Paymate Vindicated on eBay Challenge

Sydney, 12 June 2008

Paymate (www.paymate.com), an innovative Australian provider of Internet payment services, said the ACCC had vindicated Paymate’s claims in asking eBay Australia to let members choose between Paymate and PayPal since both offered comparable levels of protection.

In its draft notice published today, the ACCC considers that “PayPal offers sellers more protection than some other methods of payment, however, PayPal is not unique in this respect as it offers similar seller protection to that provided by Paymate.”[5.160]

“Accordingly, the ACCC considers the notified conduct will generate negligible public benefits for sellers on eBay.”[5.162]

“The evidence available does not support the view that PayPal is the most secure method of payment, or offers the best service for all transactions.”[5.173]

Dilip Rao, Managing Director for Paymate said, “We have been campaigning for consumer choice – whether on eBay or any online marketplace, which is exactly what the ACCC has concluded. We’re a minnow compared to the Goliath that is PayPal, but we’re happy to compete on equal terms – just give us a go, which is the Australian way.”

Dilip Rao warned, “It’s not over by a long shot, though. eBay still has many options, including toughing it out and daring anyone to take them on in court. I hope sense will prevail and eBay will embrace the open market principles of its founders.”

On June 11, Paymate launched the ‘Haiwaibao’ online shopping mall in collaboration with the Gorilla of payments in China, Alipay. An Australian-first, Haiwaibao will offer Australian merchants a unique marketplace of 80 million Chinese buyers, with a dual language (English/Mandarin) facility to make trading easy and safe.