Jumbuck to buy OZtion

Melbourne based Jumbuck Entertainment the world's largest provider of messaging services is acquiring OZtion (that's Australian for Auction) Jumbuck develops and commercializes wireless entertainment and communication applications for mobile phone users worldwide.

Philip Druce, OZtion co-founder and General Manager said in April “The fact that OZtion has seen significant growth across most metrics shows that Australians are looking for alternatives to eBay and will not be forced into only using PayPal. Our internal data shows that 79% of buyers prefer to pay by bank deposit.”

OZtion has in fact benefited greatly from eBay's attempt to force PayPal as the sole payment processor on eBay Australia. Online auction listings have grown by 22% in the last few weeks to approximately 580,000 simultaneous listings. In the same period, daily new member registrations have increased by 165% and daily new sellers registrations by 300%. Oztion has moved up in the Alexa Rankings too, with approximately 2 million visitors per month.

The company has grown rapidly by offering Australians a safe Australian owned trading environment, a simple to use site and beneficial cost savings due to its fee structure and localised sellers. Projected revenue for the 2008-09 financial year is double the previous year at $1.2 million.

In a statement Jumbuck CEO & founder Adrian Risch said

"With eBay's recent restrictive changes, many buyers and sellers have been switching to Oztion, Jumbuck has a giant community of users and we can help bring the service to many new buyers and sellers."

Exciting times in Australia!

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Just for Fun The Land of Oz

Australia has been on our minds a lot recently and it is difficult for those of us who have never been there to understand just how different it is. Australia drives on the left, measurements are metric and even the language is different!

You can look at a picture of a kangaroo and think it is strange but I don't believe you can understand just how strange it is until you see it in its natural habitat. The kangaroo is just the most instantly recognizable symbol of how different Australia is. There are a lot of strange and wonderful critters, birds and plants on that unique and special continent.


You may not be aware that Australia has been suffering from severe drought for years.
This blogger talks about Heleioporus eyrei frogs appearing after a rain and the sounds they make.




These beautiful native birds are galahs. Calling someone a galah in Australia is a traditional way of questioning their intelligence.











The climate varies widely, the north is tropical and the south is more temperate. Seasons in the southern hemisphere are the opposite of the northern hemisphere, Christmas is mid-summer. Most of the center of Australia is desert.

I am told there are more than 400 different varieties of gum (eucalyptus) trees in Australia.





Mist at Yellow Water billabong - Kakadu in the Northern Territory, image by Tourism NT. Click this image to go to their website which has many more beautiful pictures. Billabong is Australian for a lake.

This is Reids Coffee Palace, Ballarat, Victoria. Between approximately 1850 and the late 1860s Ballarat was at the center of the Australian Gold Rush, the style of architecture is called Federation Filigree. It is designed to let cool air flow through the building.

In case you were wondering, I am assured by Australian sellers that kangaroos do not hop down the streets everywhere.

This is where many Australian eBay Sellers have moved to and YES we can buy from them there! We wish you all the best and much happiness in your new home.





Any errors or mistakes are mine alone and corrections will be gratefully received. I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed researching it.

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Rumbles Down Under

At a public meeting for sellers held in Melbourne May 6th, the first in a series of four forums, eBay Australia VP Simon Smith compared people who don't want to use PayPal to drug addicts. The meeting was attended by several hundred sellers. APC journalist Angus Kidman was there and wrote this excellent article.

Picture courtesy of Opal Hut where you will find beautiful polished opal nuggets straight from the source.

Australia has strong consumer protection laws enforced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). EBay has applied to the ACCC for an exemption from the Trade Practices Act as it prepares to stop vendors using other payment methods, such as direct bank deposits, checks and money orders, on its online auction site.

eBay insists its move is designed to increase security but eBay Australia's trust and safety director, Alastair MacGibbon may have let the biggest cat out of the bag when he revealed the most common complaint it dealt with was regarding goods that did not arrive as expected, or did not arrive at all.

"Most disputes we see on the site aren't related to fraud at all, most disputes are actually a misalignment of expectations,"

Interestingly, Philip Druce managing director of rival venue Oztion disputes eBay's claim that direct deposit transactions are four times more likely to end in a dispute.

I would say that is very high. Our stats show that 79 per cent of transactions use direct deposit," he said. Out of those a tiny 0.4 per cent actually end up in a dispute, but out of them, 80 per cent are resolved.

At one stage, Simon Smith claimed the eBay figures had been verified by KPMG, but later retracted his comment after a quiet word from an eBay lawyer.

eBay Inc. CEO John Donohoe has stated if successful in Australia, eBay(Stock quote) will introduce the same rules across its global sites. In June 2006 eBay added (Stock quote) Google Checkout - the rival Internet payment service from the Web search giant - to the prohibited payments list.

According to local press reports, The Australian Bankers Association and The Reserve Bank are lodging submissions with the ACCC in an attempt to stop the online auction house from introducing the rule change on 18 June.

May 7th is the date changes to Paypal's TOS take effect, allowing Paypal to freeze an account if they think you might be in violation. Scary, when you remember what they did before when they allegedly had to have proof you were up to something.

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