ueBay No Longer Allows 2 Non-PayPal Payment Processors After Divorce From eBayr

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  (Liz Wise)
  

  eBay and PayPal have now completed their divorce, and one of the terms that they agreed to is that eBay still has to process a large number of its payments using PayPal. That could be the reason why eBay is eliminating competitors ProPay and Skrill from the payment options for shoppers and for sellers.

  eCommerceBytes points out that the timing is interesting, since PayPal also happened to raise fees for sellers who process more than $3,000 per month in payments using the service

  In their e-mail to sellers about the change, eBay said that the two services had very few users, which means that perhaps letting buyers use them isn’t worth the bother for the company anymore. However, eBay does have an incentive to make sure that as many online payments as possible come from PayPal.

  That’s part of the terms of the companies’ split: 80% of payments through the site must come through PayPal, or eBay will owe its former partner money. “eBay will be incentivized to grow new users and increase PayPal penetration rates through referral services and penetration rate payments,” the company explained in a statement earlier this year. eBay aso receives a bonus from PayPal if more than 80% of sales come through PayPal.

  eBay Bans Sellers from Offering PayPal Rivals [eCommerceBytes]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uBurger King Joins Nabisco Brand Party, Tries Chips Ahoy Milkshaker

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• Fast-food and coffee chains want to serve up drinks and desserts that are flavored like chocolate chip cookies, but these aren’t just any old chocolate chip cookies. No, chains including Dunkin’ Donuts, Dairy Queen, and now Burger King are selling Chips Ahoy-branded items in their restaurants, a confusing bit of cross-branding.

  

  A new offering from Burger King is even stranger. It may be in the testing phase, and was spotted in Visalia, California. It combines two flavors to create the Chips Ahoy S’mores Milkshake. What is so s’morey about it isn’t entirely clear, unless the ice cream is supposed to be marshmallow-flavored. The reader who reported its existence to The Impulsive Buy says that it consists of…crumbled-up chocolate chip cookies and ice creamy goodness, with whipped topping.

  There are no graham crackers in sight, and no chocolate other than the chips. On the other hand, now I want to try pressing a toasted marshmallow between two cookies. Someone find me a campfire.

  FAST FOOD NEWS: Burger King Chips Ahoy S’mores Shake [The Impulsive Buy]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uAmazon Lets Third-Party Merchants Limit Where They’ll Ship Prime Items For Freer

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  (Akira Ohgaki)

  Amazon’s Prime program includes third-party merchants, whose shops let the online Everything Store expand its inventory without building more warehouse space. While the company is experimenting with making these merchants part of the Prime program for items that already have free shipping, However, some of these merchants get to limit how far they will ship an item for free.

  This is logical for smaller companies that don’t have the same bargaining power with the U.S. Postal Service and private carriers as Amazon, and who simply don’t want to subsidize cross-country two-day shipping. The Wall Street Journal reports that sellers can define which geographic regions they’re willing to provide free Prime shipping for, and customers in other areas pay standard shipping fees.

  Another Amazon shipping experiment that the WSJ learned about from an unnamed source is called “Amazon Day,” a service that would combine all of a household’s Amazon orders on the same day of the week. This would cut back on shipping costs for Amazon, which doesn’t really want to send multiple items in multiple packages to the same Prime-addicted house.

  The Amazon Day (not to be confused with Prime Day) idea is still being “studied” though, and not in the testing phase yet.

  In New Amazon Prime Program, Not All Goods Ship for Free [Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uAmerican Airlines Will Honor Super Low “Mistake Fares” That Discounted Flights Up To 90%r

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  (benh57)

  Unlike its fellow major carrier United Airlines, American Airlines says it will honor super cheap fares some lucky customers nabbed last week due to a glitch in its booking system.

  Airline Reporter points to a post from Aug. 20 on Flyertalk that shared the workaround with fellow customers.

  The fares were achieved in part by changing the country of origin to Brazil: One Flyertalk user posted a screenshot of a round-trip business class ticket on American from Sao Paulo to Hong Kong for R$1,255 Brazilian Reals (BRL), or approximately $350 U.S. dollars. Usually that fare would cost R$12,000 or about $3,350 in U.S. currency.

