Guest Author - Maria Thompson

When Ebay purchased PayPal a few months ago, it declared that BillPoint would be in effect for a short time. That short time is now coming to an end. Billpoint (eBay Payments) will be removed as a payment option on eBay in early 2003. Ebay will start removing this service the week on January 13, 2003. They are expecting the changes to take place over several days.

Sellers will no longer be able to list with Billpoint as a payment option on the Sell Your Item form or through listing tools. The Billpoint payment option will no longer be available for any new, relisted, or pending listings created after January 13.

According to Ebay, if you list in eBay Store Inventory, you should select "Other On-line payment services" to indicate that you accept PayPal. After mid-February, PayPal will be available as a payment option when listing for Stores. Billpoint availability as a payment option in eBay Stores has been extended until mid-April, 2003.

Also beginning the week of January 13th, PayPal will be further integrated into My eBay. Buyers will see the "Pay Now" button change to "Paid" status once payment through PayPal has been made.

In mid-February 2003 – Billpoint will be removed as a payment option for Fast Deposit on eBay Motors and PayPal will be available as a new payment option. PayPal will also appear as a new payment option for eBay Store listings.

***In mid-April 2003 - The Billpoint Refund function will be removed. Billpoint sellers should issue all remaining refunds prior to April 15th, 2003.

On April 30th 2003 - The www.billpoint.com site will be shut down. Access to the Billpoint Account Summary will no longer be available. You should download your Billpoint payment history prior to April 30th if you wish to keep a record of your transactions.

Please note that PayPal accounts will NOT be automatically created for Billpoint users, so if you do not have a PayPal account you will need to sign up for one.