition, eBay officials said initial promotional efforts would be centred on the US -- a strategy which now appears to be shifting.
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