  It’s thought that perhaps the error was caused by transposed currency values when the data was entered, causing the U.S. dollar to be highly overvalued against BRLs. Currently, R$1.00 is about $0.29 U.S. Switch those two around and bang, you’ve got a discount.

  American apparently had a few mistake airfares squeak through on a variety of international routes with ridiculous discounts on tickets, though it’s unclear exactly how many customers got away with it. The airline caught the slip quickly, but those that managed to pull a fast one will be able to fly for a tenth of the price.

  American confirmed in a statement to Airline Reproter that it “will honor mispriced fares that were booked last week,” adding that it hopes “customers enjoy their experience with American and book with us again in the future.”

  This stands in stark contrast to United, which blamed a software glitch for allowing travelers to get cheap fares by setting the reservation site to Denmark and then refused to honor those fares. Its decision was backed by the Department of Transportation, which said United was off the hook because those fares weren’t meant for U.S. citizens in the first place.

  The DOT said then that its policy is to not enforce the prohibition against post-purchase price increases “when the fare offer is not marketed to consumers in the United States.”

  Even more reason to enjoy that flight, you lucky folks.

  American Airlines Mistakenly Discounts Airfare by 90% – Then What? [Airline Reporter]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uCourt Rules NSA Phone Data Collection That Is Now Changing Anyway Is Still Legalr

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  (J)

  
  After several years of back-and-forth rulings, an appeals court in Washington, D.C. has ruled today that the NSA’s controversial bulk phone data collection program can indeed continue… at least until November, when it gets shut down anyway because Congress changed the law in June.

  If you’re feeling a bit confused by what is or isn’t legal, there’s a good reason for that: this case has been going back and forth for years. And while it’s been doing so, the law itself has changed.

  This particular legal saga began when the ACLU and others filed a lawsuit against the NSA. In December, 2013, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the bulk phone data surveillance program did not violate any existing law.

  The ACLU appealed. In May, 2015, an appellate court vacated the ruling from the first judge, reinstating the ACLU’s lawsuit and kicking it back down to the lower court. The appeals court found that the NSA’s actions did outstrip the scope permitted to it by law.

  Today’s ruling is the third round in that same lawsuit. This time, an appeals court has once again kicked the suit back. The court found that, “unlike some others who have brought legal challenges to the bulk collection program, plaintiffs lack direct evidence that records involving their calls have actually been collected.” Without that evidence, the plaintiffs have no standing to sue, therefore, and the original injunction is lifted.

  But between the second and third go-rounds in the lawsuit, the law itself changed. Congress passed the USA FREEDOM bill in June. The amended law does not end NSA surveillance programs, but it does curtail them a bit. The bulk phone data collection that the NSA has done under Sec. 215 of the Patriot Act is now ended… and replaced with a slightly different phone data collection program.

  Or at least, it will be. The law changed only a matter of weeks ago, and the wheels of bureaucracy do not spin so fast. The transition away from the existing bulk phone data collection program isn’t scheduled to be complete until November. And so until then, the NSA can indeed continue the old program thanks to today’s ruling.

  A D.C. appeals court has lifted an injunction against the NSA phone call records program [Washington Post]

  
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by Kate Cox via Consumerist

uWayback Burgers, Denny’s Vie For The Affection Of Burger King After McDonald’s Turned A Cold Shoulderr

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  (Mike Mozart)

  After an offer to “settle the beef” in the name of raising awareness for Peace Day was unceremoniously shot down by McDonald’s with a rather passive-aggressive note, Burger King has received a proposal – or two – of its own to consider.

  Would you consider ordering a Slampper or a Whipple Whipple next time you’re at Burger King? Those two collaborations could certainly be making an appearance on the menu board if the company accepts a proposal from either Denny’s or Wayback Burgers, respectively.

  Fortune reports that just days after McDonald’s shot down The King’s call for a truce – and the creation of something called the McWhopper – smaller burger chain Wayback Burger made its love for Burger King known, offering to take over the Golden Arches’ spot in the proposed collaboration.

