eBay Accepting Crypto Payments is Long Overdue

over 2 years ago

frens, we've all heard the rumors that eBay will be accepting cryptocurrency payments over the years. I know for sure I've heard it multiple times. It's waaaaay over due.

NFTs and Crypto Payments

Back in May of 2021, we got the official announcement that eBay would allow NFT sales on its platform. After that, we didn't really hear anything else about it but there are definitely listings. It's not very well integrated in the sense that NFT listings act exactly the same way as physical items listings do. It works, but it's a very hacked together version of NFT listings. By that I mean - it still lists "free shipping", which is a given since NFTs live on blockchain technology. Another issue that I notice is that there's no actual integration. For example - NFTs listed don't actually let you know which blockchain they live on. This should be something that's in the actual listing instead of just poorly written in the description. They could even integrate a filter by blockchain feature if they really wanted this to work.

See what I mean? "Will be transferred from the polygon blockchain within hours of payment and receipt of your wallet address". What the hell? This should be a completely automated process. The blockchain should be listed where the "condition" detail is. Why would you need to know the condition of the NFT? It's a digital asset that doesn't degrade and can't be damaged. It's not like we're buying Pokemon cards here guys.

On top of that, your wallet address should be collected at the payment screen automatically by connecting Metamask or whatever other wallet. Rather than having to send a message to the seller with your wallet address which is highly inconvenient. They could even have a feature where you can link your different wallet addresses in your profile to streamline it even more. I'm no developer or anything like that but it can't be that hard to change the way these listings work. Cryptocurrency payments also kinda go hand and hand with NFT sales. We got an announcement today that they will be adding crypto payments "soon". I don't have a ton of faith in that statement considering they've said this a time or 2 before.

The major problem with PayPal for payments and NFTs is... What about buyer's protection and seller's protection? How does that work when no physical item is being traded? With crypto payments, everything is final and should be automated. Hopefully they will actually integrate direct crypto payments rather than using something like Bitpay. I guess we'll have to wait and see though. This is very long overdue and eBay knows it considering they attempted to integrate BTC payments in 2014. With the amount of NFT and cryptocurrency adoption, it only makes sense and it would set a precedent for other marketplaces like Mercari to do the same. Imagine buying NFTs via Amazon. Come on guys. Get with the times. This is the way.