Bazza, let's examine this assumption.
You've stated "My reference to the confidence in PayPal came about because that example was hard to find. Most sellers only accept PayPal obviously by choice."
This is not a reasonable conclusion. You are assuming a causal relationship between your assumption that sellers prefer PayPal and your finding of items for sale on the UK item that offer payment methods other than PayPal.
It has clearly not occurred to you that the page
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/pay/methods.html, the only page I've been able to find on the UK site about acceptable payment methods in the UK, is leading many sellers to think that bank transfer and cheque are not permitted methods on eBay.co.uk. Yet this is certainly a reasonable possibility.
You state "Most sellers only accept PayPal obviously by choice". You provide no evidence that this is "obviously" by choice. Given that there is information that suggests many sellers don't even realise they can accept other payment methods, such a statement does not really withstand examination.
You further state that "Any change to the UK sites accepted payment methods would be pure speculation. No need to hang them just yet." I'll leave the rather distasteful "No need to hang them just yet" part of that statement without further comment. Let's just examine the first part, in which you say it's "pure speculation".
1. It is fact that the only page on eBay.co.uk's site about acceptable payment methods explicitly states that bank transfer and cheques are not acceptable payment methods. Hence we have something that is not speculation, but fact. Every example of a listing that does offer cheque or bank transfer as a payment method thus functions only as a practical exception. It may well be currently valid, but eBay can at any time end any listing that offers other payment methods, pointing to the page where this payment information is explicitly stated. There is in fact no evidence that this has NOT happened. We cannot assume it has, but equally we cannot assume it has not. The fact remains that the relevant eBay page says that the payment methods we've been discussing are NOT permitted. That is not speculation. That is fact.
2. It is interesting that other eBay UK sellers with whom I've been speaking have expressed their concern that other methods than PayPal will not be permitted on eBay.co.uk. That may well be their speculation, but it is not MY speculation. It is fact that they are concerned. They are concerned on the basis of what's been happening elsewhere, and the fact that the eBay page about payment methods has not been changed.
3. It is fact that UK sellers who used to be able to list on eBay.com and include on their listings some payment methods that applied to UK buyers only, can no longer do so. This is a recent change, and it's the one that prompted the opening post of the thread to which I referred. This has caused UK sellers to wonder whether it was the harbinger of things to come on eBay.co.uk. The changes that occurred recently are not speculation; they are fact. You may prefer to focus on the point that so far there's been no announcement on eBay.co.uk to indicate that the changes which occur elsewhere are going to be implemented on eBay.co.uk, and to treat this as speculation which in your opinion is unnecessary. However, you've made assumptions that are incorrect. Of course you are entitled to make incorrect assumptions. That's your right. Don't be surprised if people who can see the chasms between assumption and conclusion will not agree with what you've said.
In conclusion, the issue consists of facts that lead to speculation. Ignoring facts that lead to strong suspicions of forthcoming results would simply mean nothing can be forseen until it is
fait accompli and too late to deal with potential problems. It's hard to see how anyone could function like that...
