No, eBay is Not Accepting Crypto Payments and is Not Working on It

Sead Fadilpašić
Last updated: | 2 min read

E-commerce giant eBay is currently not allowing payments to be made in cryptocurrency and is not working on that option at all at the moment, the company confirmed to Cryptonews.com.

Source: iStock/jejim

Yesterday, speculations appeared in the cryptoverse that the California-based multinational e-commerce corporation will start accepting crypto as payment for the products sold on the site.

“Cryptocurrency is not accepted as a form of payment on the eBay platform, nor is it part of our payments strategy,” the company said, directing people to their Accepted payments policy site.

Indeed, nowhere on eBay’s site is the support of crypto even mentioned. The allowed forms of payment include PayPal, PayPal Credit, as well as credit card or debit card processed through the seller’s Internet merchant account. Restricted category specifies that the platform doesn’t allow payments that occur outside of eBay pages (bank-to-bank transfers, checks, money orders, and online payment services), except in certain listing categories.

On its long list of not allowed methods of payment, the e-commerce giant clearly states: “Paying with Virtual or Cryptocurrencies.”

How did this all start then, and how did some portals and news sites across the world report it as a possibility, even discussing how paying in crypto would work on a site such as eBay?

Well, we know that a trader going by the username wolf (@ImNotTheWolf) tweeted the photos allegedly first published Sunday in the Telegram group “Patrons of the moon”. The photos seem to be eBay’s ads from the crypto conference Consensus in New York.

This news and all its implications, given its millions of active users, would’ve been massive if it were true. But, alas, it is not.

Cryptoverse, to their credit, was quick to recognize it such, calling the information false from the get-go, but some even going as far as accusing “the messenger” wolf of knowingly spreading false news with the intention to defraud the general public.

eBay explained the photos, clarifying the misunderstanding: “The ad is referencing the fact that eBay has a variety of virtual currency related items for sale on the marketplace, such as mining equipment.” Readers may also recall that this spring a crypto startup was sold on eBay.

However, it seems that it’s only a question of time when crypto users will be able to pay with crypto on eBay. As reported in April, Moon, a crypto payment processing startup’s service, announced that Coinbase users can shop on Amazon by paying with crypto and said that other e-commerce websites, such as eBay, Ali Express and others might be supported soon, also.

Moreover, on the other side of this coin, many high-profile retailers, including Barns & Noble, Baskin Robbins, GameStop, Nordstrom, Regal, and Whole Foods, are now accepting payments in cryptocurrency, more specifically Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and stablecoin Gemini Dollar.