The Australian government told eBay it could not implement its PayPal-only policy in Australia next week and would make a final determination on the matter. It issued a 42-page draft notice today that said consumers are in the best position to determine which service offers the best features. The agency waded through submissions by eBay buyers and sellers, online payment providers, financial industry organizations and other interested parties.

Interestingly, the ACCC used the May 26 submission, believed to have been submitted by Google, to help determine the competitive landscape. The filing showed data from Hitwise that revealed eBay dominated traffic in the "Shopping and Classifieds - Auctions" sector in Australia.

The ACCC noted that the second largest online marketplace after eBay is OZtion, which "is currently not a significant competitive constraint on eBay."

The agency received over 600 submissions from eBay users and said, "The overwhelming majority of these submissions were opposed to the notified conduct and raised concerns regarding restriction of choice, increased fees and issues associated with PayPal’s security, dispute resolution and customer service."

eBay and interested parties now have time to lodge submissions in response to the draft notice, before the ACCC decides whether to issue a final notice revoking the notification.

It would be interesting if this case draws attention from government regulators in other countries over eBay's payment restrictions. eBay has implemented policlies on its other sites that push users into using PayPal, just shy of an official PayPal-only policy. There's also speculation that eBay has plans to do away with checks and money orders in the US.

More on the ACCC ruling in today's AuctionBytes Newsflash article, including a link to the full ACCC notice.