eBay-Google spat hints at larger tension
511264
A spat that erupted this week between eBay Inc. and Google Inc. after Google tried to siphon attention from the online auctioneer's grand user celebration might presage more tension in one of the Internet's most interesting new rivalries.
459012
eBay has resumed advertising on Google AdWords, a little over a week after it stopped advertising on the site in an apparent retaliatory move over Google's planned protest party at the eBay annual seller's conference in Boston.
401770
Yahoo's fiercest competitor, Google, has raised concerns about the possibility of Microsoft's takeover. Google's motives, of course, are hardly pure.
765567
Tensions between eBay and Google rose on Wednesday after the auction site decided to pull some of its ads from the search engine's AdWords program.
614213
(InfoWorld) - eBay will once again advertise on Google's U.S. AdWords network, but its spending on it will be significantly lower. eBay will start turning on its U.S. AdWords ads on Friday, ending aÂ 10-day pulloutÂ that made headlines worldwide and was seen as a sign of the companies' deteriorating relationship. eBay has determined that it doesn't need to spend as much as it did before the ad blackout, eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said Friday. "In general, our AdWords spending will be significantly lower than it was before," Durzy said, declining to be more specific. eBay reallocated its U.S. AdWords budget to other advertising channels and found that it isn't as dependent on AdWords as it thought before doing this test, Durzy said. By spending part of its AdWords budget elsewhere from now on, eBay will obtain better value in terms of traffic to its marketplace, he said, adding that the AdWords blackout was never intended to be permanent. eBay shocked the Internet industry when it pulled its ads off of the U.S. AdWords network early last week. eBay is the largest paid search advertiser in the U.S., and Google is the country's largest paid search ad network. In March, eBay ranked first in the U.S. among paid search advertisers with 802 million sponsored link exposures, or 4.1 percent of the total, according to comScore Networks. Its position is even stronger if one factors in eBay's comparison shopping engine, Shopping.com, which ranked third on that list with 357 million sponsored link exposures, or 1.8 percent of the total. Meanwhile, Google topped the list of search engine referrers, handling 57.3 percent of all paid search ad clickthroughs, comScore said. Yahoo took a distant second place with 26.1 percent of clickthroughs. At the time of the ad pullout, eBay characterized the move as a regular "experiment" similar in nature to tests it runs regularly to determine the best mix for its advertising spending. Yet, a source told IDG News Service that the move was an angry reaction to Google's plan to throw a party in Boston last week to attract eBay merchants who would be in town to attend the eBay Live annual seller conference. Apparently, eBay's top brass took exception to Google's party, whose purpose was protesting eBay's decision to forbid merchants in its marketplace from using Google's Checkout online transaction system. After eBay turned off the ads,Â Google cancelled the party, but eBay kept the ad blackout in place until today, when it will be lifted. Google and eBay have increasingly become competitors in areas like online payments, where Checkout and eBay's PayPal compete, and product listings.
64682
A trademark infringement suit against Google may alter how the search industry makes a profit.
145711
Google's spooky valuation could drive investors batty.
88341
The growing confrontation between Google and Microsoft promises to be an epic business battle.
727509
Federal Trade Commission has concerns over privacy issues and competition in Google's proposed $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick.
263225
As the two Web giants invade each other's territory, the auction site yanks its ads from Google. But numbers show that eBay may not have needed them in the first place
690445
eBay's latest auction trend may give the company a major headache.
476606
Google &#038; eBay Partner for &#8216;Click to Call&#8217; The WSJ (sub req&#8217;d) and NY Times (reg. req&#8217;d) are reporting this morning on a deal in which Google will distribute ads on eBay&#8217;s pages outside the US. eBay has a similar deal with Yahoo! domestically. This is something of a surprise given that eBay aggressively courted Google [...]
411272
Internet powerhouses Yahoo and eBay are joining forces in an alliance that further defines the battle lines in an online brawl with rivals Google, Microsoft and AOL.
376352
Mega-auctioneer eBay could turn the business upside down.
253823
If the massive deal does go through, Google will at last face a major threat to fend off. Technical integration between Microsoft and Yahoo could be a nightmare, according to some analysts. Yet customers might stand to gain.
752142
(InfoWorld) - EBay has pulled all of its paid search ads from Google AdWords network in the U.S inÂ an eyebrow-raising move likely to be interpreted in the industry as a sign of deteriorating relations between the two Internet giants. However, eBay has kept its AdWords campaigns outside of the U.S., eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said Wednesday. 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. ButÂ 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. Google has been reaching out to media to promote the party, aimed at eBay merchants who are upset that eBay doesn't allow them to use Google's Checkout online transaction system. eBay Live begins Thursday eveningÂ in Boston, which is the time and place Google has chosen for its protest party. ThisÂ source also said the situation is fast-developing and fluid, with high-ranking eBay executives holding meetings right now to discuss the extent of the decision. EBay has said that Checkout, introduced about a year ago, doesn't have enough of a track record yet, while Google argues that eBay is just trying to protect its own PayPal online payment system. Durzy said the decision to "reallocate" the Google ad budget elsewhere isn't tied to the Checkout protest party, but he acknowledged that the Google event hasn't gone down well inside of eBay. "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 online 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." Relations between eBay and Google have been strained in recent years, as Google has morphed from a partner into a partial competitor with new products like Checkout and its Google Base listings service. In May of last year,Â eBay and Yahoo struck a wide-ranging partnershipÂ that, among other things, made Yahoo the exclusive provider of search and display ads within U.S. eBay sites. Although Google performs a similar function for eBay sites outside of the U.S., the eBay-Yahoo tie up was seen as a defensive move by eBay and Yahoo against Google. EBay doesn't have a timetable for when it might reinstate its paid search ads in Google's U.S. AdWords system, Durzy said. "We need time to evaluate the impact" of the pullout, he said. "We don't have a time for when we might turn them back on." EBay pulled the ads "a couple of days ago," he said. "We're in the midst of an experiment and we'll see how it goes," he said. Â
133455
An Arkansas judge begins weighing objections this week to a $90 million class-action settlement between Internet search leader Google Inc. and advertisers who say they were victims of "click fraud."