13 replies to this topic

[Don_guillotine]

Some fans have been concerned whether the real money auction house might delay our favorite demon-slaying sequel, Diablo III, since specifics on the auction house, as we were told, were still under development when the feature was announced. The feature is a rather bold move never before seen in games, at least in the way it comes with Diablo III. Fans were concerned with this move, since Blizzard hasn't offered such services in the past.

Now we know at least one further detail -- which might alleviate at least some concerns -- as Blizzard has announced their partnership with the popular online payments service, PayPal.

Official Blizzard Quote:

We're pleased to announce that in most regions, PayPal will be our payment-service partner for the Diablo III auction house, allowing players who trade with real-world currency the ability to cash out the spoils of their battle-torn adventures via a PayPal account.

PayPal will also soon be added in several regions as a payment option on Battle.net, providing another convenient and secure payment method for digital purchases of Blizzard products and services.

We’ll share region-related specifics, as well as further details on everything mentioned above, in the near future.  Stay tuned!

Read the original post.

What we can expect from this partnership? Of course, this is still purely speculation, as details await unveiling, but I doubt it's unreasonable to expect a seamless integration between Diablo III real money auction house and PayPal. Transferring money to the auction house and out of it will probably be as seamless as using eBay.

This makes close to perfect sense in retrospect, since the details Blizzard has given us regarding the real money auction house and its functionality with cashing out using a third party payment transfer service sounded a lot like how PayPal functions in the first place. Now we need not speculate any longer, since most of the world will be using PayPal in conjunction with Diablo III's auction house. PayPal will also be available to purchase other Blizzard-related items and services, probably things such as digital copies of their games and World of Warcraft game time.


As some of you might know, PayPal is wholly owned by the internet's most popular auction house service, eBay. I doubt I'm the only one asking, whether eBay will be offering help for Blizzard in building their auction house, as eBay has had a well-functioning and safe auction house running for years. This could well mean what Blizzard means when they talk about their partnership with PayPal: their parent company and they themselves would have a lot of expertise in the field Blizzard is trying to enter into.


I'm sure that the real money auction house will still continue to divide the fan-base, but I'm certain that this announcement is a relief to most and a surprise to few.

[Lethal_Weapon]

Yea, not really surprising, kinda saw it coming, but I am glad it is with Paypal since that is what I use most often...

[Nektu]

Honestly, I see this as the way they can get money from us by making it not a P2P game like WoW. I'm not happy about it.

On the other hand, it may also help cut back the amount of places charging money for items for your characters. IDK.

[Krezzz]

nothing unexpected

[kanzaki_urumi]

I'm so sorry to say that, and could be perceived as bad mannered, but :

FUCK RMAH !

[Grimbear13]

Expected but still comforting to have this confirmed.

[Slayerviper]

Grimbear13, on 14 September 2011 - 06:41 PM, said:

Expected but still comforting to have this confirmed.

This

Now people can't theorize this will delay the release.

[Novalith]

What about some of us who don't live in the US and don't have US Bank Accounts? I hate it when all they think about is USA and such and forget that some of these services do charge more to non-US customers.

I mean, PayPal and eBay do not offer services in my country, for instance. This union would actually make it much more difficult and expensive to add money to Battle.net, in comparison to the actual system.

Granted, the post says that "in most regions", but sometimes I find it difficult to gauge what Blizzard takes for a "region" these days. I hope they keep using the one service they've been using in my region so far, which has turned out good.

Indeed, the Real Money Auction House will divide the fan base. I hope it doesn't hurt the game in the long run. But it's understandable why they want it there...

Edited by Novalith, 14 September 2011 - 07:32 PM.

[Silvast]

Not a big fan of PayPal after the Wikileaks fiasco. I don't have an account there anymore...

[Don_guillotine]

Novalith, on 14 September 2011 - 07:15 PM, said:

What about some of us who don't live in the US and don't have US Bank Accounts? I hate it when all they think about is USA and such and forget that some of these services do charge more to non-US customers.

I mean, PayPal and eBay do not offer services in my country, for instance. This union would actually make it much more difficult and expensive to add money to Battle.net, in comparison to the actual system.

PayPal works in the following countries -- although it does not offer localized service in every country it works in. As an example here in Finland I can use both, but we don't have a localized site. The countries which are not supported by PayPal will be localized using a different service more than likely.

[venom1stas]

WHY Blizzard, why? There is abolutely no reason for outsourcing payment processes to a third party business. Blizz has a huge number of customers, and already a direct payment system in place. There is no issue with lack of trust, professionalism or even experience. Why not do this yourself?

We, players will end up paying extra for as paypal fees, as many people who use ebay know that sometimes this can amount to a considerable sum.

[weirdingway]

" and safe auction house"


LOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOOOL there are scams EVERYWHERE on ebay...I've have a better time selling shit on Craigslist because at least people know you have to meet them face to face and not fuck with you

[Aquamarina]

Thats what i feared most :(
Paypal doesn't work in Russia, Ukraine etc. Well, it allows to pay, but not receive money :(
I hope Blizzard figures something out and won't leave us in reservation  :angry:

[stumart]

This is horrible news to me, Paypal is a nightmare. I was really looking forward to this auction house before this news.
http://www.paypalsucks.com/