eBay Readies Next Phase of Managed Payments Takeover

The next phase of eBay’s Managed Payments rollout will impact larger merchants. As we reported in November, eBay is turning off Integrated Merchant Credit Card Accounts (IMCC) in two phases beginning March 1, 2019 – meaning sellers will no longer be able to use their own merchant credit card accounts on eBay. (eBay had begun prohibiting new sellers from using their merchant accounts beginning last November.)

This week, eBay has reportedly begun notifying sellers who use their own merchant credit card accounts of the impending deadlines. As a reminder, the timeline is as follows:

• Beginning March 1, 2019, sellers will not be able to create new listings with IMCC as a payment method.
• After May 1, 2019, sellers will no longer be able to renew existing listings with IMCC as a payment method. At that point, eBay will discontinue support for IMCC accounts as a payment acceptance method, and all listings will need to be updated with an alternate option.

According to eBay, “This is part of our ongoing efforts to improve the buyer experience and better support the seller community.” And, it said, “we are implementing this change to improve the buyer experience on the eBay website and mobile app and make it more seamless.”

Sellers will be able to select one of two supported payment acceptance options – managed payments by eBay or PayPal. Merchants who choose to process payments with PayPal must also update their listings to include PayPal as the payment acceptance option prior to May 1, 2019.

In a FAQ, “How will my experience be different accepting credit card payments on PayPal compared to my internet merchant account,” eBay answered:

“With PayPal: Buyers are able to check out with both credit cards and PayPal;

“Your mobile buyers will be able to check out with your listings on the eBay mobile app.”

eBay will eventually transition all sellers to its own managed payments system.

eBay offered the following advice to sellers currently using merchant credit card accounts: “Please coordinate with your existing internet current merchant account provider – Payflow, Authorize.Net, CyberSource or other – for support on any refunds, chargebacks, or claim obligations for transactions processed on eBay prior to May 1, 2019.”

And eBay provided the following phone number for sellers with questions: 866-540-3229.

See more information about the IMCC deprecation on this page of the eBay website.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.