  .@BurgerKing, we won't leave you hanging. #McWhopper #WhipleWhiple #SettleTheBeef http://pic.twitter.com/wCFiYuGOPO

  — Wayback Burgers (@waybackburgers) August 26, 2015

  The Connecticut-based chain – which operates around 100 locations in the U.S. and overseas – extended an olive branch to Burger King, while also taking a jab at McDonald’s rejection.

  “Wayback Burgers would be happy to take Burger King up on its offer to partner to raise money for UNICEF surrounding International Day of Peace,” Wayback Burgers President John Eucalitto said in a company statement. “Our nine patty burger, The Triple Triple, could be a great vehicle to work with. Perhaps we could create the Whiple Whiple. Besides, wouldn’t Burger King prefer to partner with a fresh and innovative brand that is on the rise? Either way, we hope to hear from you.”

  While Burger King’s first alternative proposal comes from a smaller burger chain, the second is from an entirely different genre of restaurant, Adweek reports.

  Not one to shy away from a little fun on social media, national diner chain Denny’s quickly jumped into the collaboration fray suggesting several mash-ups of menu items with Burger King, including: the Slampper, the Whammper and the Whoppaslamus-rex.

  hey @burgerking how about a Slampper© or a Whammper© or a Whoppaslamus-rex© or something? http://pic.twitter.com/zWHXfgIPYV

  — Denny's (@DennysDiner) August 27, 2015

  So far, Burger King hasn’t responded to the offers from either Wayback Burgers or Denny’s, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the fast food chain is taking its times deciding between its suitors.

  Move over McDonald’s, Wayback Burgers wants to partner with Burger King [Fortune]
  Denny’s Offers to Partner With Burger King, Since McDonald’s Is Being a McChicken [AdWeek]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uTime Warner CEO Isn’t Worried About Cable TV’s Fate: “Netflix Is Good, But Not That Good”r

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  (dbrooks125)

  While cable companies’ investors might be shaking in their boots whenever the word “Netflix” pops up, the streaming video service isn’t the giant slayer it’s been made out to be — at least according to Time Warner Inc. Jeff Bewkes, who says his HBO is better than Netflix.

  Bewkes spoke at a cable conference in Amsterdam yesterday, saying investors don’t need to freak out as customers continue cutting cords and leaving cable providers for services like Netflix, reports Bloomberg.

  “Netflix is good, but not that good,” Bewkes said. “The pessimism in the market about the sector is overdone — our industry will figure out how to take content and sell it on demand.”

  It’s true that they’re making an effort: traditional broadcast and cable networks like HBO, Showtime, Starz and CBS have all hopped on the streaming bandwagon recently. But most of the pay-TV competition isn’t coming from cable, it’s coming from Netflix (with 65 million subscribers) and the likes of PlayStation and Dish, both of which offer streaming content without a cable contract.

  Bewkes’ reassurances come on the heels of a slew of disappointing second-quarter earnings reported earlier this month by companies like Time Warner, Discovery Communications, and the biggest player, Disney, which has continually had to defend its high-cost sports behemoth ESPN.

  The Time Warner CEO says his company doesn’t need acquisitions to grow, and instead is just going to sit back and distribute its HBO’s video-on-demand service HBO Now, which has been thriving on the backs of popular shows like Game of Thrones and True Detective, as well as expanding the service to more countries.

  These comments aren’t all that different from those made by Comcast’s David L. Cohen at an industry conference in July, who, while admitting that cord-cutting is partly the fault of cable companies who “have made video too expensive,” noted that traditional cable companies won’t ever entirely go away. In fact, Netflix relies on some of those same cable companies to beam its service to customers over the Internet.

  “Remember, you can’t get Netflix without broadband service,” Cohen said, which is good for Comcast as it’s a broadband provider as well as a company.

  Netflix also needs companies like Comcast and Time Warner, both which create original programming that could at some point, ostensibly, be licensed for viewing through Netflix.

  Bewkes Says TV Can Withstand `Not That Good’ Netflix [Bloomberg]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist