Does Adsense have a deal with ebay?

I'm getting ebay ads that aren't normal adsense ads.

[JS_Harris]

Before I bother the nice folks in the adsense department I wanted to check here. I have a 160x600 image adsense ad unit in a sidebar on one of my sites.

Tonight, for the first time, I noticed an ebay ad. The prices on the ad were updating over the course of an hour while I worked on some code. I'd never have noticed if the prices didn't change, I figured it was someone spamming their ebay store but its not.

You can right click over most adsense units and see a long url string with the target url in the middle somewhere. This ebay ad returns this.

javascript:_ADS_ClickDestinationUrl('http://hub.ebay.com/buy')

It's apparently not an adsense ad. Only this page, any browser type. Is this normal? It also doesn't rotate, its static on that page even though the code says its an adsense unit. I have no ebay units or affiliate or anything else ebay on the site.

[JS_Harris]

I've done some more investigating, the ad returns data in the nav bar, regular adsense units dont when you hover over them. The code is fine, my pub id matches on both.

Either this is a glitch i've never heard of before or AdSense is giving ebay one of my pages. If there is another possible reason i'd like to know it.

[JS_Harris]

I was just about to send off an inquiry to adsense and I noticed this in the code, which I havent seen before.

GoogleAds.options.google_ads_wanted = 8;
GoogleAds.options.about_google_ads_url = 'http://www.google.com/ads_by_google.html';
google_ad_request_done = GoogleAds.google_ad_request_done_callback;

That is sitting up top of the usual code, but its gone again.

The site seems back to normal. Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't the quote above what "chosen" adsense account holders see? The accounts that have access to ad units still in testing that is.

Is any of this familiar to anyone? i'm not finding any info in search.

[oddsod]

I've done some more investigating, the ad returns data in the nav bar

Could you explain, please?

[venrooy]

I had the same thing show up on one of my sites - and at first I thought that someone had hacked my site and put their own ads up. Because these ebay ads don't have the same url signature that normal adsense ads have. The only way I figured out that it was actually an adsense ad was by blocking ebay. The ad went away. I was glad to be rid of it anyway, because the auctions being promoted had nothing to do with my site. And my CTR and EPC went up immediately.

[JS_Harris]

What venrooy said - it seemed like it was an ad that didn't belong, and since the code was adsense code, someone hacked adsense to put their ebay ad in.

oddsod - hovering over the ad in firefox showed me the link and a popup box with description - adsense ads don't do that. Firefox also said the link was to javascript:_ADS_ClickDestinationUrl('http://hub.ebay.com/buy') when I hovered over it, again adsense ads don't do that.

The four items for sale in this banner weren't well targeted but each was to an individual sale on ebay. 4 items on my one banner.

I've tested ebay in the past and it didnt perform well on this particular site, I don't want adsense serving up ebay auctions either.

The eBay ads are different, you'll recognize one when you see it, on a 160x600 banner its hard to miss the giant "eBay" logo with the "Google" logo right underneath it. 30% of the ad is those two logos.

It was an adsense ad, albeit it acted very differently. eBay is on my filter list now. I'm sure my site helped test this new type of ad further, I just wish I'd have received warning or an option.

[oddsod]

I've checked several of my sites in widely different subject areas and I'm not seeing it. I'm in the UK. Maybe it's time to drop Adsense support an email.

[YesMom]

Okay -- I have to reply to this! Haha!

Only a few days ago I was contacted by a smaller ad delivery program that has been after my business for some time. They were all excited because of a new eBay roll-out for a new sort of ad that would show actual auctions in progress, just as you are describing.

It sounds like eBay has worked on this new technology and delivered it through AdSense, as well, just recently -- but apparently AdSense isn't having reps make personal phone calls to clue us in.

I'm really thinking we are just seeing a trial run of a new thing. It sounds fantastic to me, IF the targetting is good!

The guy from the smaller company also said it would deliver bonuses of up to $100 if the person clicked on it and was a first time eBay user -- and made a purchase or won an auction. Sure would be nice to have this with AdSense, too, but I'm probably just dreaming...

