eBay and Google make up. Kinda

Author: Tim Smalley
Published: 24th June 2007
Comments (4) Stumble
eBay has resumed advertising on Google but at a lower level than before, following the recent Checkout stunt

eBay has resumed advertising on Google but at a lower level than before, following the recent Checkout stunt

After falling out rather publically ten days ago, eBay announced on Friday that it would resume using Google's AdWords, though in a lesser capacity than previously. The auction giant plans to explore using other ad services to make up the difference.

Things kicked off two weeks ago when Google planned a party event designed to woo eBay users to Google Checkout, the chief rival to eBay-owned PayPal. On the same evening as eBay's annual merchant's conference.

In retaliation, eBay withdrew from Google AdWords. While Google makes billions from its text-based advertising, eBay has been its single largest spender - reportedly US$25 million a year.

The move was spun as an "experiment" - an exercise if you will, designed to measure the impact of the program by pausing all activity to see what would happen.

"The major takeaway is that we aren't as dependent on Google AdWords as we thought," said Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay. Despite this, the company has resumed advertising with Google, though at a lower spend than before. Additional budget will be diverted to the likes of Yahoo, MSN and AOL.

What's your take - just a stunt or a serious issue? Do you think eBay should open payment up for its users to include Google Checkout alongside PayPal? Share your 2p in our Forums, where we welcome all forms of currency.
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Quote DougEdey 24th June 2007, 18:17
I prefer the way paypal works, it's easy to view statements and see who accepts it and so on, checkout is more complicated in that respect.
Quote Flibblebot 24th June 2007, 19:28
I find it really annoying that when you do a Google search, half the adwords links are from fleabay.

But hey, it was big of them to kiss and make up (well, not make up as such. They agreed that they should still be friends but not lovers)
Quote pendragon 25th June 2007, 00:03
this sounds good to me .. more revenue for other search companies ..which hopefully leads to more consumer choice, etc...
Quote completemadness 26th June 2007, 02:43
seems like an exercise to save face to me
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