Several years ago, it was clear that clients who paid with Paypal discovered that they could hit the dispute button and simply avoid paying for an item and often keep it as well. I decided that I no longer wanted to be party to someone else being the judge and jury over my transactions as I am nothing if not fair. So I went on a hunt.

I began using Auctioncheckout.com and they process my credit cards and put the money in MY BANK ACCOUNT. I do not work for them, I have not been paid ... I am simply a customer.

Once it was set up it works like a dream. I would highly recommend NOT going through this holiday season by accepting paypal because it will be a killer. You will get non-stop bad feedback and disputes out the wazoo because eBay has created the perfect storm for that to happen. Protect yourself People!

Start looking for an Alternate. Dont give up. They are out there. This is one that I use and like and maybe there will be something you would prefer but the bell tolls for YOU! Get it set up now so you can roll into this season and not take a hit.

Yeah, but will it actually be accepted to integrate into ebays checkout procedure?


Whatever format YOU USE must be fully compatible with ebays checkout -

How much you wanna bet this is how they screw everybody on this change?


I already called my merchant account provider and they said they have no clue how this will work unless ebay sends me the buyers credit card number and I can enter it.....


If they don't design their programming to allow your preference in CC processing you will be forced to use one of the others that ebay decides is acceptable FOR YOU......


How much you wanna bet again that all of the ones they deem acceptable they have their hand in? That is what this whole thing has been about from the begining I bet.......all these changes to get you so dizzy and set you up for this final knock out.....


Without ALL of the credit card processing skimming going into ebays pockets their numbers were probably looking bleek. Now they found a way to insure not ONE SALE didn't net them an extra 2-3% plus annual fees.....


What a bunch of aholes.

eBichin.... Look, either you can bitch about it OR you can DO something. I did something. I talked to the president when there was talk about alternate checkouts being eliminated and that is simply not the case.

So go a head and complain. But if you sit on your ass and dont do something pro-active.... soon you can only blame yourself when there are other things you can do.

You put a link in your auction, you put it in your checkout emails and you dont use the PAY NOW button. No biggie... they go to the auctioncheckout site and they put in the auction number which they have communicated with and they can process a Mastercard, VISA, AmEx or Discover card.

PS. it is cheaper than Paypal

Hi Wendyful!

This service sounds interesting to me.

I have been taking money orders and checks exclusively for many years, so this is a big blow to me and I'm not sure where to start.

All I know is, I don't want to use Paypal if I don't have to.

I have heard that when you accept credit cards on Ebay through a service other than Paypal, Ebay requires you to register with them for their approval.

Did you run into this issue?

Is Auctioncheckout.com integrated with eBay? They may be an approved payment method right now on eBay but without integration, they might be forced to go the way of the Dodo. eBay is controlling as much of the process as possible.

Patchdog, Your question made me very curious so I went to Auctioncheckout and talked on live chat (very friendly, but the way).

I'm sorry this is so long, but here is our conversation:

[Brad] Hello! Welcome to the new Auction Checkout live chat for Sales Support. My name is Brad. How may I help you today?

[ME] I am thinking about signing up for your service, but before I do, I want to be sure that this service will be integrated into the new change Ebay just announced yesterday. Are you familiar with this?

[Brad] I am familiar with it. We will continue to work. The change actually has no effect on us because the change effects checkout re-direct companies and we are not using checkout re-direct.

[ME] Forgive my ignorance, but this is what Ebay says: "For example, if a seller has an internet merchant account, a buyer will be able to directly enter a credit card and never have to leave the site...with all payment methods integrated into the checkout process on eBay"

[ME] Does that mean your site has to integrate with Ebay separately the way Propay did?

[Brad] We will integrate the same way that we currently do which is inserting HTML code into the item description for the customer to checkout using that link.

[ME] Okay, that sounds pretty easy. What if Ebay requires that Ebay checkout is the only way buyers can pay? Some sellers are saying that, but I can't vouch for that

[Brad] At this point they have not said that. We continue to monitor and stay in contact with eBay and everything is business as usual for us.

[Brad] If the time came that we had to integrate into the eBay checkout, we would take the steps to make that happen, but at this time there are no current plans to do that that I am aware of.

I'm an 8 year veteran of ebay who has never used Paypal and never WANTS to use Paypal. I'll check into it. Is it like having your own merchant account or is it more like a Paypal setup?

One quick question...which service do you use and recommend...the blue or gold account?

I would like to know if they are in any way affiliated with feebay.

Quote: › You put a link in your auction, you put it in your checkout emails and you dont use the PAY NOW button.

The only problem is, effective January 2009 you will have to use ebay checkout. I guarantee they will not allow this.

