Starting June 17, 2008, eBay Australia plans to allow only PayPal as the acceptable form of payment for all transactions on eBay. Hence the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) invited interested parties to submit comments on the move by eBay.

Approximately 700 submissions have been made to date. One of the submissions contained a 38-page report requesting that the ACCC ban eBay from the action under the Australian Trade Practices Act.

The document went on to say “eBay’s real purpose, or one of eBay’s substantial purposes, is to substantially lessen competition in the market for Online Payment Processing Services, by preventing or hindering competitors of PayPal from competing effectively against PayPal in that market“.

It was submitted by a party that wished to remain anonymous. The party had specialized knowledge of eBay’s auction platform and its business. Maybe it was a partner that relied on eBay to operate its business. The detailed document was well researched, prepared and filed prior to the submission deadline to avoid scrutiny. It is very legalease and appears to be someone with deep pockets. But whom would the Australian government allow to post but not make public their name?

Late Thursday, David Bromage of AuctionBytes.com revealed that a 38-page anonymous submission published on the ACCC’s website was likely to have originated from Google. He had dissected the original document and found that it contained the words: “Microsoft Word - 204481916_1_ACCC Submission by Google re eBay Public _2.DOC“. The document has since been taken down by the Australian government and the identifying content altered to remove any reference to Google and put back on the site.

A Google Australia spokesman would not confirm whether the company made the submission.

Lin Enright and Australian government spokesperson said “It was provided by the party in the PDF format they said was clean and on the understanding that it was to be placed on the public register”. However she did not deny the submission came from Google.

eBay Australia spokeswoman Sian Kennedy said the company had nothing to add, except “this is a matter between the ACCC and Google.”

Google Objection To Ebay AustraliaPayPal Proposal - Find Documents