Industry News & Trends

Google and eBay duke it out!

Jeff Kershner
Posted onJun 14, 2007 at 5:02 PM
Updated onUpdated on Oct 23, 2008 at 11:59 AM

This is a little off subject for DealerRefresh (maybe not) but if you have been following the tech news, eBay and Google are currently at odds with each other.

“EBay Inc. has pulled all of its advertising from Google Inc.’s U.S. network in what is widely seen as punishment for trying to crash eBay’s user conference in Boston this week.

The move exposes the widening rift between eBay and Google, as they increasingly compete on new products, making a public showdown inevitable, according to analysts”. – SFGate.com

Hasn’t this pot been stirring for some time now? 

The fuss is over eBay banning Google’s Checkout, saying that the “Google service had yet to prove itself in terms of fraud protection.” I’m sure they are also afraid of competition for their PayPal service.

eBay advertises on Google using Adwords and is Google’s biggest U.S. advertiser with spending upward of 25 million in a fiscal year. Anytime you Google mp3 player, Nintendo Wii or a specific electronics device, an eBay text ad would almost always appear in the sponsored links. However, this was not evident if you searched for a vehicle on Google. And I always wondered when eBay would start using Ad Words to advertise their eBay motors listings. I guess maybe never!

I would think that eBay would have way more to loose here then Google.

Jeff Kershner
Founder of DealerRefresh - 20+ Years of dealership Sales, Management, Training, Marketing and Leadership.
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"I would think that eBay would have way more to loose here then Google."

I 100% agree!
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    Lao Shi
  • June 14, 2007

Yahoo has been having some major internal issues for some time now. The recent shareholders meeting have pointed this out clearly.

Just 18 months ago the difference between Yahoo and Google was much less defined however Google has quantum leaped ahead of Yahoo.

What is the reason??? Management, lack of focus on the direction the company needs to go forward on??

Google has plans on rolling out a auction site of it's own in a enhanced version to compete with ebay, I do not know the time frame. I do see when you Google pre owned autos a great opportunity with Google Base: http://base.google.com/base/s2?a_n0=vehicles&a_y0=9&hl=en&gl=US

The deeper you look into the google Site you will see components of a ebay competitor in place.

We have used Google Base with success and the price is right for now.

The technology industry moves quickly in both directions. When there is success the rise can be awesome, in decline it can also be awesome. You are only on your game when you are moving forward and building which is what Google is clearly doing right now not only domestically, internationally as well as in China as well. It is obvious here that Google has the fast break working in their game and scoring almost at will.



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    Corey
  • June 14, 2007
http://www.tacticaltechnique.com/advertising/google-vs-ebay/

Your trackbacks are still broken :)
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Quite a few eBay affiliates run Adwords for eBay also... so that helps them cover lot of keywords. I wish I was one their top affiliates earning over 100K a month... :) hey may be I can be... by targeting motors...

Google is just everywhere... in advertising... I can run online ads, print ads and radio ads... and soon TV spots... and all with a precision control... what more do I need...



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Ebay once was the Goliath of the net. CEO Meg Whitman killed ebay when she raised listing fees hgher and higher (and higher) there by killing her base.

She is about 1 step from making Ebay extinct. She deserves the boot.

Joe
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A comment on a <a href="http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/06/15/ebay-puts-the-kibosh-on-google%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cinappropriate%e2%80%9d-party/" rel="nofollow">Grok post</a> about this subject cites a quote that eBay spends "less than $25 million a quarter" which leads me to think that eBay spends far more than $25 million a fiscal year as you suggest, Jeff. Regardless, the general consensus appears to be that this will not affect Google to the extent that eBay suggests. In fact, with no Google advertising I wonder what sort of negative impact it will have on eBay Motors which as you suggest already received minimal ad word advertising.
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