I currently process payments through my website. This will no longer be allowed either (Jan 09). Ebay will have a payment gateway that you will have to subscribe to, and then link your merchant account to their gateway. I honestly still do not know how they are going to pull this off. I don't think they do either, but I just got this information straight from ebay's 8/20 Announcements Discussion Forum.

Honestly in my opinion, Ebay is doomed. Their Greed is going to destroy them. Not allowing Money orders and checks is Idiotic.

That's what I'm afraid of....sounds like it's Paypal, Propay or a merchant account....period. If AuctionCheckout isn't a merchant account, then I don't think it will work.

Ebay sent the changes emails out yesterday and they are suggesting ( or telling you ) that Pro Pay will be the only merchant account that they will integrate into their new electronic check out.

OKay I will answer questions as I can.

#1. Auctioncheckout will help you set up a merchant account there are two services you need and once that is done you dont have to be beholden to anyone ever again so it is worth the effort. Auctioncheckout works it out so that they all work together for you. PERFECT that is what you need. It is NOT a paypal like set up at all. I will NOT accept Paypal and refuse payments from buyers if they happen to send it to me.

#2. It is NOT a third party re-direct. Which means who cares about "EBAYS CHECKOUT" all they have to do is click on the link in your auction or in the winning bidder email. If you remember this is how Paypal started (before eBay bought them)

#3. They are NOT owned by eBay. In fact I mentioned it on a board on eBay today and it was deleted and I was told that I violated the TOS on the board. I never said a negative word about anyone to anyone and I just said,... you dont NEED paypal you can do this and it was CANNED. Which means, YES they dont want you to think you can do anything else so you are forced to pay more paypal fees. I didnt think that yesterday but I do now.

#4. Read it again, if you have your own merchant account COMMA, then Pro-pay..... It doesnt say that you have to have Propay. I called Auctioncheckout today and spoke with Brad and he said that this will not effect them simply because they are not a third party re-direct and frankly it is within the parameters of what they want.

#5. As for eBay checkout.... they have not come out with the determination that you cant do this.

Look I want to complain like everyone else, but my eBay business supports two single moms and their kids. It comes down to.... what can I do to make this work. Auctioncheckout has worked for me and I am not a super huge seller. I dont remember which I have the Blue or the Gold and I havent read the difference in a long time. Go to their online chat and they will help you.

Here was the downside for me. I did this 2 years ago during the Las Vegas eBay Live ... I wasnt there, I was home. However ALL their staff was in LV. Dopey me picked a bad time to try and set it up and since I was working with the less experienced staff members I had some set up problems. But once they were worked out. I was golden.

Yes, I have people who come apart at the seams that I dont take Paypal and I could care less. I lost $1500 because I was unable to defend myself in disputes because Paypal's interface simply didnt allow it.... and I am a good seller. I am more than fair. I was spinning my wheels trying to take care of ridiculous claims. Buyers KNEW they could take advantage of me. I havent had that happen ONCE since.

What I do have happen ..... is people email me and try and extort money because they know they can leave me a negative and I cant leave them one.... and once this summer I had a woman write to me and say " Look if you dont give me a $54 refund, I am going to file a Paypal dispute and they are remarkably effective." I knew she had done it before because she was so well versed in the rules. I wrote her back and said "okay". She forgot that she used her credit card. I never heard from her again. She never filed a credit card dispute because she knew I would have the ability to defend myself there.

One last comment. If you set up a merchant account and eBay determines you cant use Auctioncheckout it doesnt mean that all is lost. It means that you STILL have a merchant account ALL YOUR OWN... and you can still use it with another service. For instance I set up an authorize.net account through auctioncheckout and I got a better rate because I was going to use it thru them and if I want I can take that account and use it with Auctiva to process payments.

I am sure Auctioncheckout will do their best to get in there if the checkout becomes mandatory...but if not.... I bet they come out with a subscription fee to use their checkout etc.... whatever.

The bottom line that they CAN NOT require paypal or propay because that would be a violation of anti-trust laws and you can be sure that US attorneys are watching. Several states Utah, Nev and NY are all waiting for Paypal to stumble to file suit.

I cant anticipate what eBay is going to require in their checkout in the future all I can do is try to adapt and make it work within the parameters that will protect me, my employees, my customers and my company. When I cant do that anymore. I am out.

IN the meantime... I am heading to Amazon.com tonight to place an order just in protest of eBay being jerks.

Wendy....read the discussion today on eBay and saw your question about using Auctioncheckout.com and if it would be an accepted payment form....and also saw eBay's quick "no"... what a disappointment. It looked promising......