YM

[ecmedia]

I saw this ad too and has the same reaction but it is actually an AdSense ad - I thought it was part of their widget ad program because the display was dynamic. It also fit well with the page. An article about J Lo had ebay listings for her music, perfumes, etc. Very clever.

[oddsod]

for a new sort of ad that would show actual auctions in progress

You mean like, dare I say it, aucti*nads?

[Forest Dweller]

Well, I've got one. It's showing up in a banner ad at the bottom of my pages. The links are bright blue instead of the color I've specified, so it stands out pretty badly. The auctions are not related to my content, but it does look like something my visitors would enjoy if the algo ever works out what my keywords really are. Wish it was nicer looking, though.

[Forest Dweller]

These auctions just showed up in my eBay ad:

MOONSTONE GODDESS PRAYER BEADS wicca pagan witch craft
HUSNG NEW 48 REED HARMONICA GREAT SOUND LIQUIDATION
12-Volt compressor 130 PSI w/1 Gallon Air Tank NEW!
Chrome Quad Train Horns. 110 psi Compressor & Tank NEW

What in God's (or Goddess') name do these things have in common? And, really, none of them have anything to do with my site. Although I have searched for something similar (kind of) to one of these things at eBay recently. Are these auction ads targeted to the person viewing them instead of my site's keywords? (That's sort of scary.)

[Rodney]

sounds like a possible "google gadget ad": [adsense.blogspot.com...]

[YesMom]

If this is indeed related to "gadget ads", it looks like it only applies to sites allowing image ads. (Personally, I do 'text only' ads.)

What really upsets me is that Google has the power (and uses it) to roll out new things on our websites without ANY prior notification/permission. These are still OUR websites! We are giving up more and more control over the day-to-day changes by keeping this open doorway of code on our sites.

I guess what I'm saying is that I think it is bad business for Google to just make a change or try something new without informing publisher/partners first. Bad communication, blatant presumption that we'll automatically be 'thrilled' with whatever it is -- basically defaulting every site into 'beta' mode at their whim for whatever new thing they want to try.

I agree about the eBay ads -- IF they are being targeted to the cookies of the computer and what they think the visitor wants to see (unrelated to context of site) then they are NO LONGER contextual ads.

I'd love to hear from publishers watching these ads -- if there are trends that show them this is the case.

For instance, perhaps some of you could go look up something really DIFFERENT on eBay -- say, view 10 different auctions for beanie babies... LOL

Then watch the eBay ads at your site (or others' sites) for beanie baby ads to come up. Or pick something else that will be an obvious flag.

This invasion of privacy (as well as tainting our websites to reflect non-contextual viewer interest) is really similar to all the stories of last year about Google using ambient sound (listening to the noises in your home) to pick-up info about what TV show you are viewing, etc. in order to better target ads.

If it was just a coincidence, then it would be great to hear from advertisers who ARE seeing related context-based eBay ads.

Google -- can't you just create beta for this stuff or at least inform us first, rather than using blog announcements that say stuff like "You may have noticed we've taken the liberty to put something DIFFERENT that you didn't anticipate/approve on your site and just KNOW you'll be SOOOO happy about it".

This kind of presumption is just bad business.

Or perhaps it IS the business model here -- perhaps they want to weed out the independent types who really think they actually OWN their own content/websites. Maybe it is all part of a great desensitization plan to eventually get us used to the idea of Google doing whatever they want whenever they want to.

As long as my text ads stay basically the same as I "ordered" when I programmed the code, I'll stay on. I'd like the direct links to auctions if/when they are completely contextual and targeted, but not otherwise.

This is all so speculative! It is hard to speculate when you are completely in the dark. Google -- spend more time giving publishers MORE information... and please don't roll-out new ideas with our sites unless giving us the opportunity to opt-in IN ADVANCE.

YM

[netmeg]

Well, they kinda did make a big splash about the Gadget ads a few weeks ago, if that's what you're seeing. It was all over everywhere; even the NYT covered it. And there was an AdSense Blog post about it on September 19.