eBay announced in July 2000 that it would acquire Half.com. Two years later in July 2002, eBay announced its acquisition of PayPal. It would then take ten and a half (pun not intended) years for eBay to integrate PayPal Payments into Half.com.



Without any formal announcement, Half.com began accepting PayPal at the end of last month. "Speed up your purchase. Now Pay with PayPal at checkout" a rotating graphic advertisement announced at the top of Half.com homepage.



Although I wouldn't say the eBay community was aflutter with the news. At least one user (cough, Half.com employee?) signed up for eBay on January 31st, just to start a thread on the subject.



There had been so-called "workarounds" to use PayPal on Half.com as this eBay guide explained. This included purchasing "Half on eBay" listings on eBay rather than directly through Half.com. However this service was discontinued abruptly this past October.



Interestingly, Half.com has been able to process PayPal shipping labels since December 2007.



Half.com buyer protection is capped at $750 per item, so if you are purchasing expensive items on Half.com, it is recommended that you process your order with PayPal which provides full protection for your order (read the fine print). Although it's not entirely clear if PayPal is considers Half.com transactions an "off eBay" Transaction (with no cap on coverage), I wouldn't be surprised to see an update to PayPal's Buyer Protection site to specify that eBay includes all eBay properties (including Half.com).



About the Author

Brian Cohen has been an active member of the eBay community since May 1998. He currently trades under the member name Bidofthis.com. His first AuctionBytes article was published in May 2002. Brian can be contacted through his website at BidofThis.com where he always has a "little Bid of This and little Bid of That."

