2008 eBay Changes – Expanded PayPal Seller Protection Policy

Among the many changes that eBay is rolling out in 2008 is the expanded PayPal Seller Protection Policy for the top-tier of those making money on eBay. We say top-tier because this is how eBay defines PowerSellers. However, we have previously written that it doesn’t take that much to become an eBay PowerSeller.

Beginning this month, eBay is offering expanded PayPal Seller Protection for all PowerSellers that reside in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Hong Kong and have a registered PayPal account in one of these countries. Of course, the PayPal account also has to be linked to the PowerSeller’s eBay account.

The PayPal User Agreement has not been updated at the time of this writing, so the only information that is to be found about these new policies is on the eBay website. Thus, the information in this post is only as accurate as what is on eBay’s website. You will have to wait until the PayPal User Agreement is updated to get the exact, fine details about this policy.

Probably the largest change to the PayPal Seller Protection Policy is that it offers protection for any shipping address, not just a confirmed address. This is huge, since a lot of foreign addresses are not confirmed. However, as far as we can tell, the address has to be the address in the PayPal system, not just any random delivery address.

This coverage is going to be extended to 190 countries around the world, not just the extremely limited number of countries currently covered. This is also huge, since it literally opens up most of the world to this coverage, offering an extra layer of confidence for those selling on eBay and shipping internationally.

Another change to the PayPal Seller Protection Policy is the lifting of the current $5,000 per year coverage cap. eBay PowerSellers will now have unlimited annual coverage. We do wonder how big of a deal this is, because how many PowerSellers have ever come close to the $5,000 limit.

What is the downside to all of this? While we are certain PayPal wants to protect itself at the same time it is offering this upgraded service, they are most likely going to require some sort of delivery confirmation to prove that the item was delivered to the correct address, in order to have items covered by the policy. In addition, there most likely will be a signature requirement.

This means that, in order to be covered by the PayPal Seller Protection Policy, you will have to use a more expensive shipping method that has both delivery and signature confirmations. And if you are shipping internationally, this won’t come cheap.

Of course, we could be wrong about this. We will just have to wait and see what the exact details are once the PayPal User Agreement is updated. They only have 8 days left in the month if they are going to hit the February unveiling date.

The expanded PayPal Seller Protection Policy is a plus in the 2008 eBay Changes. We can all use a little bit of the positive as we wind down the week where eBay sellers are striking.

If you are not already an eBay PowerSeller, go out there and make money on eBay so that you can take advantage of this upgraded policy.

Image: crazyneighborlady

Related Posts: