Is it possible to pay without paypal now?

[backcross]

How can I tell from a listing if I can do that (using ebay payments, I think it's called?)?

I've not used ebay for years because paypal was the only option.

Thanks

[rusticrye]

You'll see boxes with  PayPal, G Pay, Visa, and more on many business sellers' listings now, which indicates that they've been switched to Managed Payments. But not every business seller has been switched over yet - the process will take place over the next year or so. And private sellers will remain as usual for a very long time.

Not sure why this is important to you, though, as you've never had to have a PayPal account in order to pay. PayPal is a secure payment processor, so you can pay through PayPal as a guest, using your debit or credit card. It's always been this way.

@backcross 

[backcross]

My recollection (admittedly from a long time ago now) is that when I tried to pay via paypal, it transpired that "credit card payment" on ebay in fact involved paypal in some way behind the scenes, which blocked me from paying that way. Maybe I misunderstood and it was just (very) bad UX -- doesn't make much difference to me I guess, too painful to try that again until it's totally clear I can actually pay for what I buy. My paypal account is blocked pending some sort of verification. Various aspects of paypal's behaviour over the years led me to decide not to use them again if I could possibly avoid it -- not because of inconvenience, rather because of bad behaviour.
In terms of what to do now though, convenience certainly comes into it -- right now I was considering buying from a private seller (no go, thanks for clarifying that everybody), and really that's the only reason I'd bother spending the time trying to understand this at all. That comes up maybe once a year I suppose... see you in a year or so, ebay.

[backcross]

By the way, though it's private sellers that would make me expend effort to come back to ebay, I used to buy from business sellers all the time. I bet there are more people than me **bleep** off at paypal who'd be quite happy to do that again if it was only clear they could avoid PP

[backcross]

Wow that's an impressive level of prudishness ebay

[rusticrye]

Mangaged Payments is costing many sellers far more than PayPal, so expect to see much higher prices when you pop back in a year's time. You'll probably also return to find fewer sellers, especially those dealing in lower value items (typically under £15) who can't increase prices and remain competetive - they'll have gone off to pastures new, where they can actually choose to have buyers pay only with Paypal (and take advantage of PayPal's micropayments account, specifically designed for sellers of low-value items), plus get their money instantly rather than have to wait several days as they do with MP.

@backcross