E-Bay Says No to Google Ads

According to The BBC, Ebay spends about $25 million a year in advertising just in the U.S. with Google Adwords Program. That is a thing of the past. eBay spokesperson, Hani Durzy, was quoted as saying, "This is part of an ongoing experiment to look at how we market across all media channels."

Rumors are flying this is in retaliation to a party Google was going to host, this past week, to promote their new card processing system, Checkout. It just happened to be right across the street from an annual event sponsored by eBay. The eBay Live conference. This according to Forbes.

InfoWorld quoted Durzy as saying, "This is a regular thing we do across the different channels we use for marketing, but, having said that, we are disappointed that Google has chosen this time to detract from our annual event that gives on line sellers a chance to learn how to grow their business in eBay and in other channels," Durzy said. "It's not the kind of activity one partner normally does with another."
Ebay's international markets are not affected.

In the same report by InfoWorld, Ebay was deemed to claim Checkout too new and does not have a proven track record. Google retaliated with claims that Ebay only wants the PayPal option on their site.

Ebay says that the new marketing strategy has absolutely nothing to do with the Thursday night party. Forbes reported that Ebay attempted to rent the same restaurant already reserved by Google.

The party did get canceled. The BBC said that on the Google blog there was this statement, "After speaking with officials at eBay, we at Google agreed it was better for us not to feature this event during the eBay Live conference."

According to the BBC, Google is used for more than 50% of all searches in the U.S. Europeans use Google about 80%.

Speaking with analysts, the BBC quoted Ian Maude from Enders Analysis, "It was a clever-dick marketing tactic from Google that has gone wrong." He went on to say, "EBay is the dominant player in the online payments market with PayPal and they have reacted very badly to the stunt, feeling that Google is trying to park their tanks on their lawn." Maude told the BBC that this conflict will be resolved.

The Internet is growing by leaps and bounds each day. There will be more bumping of heads as large corporations realize the marketing strategies and global opportunities the "information freeway' has opened.

Sources:

The BBC, Angry EBay Pulls Google Adverts;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6755789.stm

Forbes, Ebay Pulls Ads From Google After Corporate Spat;
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2007/06/15/afx3826459.html

InfoWorld, Ebay Pulls ads from Google Ad Network
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/13/EBay-pulls-ads-from-Google-ad-network_1.html