PayPal blocks Bigpond users

eBay’s PayPal dramas continue to heighten just as the company’s global chief John Donahue lands in Sydney this Thursday. The online auction giant recently came under fire for their scheme to trial Cash on Delivery or PayPal only transactions for their services in Australia; causing both the ire of users and raising brows at the ACCC.

The latest PayPal problems have arisen for eBay users on Australia’s largest Internet service provider, BigPond.

According to Bigpond, PayPal has been denying its customers access to the eBay-owned website.
Speaking with The Australian, BigPond spokesman Craig Middleton said: “From our investigation so far, there’s a range of IP addresses that PayPal isn’t accepting … it appears that PayPal is blocking BigPond users.
“We’ve contacted them (PayPal) and it’s not a problem that’s emanating from our end but it’s certainly affecting our customers,”

The resulting issue sees PayPal-BigPond subscribers unable to access their online PayPal accounts to check their balance or manage eBay transactions.

According to EBay Australia spokesman Daniel Fieler the problem is only affecting minimal users. “These are very isolated cases … less than 10 (cases) from what’s been reported to us.”

The issue however highlights just one of the myriad of concerns customers have with eBay’s plan to instigate its PayPal only payment procedures. If approved by the ACCC all other forms of payment apart from COD will be unable to be processed on the Australian eBay website from June 17.