E-commerce giant eBay has announced that it will begin allowing sellers to accept Apple Pay as a payment option in the United States later this year.
Earlier this year, eBay announced plans to begin changing the way it handles payments on its marketplace. As part of this plan, it dropped PayPal as the primary payment processor for purchases and announced its intention to begin managing end-to-end payments itself.
Starting this fall, eBay has announced that it will begin rolling out Apple Pay support on its website and inside its mobile app. You’ll need a Mac running Safari or an iOS device to take advantage of it.
You may also have to wait longer than other eBay customers. A small number will get the chance to use Apple Pay when the first phase of its rollout begins this year, but eBay won’t finish adding Apple Pay support until 2021.
The news shows how PayPal’s split from eBay in 2015 continues to shake up the payments business. PayPal and eBay officially split in 2015, but this year eBay is really starting to show its independence. eBay announced earlier this year it plans to switch payment processing from PayPal to Dutch rival Adyen beginning in 2020.
The introduction of Apple Pay is linked to eBay rolling out end-to-end payments management, which is also happening in the fall. To begin with, only select sellers asked to participate will be able to offer this new payment option. Buyers can use Apple Pay either through Safari or iOS to pay for auction wins.
Steve Fisher, Senior Vice President of Payments at eBay, believes that “Apple Pay is one of the most ubiquitous forms of payments and provides users with an easy, fast and secure way to pay … Offering Apple Pay as a form of payment on eBay is the first step in providing more choice and flexibility in payment options to our tens of millions of buyers.”
