Australian online payment systems supplier Paymate is to provide its services to both eBay members and website merchants, starting February 2009.

Under the terms of the agreement between the two companies, Paymate is to provide a credit card payment service for eBay's sellers, allowing the latter to accept USD payments via Visa and MasterCard on eBay checkout. The deal will also allow Australian sellers to offer the Paymate payment option integrated into eBay checkout. Online shoppers can buy products on eBay via an online credit card authorisation. The process does not require customers to register with Paymate and the financial information is not disclosed to the sellers. The company's risk assessment service offers shoppers protection against unauthorised payment.

The company currently provides internet-based payment services to buyers in 57 countries around the world and sellers in Australia and New Zealand. Sellers in Australia can accept payments in AUD, USD, GBP, EUR and NZD while sellers in New Zealand can accept payments in NZD. The service credits funds directly to the recipient's bank account.

In June 2008, Paymate filed a formal complaint with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) when eBay tried to introduce a PayPal-only policy, claiming that eBay Australia was adopting an anti-competitive attitude regarding its online payments policy. The complaints came after eBay gave up plans to require both new and existing sellers to offer PayPal as the only accepted payment method. Nevertheless, eBay Australia continued to require sellers to accept PayPal as a payment option. At that time, Paymate representatives claimed that this decision would have a detrimental effect on its business.