According to the latest news from auctionBytes,

eBay is banning sellers from requesting payment through Google Checkout. The online auction giant updated its Safe Payments policy this week to add Google’s new payment service, Google Checkout to its list of online payment methods not permitted on eBay.

From eBay’s standpoint, they are probably doing the right thing. Why not try to quash Google before Google destroys eBay’s online monopoly? Why should eBay spend more money trying to compete in the marketplace with Google, when they could just ban them?

The answer is simple: because it hurts the consumer. Instead of making the shopping experience better for the online community, eBay is only looking out for eBay. Instead of offering choice and welcoming competition in the marketplace, eBay is bent on quashing the competition. Here’s a reality check, eBay: You can’t quash Google. Now you’ve made yourself vulnerable to a company who has enough capital to waste on legal fees to file an anti-trust lawsuit. Your stock and public image is going to suffer.

Currently, eBay controls the entire online auction experience and controls who participates in it. They can automatically suspend users’ PayPal account if their eBay account has been suspended and vice-versa. Therefore, having another popular payment service, such as Google Checkout, puts a huge thorn into eBay’s business model. With a real marketplace competitor, they would have to spend more money on customer service (an area in which PayPal & eBay are significantly lacking), or else they will lose a vast number of PayPal users to Google.

Smaller companies, such as StormPay, have been incapable of shelling out the necessary legal fees to stop eBay’s underhanded tactics of banning them from their marketplace. Now, Google, who’s motto has always been “Do No Evil” will hopefully step up to the plate and put eBay in its place. When that day comes, it will be a victory for the consumer.