PayPal is updating its User Agreement in the UK, and one of the changes stands out as unusual: it’s prohibiting sellers from dissuading shoppers from using PayPal. The following new language is being added to the UK User Agreement
“At all of your points of sale (in whatever form): you shall not dissuade or inhibit your customers from using PayPal; and if you enable your customers to pay you with PayPal, you shall treat PayPal’s payment mark at least at par with other payment methods offered.”
The change would indicate that some merchants prefer other payment methods over PayPal, yet still feel a need to offer it on their site.
eBay sellers posting in this thread wondered if the amendment to the UA meant they would no longer be able to state in their listings that they preferred cash on collection for local pickups.
PayPal UK is also specifying that it won’t protect buyers for transactions involving crowdfunding or gambling – it’s amending sections dealing with Buyer and Seller protection. (The payments firm made crowd-funding transactions ineligible for buyer protection in the US in June.)
PayPal UK is also making a change in order to make it clearer about the things that are always ineligible for PayPal Seller Protection, including cash or cash equivalents including gift cards and pre-paid cards; donations; and “payments made in respect of financial products and investments.”
And it’s making changes to what it excludes from PayPal Buyer Protection, including payments on crowd-funding and/or crowd-lending platforms; gambling, gaming and/or any activity involving a chance to win a prize; donations; and “purchases of items which you collect in person, or arrange to be collected on your behalf (including at a retail point of sale) and which you claim to be Not Received.”
PayPal UK is also adding new language to grant it use of merchants’ business name, trademarks, and logos for the purpose of displaying information about their business, products, and services.
It is also scrubbing its User Agreement to eliminate any references to fees involving Turkish users since it no longer provides services to users in Turkey.
See the PayPal UK website for complete information about the amended User Agreement. The policy goes into effect on November 19, 2016.
