If you follow Auction Bytes you might have read the post of 4/15/09 where Auction Bytes indicated eBay would Terminate Thrid Party Checkoutout.  This apperantly did not go over to well with eBay. Seems there are many discrepencies coming from eBay and Auction Bytes. No confirmation or full details where disclosed by eBay. However, you should always check all your sources or contact eBay with any questions.

On April 15, Auction Bytes posted the following:

“eBay will eliminate its Third Party Checkout Redirect on eBay as of June 15, 2009. Sellers who use third-party checkout solutions will no longer have the opportunity to display branding, cross-sell, up-sell and other merchandising opportunities at point-of-sale. This means a loss of sales for sellers and lost revenue for vendors who collect commissions on merchant sales. eBay will do away with third-party checkout completely next year…… Click Here to read the entire post

In response to the post; eBay Dinesh Lathi, VP Seller Experience posted the following:

Some blogs have incorrectly reported that eBay is doing away with third party checkout. We want to clarify that this is not the case.

The facts: Beginning June 15, eBay will only allow third-party checkout services from approved providers who have updated their user interface according to a set of eBay guidelines. Our goal is to give buyers a more consistent checkout experience. These guidelines do not involve any changes to functionality that is consistent with eBay listing policies and existing legal agreements…… Click here to read entire post

To reiterate, we are not eliminating third party checkout on June 15, we are only asking third-party checkout providers to update the user interface.

Please keep in mind that the definitive source of information about eBay is eBay. You can find accurate information about any planned changes through this Announcement Board and through emails, calls and other official communications from eBay………………………..

Auction Bytes did update their post to offer some clarification……

“Update 4/15/09: I received an email from eBay spokesperson Usher Lieberman today stating: eBay is narrowing access to third-party checkout to approved providers and has asked these third-party checkout partners to update their user interface or UI to conform with a set of guidelines provided by eBay. This DOES NOT involve any changes to the third-party checkout functionality consistent with eBay listing policies and existing legal agreements, just to the user interface. Some of the approved third-party checkout partners may opt out of these user interface changes, in which case they will need to begin using eBay Checkout. I asked for further clarification, Usher Lieberman has yet to reply…………

The kind of situation that arose today only confirms our editorial instincts. eBay said today in its announcement, “the definitive source of information about eBay is eBay.” I eagerly await more information from eBay about Third Party Checkout changes coming in June!” For details you can click here

As a seller it is important to know what changes are coming up that will affect your seller and buyer experience. It seems that eBay has not responded to all the questions concerning the changes that are coming up. It would only be fair to allow the seller in. With so many changes all ready made in such a short period of time; how much more uncertainty can we take……. Sure, changes should be announced by eBay and confirmation should be provided to sellers and bloggers by them. But without the proper communication the “speculations” of sellers and bloggers seem to lead more to the truth. My suggestions, is to explore your options. If you are concerned your buyers from eBay cannot find you; you can sign-up for Every Place I Sell; offered by Auction Bytes. Every Place I Sell allows you to inform buyers where they can find your products.

Do you think eBay will eliminate Third Party Checkout all together? Do you think eBay should allow Third Party Checkout or simply allow only PayPal?

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