EBay has pulled all of its paid search ads from Google AdWords network in the U.S in an eyebrow-raising move likely to be interpreted in the industry as a sign of deteriorating relations between the two Internet giants.Durzy characterized the decision to pull the U.S. Google ads as an instance in a continued experiment eBay does to determine the best allocation of its advertising and marketing budget.
But a source familiar with the situation said the move is an angry reaction by eBay's management to Google's decision to hold a protest party concurrent with the start of eBay Live, the company's annual conference for merchants.
Why does it matter? eBay was once the largest ad buying on all of Google.
Or finally a big business that can admit when it's wrong at relative lightning speed. I'm with Google on this one; the only party that did anything wrong until the 'party' announcement was ebay.
G gives ebay the keys to the plex, ebay locks G out of the bay, G plans protest party, ebay pulls all US ads, G cancels tea party. In my eyes, ebay's the buffoon in this pissing match.
<conspiration theory>
I personally considered that subdomain spam and suspected G to ignore that because of the large budget...
</conspiration theory>
Nah, subdomains work for just about anybody with halfway, erm, authoritative sites.
A company with enough PR and IBL "authority" status can spam the hell out of Google and get away with it.
craigslist
Google should have thought more about this party before they engaged. Now their doing a 180 because "eBay Live attendees have plenty of activities to keep them busy", right.
You do have to pick your battles in business but this looks like someone got pushed around.
and they have been trying to get me to try video ads too
i think i'll wait and let someone else be the guinea pig
[edited by: SlimKim at 12:25 am (utc) on June 14, 2007]
It looks like G is taking it back:
Damn, gonna have to return those new dancing shoes now
Lots of businesses are on the same trend as ebay. Many merchants I'm speaking to are canceling or reducing their expenditure with Google and increasing it with Yahoo search marketing.
What exactly is this comment based on? The move from the legacy Y! ad services to the new Panama is the biggest blunder I've seen recently. Google's AdWords is still the best interface hands down.
Regardless, it just looks like G did something silly thinking they were going to be cute, but it backfired and they put a stop to it before stuff started hitting the fan.
It would be silly of eBay to stay away from Google for good. This could very well be an attempt to strike a better deal with Google in exchange for allowing Google Checkout to be used on eBay.
I don't see anything wrong with the party. Competitive companies through events all the time around other big conferences or gatherings. It's business. ebay is the monster that is restricting another form of payment. As a former powerseller, I view that as annoying. It should be up to sellers to do business how they want. Ebay is just a forum for people to get together and do independent transactions. If another big system is set up by the postal service, ups or a credit card company, will they ban that too? If Paypal had any kind of service or protection, people wouldn't want to go elsewhere.
Paypal did the same party thing before at ebay live and ebay wound up buying them down the road.
paypal.thefind.com
wonder how it ties into this thread's discussion...(or ebay's strategy)
As I see it, Google is the one with the power since they can direct traffic anywhere they want. I like eBay and have used it for years, but compared to Google I don't think they have anywhere near the potential to influence the spend of millions of people like Google can. After all, it was eBay advertising on Google, not the other way around.
Does Google need eBay? I don't think so. Maybe a Google Auctions is in the works somewhere at the Plex - how would that sit with eBay? If eBay really wants to play hardball, they'd be wise not to underestimate Google. Tick tock.
[edited by: Play_Bach at 3:41 am (utc) on June 14, 2007]
Will be interesting to see how their stock reacts.
That was my immediate thought when I saw this.
There are many times I am searching for something and come across a google ad and check to see if any of them are relevant. As soon as I can tell it is an ebay ad, I just do not click it. They clog up relevant ads and in the end, bring down the entire experience.
In the adsense forum, many have complained about this for months. Honestly, this is the best thing to happen to adsense this year.
I shouldn't be too happy though, tomorrow I will probably start seeing:
"Find BUBONIC PLAGUE on Ubid" ads..
There ads had been much to annoying and reduced user experience on my site drastic.
Has anyone thought of that? Or is that kind of thinking process only possible coming from a passive/aggressive female mind?
According to Yahoo Finance, Google stock is up.
On anticipation of a greatly improved advertising experience increasing Google's market reach. ;)
[edited by: Play_Bach at 5:56 am (utc) on June 14, 2007]
Is this "Plan B" in full effect?
According to Yahoo Finance, Google stock is up.
The market must be confident that Google will roll out Google Auction and bite hard into eBay and Paypal's market share.
I for one would like to see Google come up with a service that will make Paypal obsolete. I have some money Paypal and it will not let me withdraw it in my country, bank wire to my country, or post a check to my country. (FYI, I'm in South East Asia). And there are so many other people who sold their stuff on eBay, and all their money is sitting in Paypal and cannot be withdrawn to be used.
Google could come up with Google Auctions, no sellers fees. The only catch is that Google will display ads on your selling page. Example, you sell used widget, and Google displays an Ad of new widget.
Also, both Google and eBay play an important role on the internet. Millions use them both every day, and there is room for them both. So, a squabble gets going, but they are both mature enough to sort this out, and reach a satisfactory conclusion for both parties.
Someone mentioned Googles stock is up, on Yahoo at least. How about eBays stock?
Google SHOULD take the fight to the next level and eliminate ebay auctions from their SERPs. They are nothing but spam. eBay would crumble like a stale cookie.
And, with the FTC likely not to be too keen on the idea of a Google/eBay or Goog/Yahoo merger, Google could just introduce their own auction system. They would not even have to do it for free. Ebay's fees are so ridiculously high, they'd likely be able to charge enough to be profitable in short order.
No insertion fee and 5% FVF sounds like a winner. Come on "do no evil" guys, it's time to take the fight to the losers at eBay.
Google SHOULD take the fight to the next level and eliminate ebay auctions from their SERPs.
Ebay's fees are so ridiculously high
[edited by: simey at 11:13 am (utc) on June 14, 2007]
