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eBay and Google Make Amends, Kinda

Posted by Zonk on from the best-of-cuthroat-enemies dept.

It's been tit for tat for some time; eBay bans Google payments, Google tries to throw a party mocking eBay, in response to which the service pulls all of its ads, fun corporate shenanigans. It seems as though, for the moment, the two companies have made up. News.com is reporting that eBay ads will once again be serviced via Google's adwords service, but that they will also be using alternative methods to a greater extent in the future. "Hani Durzy, a spokesman for San Jose, California-based eBay, said his company later on Friday would begin advertising on Google, but at reduced levels than previously. eBay had been buying tens of millions of keyword ads on Google each year. 'I will tell you it will be in a much more limited way than it was before,' Durzy told Reuters. 'What we found is that we were not as dependent on AdWords as some people thought.'"

44 comments

  1. Some people thought? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Who thought eBay was dependant on AdWords at all? How many people:
    1. Use Google, but have never heard of eBay, or
    2. Are going to be interested in buying random words (e.g. 'slaves') on eBay? They even had the AdWords for my name for a while, but sadly they didn't sell a spare one of me.
    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    1. Re:Some people thought? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Coca Cola does a lot of advertising. They don't do it to get new customers so much as to keep existing customers. Yeah, if I google(tm) "horsecock", I'm probably not interested in buying horsecock on ebay. However, ebay doesn't get billed unless I click, and they can keep other horsecock sellers out of contention. Is eBay a dog lying in the manger, or do people actually buy horsecock on eBay?

    2. Re:Some people thought? by gravos · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Certainly it's pretty funny when we type something like "pidgin problem" into Google and see "Find pidgin problem now on eBay!" But when you look at search queries it's definitively true that a non-trivial number of them are for products, and probably people looking to buy. Besides, if eBay only pays through click-thrus, why would they care if there are false-positives?

      --
      This game will waste your life. Don't clicky!
    3. Re:Some people thought? by EggyToast · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hear hear. The ebay adwords were always the bottom of the barrel -- either words that no one else wanted, or that were moderately popular but eBay had paid so little that they were listed last.

      It's sad, though, that I didn't even realize they were missing until this article came out. Sure enough, I can't think of a search in recent memory that had "Find it on eBay!" in google ads. Too bad, really; I wish I could've been more pleased with their absence.

    4. Re:Some people thought? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Besides, if eBay only pays through click-thrus, why would they care if there are false-positives? I always click on the stupid eBay ad links. I figure if they're going to do something stupid, they should have to pay for it.
      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    5. Re:Some people thought? by Ignis+Flatus · · Score: 3, Interesting

      dependent is such a strong word. it's like asking if walmart is dependent on local newspapers to sell goods. of course, everyone has heard of walmart, but running ads still brings in more customers and reduces sales to competitors. they may not be dependent on them, but they still need the ads to establish dominance. without dominance, you leave open the possibility that a competitor will one day take away a large piece of your pie. perhaps the whole pie.

    6. Re:Some people thought? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dependent is such a strong word.
      that's why he used dependant!
    7. Re:Some people thought? by Aliriza · · Score: 1

      Yes but what about the organic search results , when I search for something I generally see some ebay pages , what is google changes its algoritm to get rid of store pages.

    8. Re:Some people thought? by Conficio · · Score: 1

      If eBay does reduce it's pointless ads, that do not represent even a remote product available, that can only be a good thing for Google and AdWords as a program. If eBay also would stop spamming the search results with auctions that are outdated or search results that are, again, not resulting in any available product at the time (Http Expire header any one?) it would be a good thing for Google as well as for the searching public. Third, if all the front ends for Google would not cloak the Google search results and advertisements it would be an improvement as well. So let eBay go its merry way. The public ill be thankful.

      --
      Busy helping non technical users of OpenOffice.org - http://plan-b-for-openoffice.org/
  2. Good riddance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I say good riddance to EBay's crappy Google ads. For a while there, you couldn't search for anything without 3 EBay affiliate ads offering to sell it to you. "Find people selling 'babies' on EBay!" "Lowest prices on 'babies'!"

    1. Re:Good riddance by owlnation · · Score: 5, Funny

      I say good riddance to EBay's crappy Google ads. For a while there, you couldn't search for anything without 3 EBay affiliate ads offering to sell it to you. "Find people selling 'babies' on EBay!" "Lowest prices on 'babies'!"
      Ironically, eBay's Safeharbor team does such a poor job that there are most certainly days when you actually can, in fact, buy babies on eBay.

      However, I daresay the "lowest prices" part is misleading. If eBay scammers are selling babies, they are almost certainly shill bidding on them too.
    2. Re:Good riddance by ciscoguy01 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yep. Everything you searched for with google came up with *lots* of worthless eBay hits.
      Good riddance eBay.
      Worthless, eBay was essentially spamming google, and google didn't seem concerned at all.

      --
      .
    3. Re:Good riddance by DrEldarion · · Score: 1

      The affiliate thing changed a while ago, actually. eBay's affiliate program stopped paying referral fees for traffic coming from Google.

  3. Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I got sick of the eBay listings showing up when searching for things that were really esoteric on Google. Search for asteroids on eBay!

  4. Good. by Triv · · Score: 3, Informative

    Good for me, anyway - adwords on google searches for anything even remotely purchasable almost always included a generic, keyword-added eBay ad that was ignorable by default; it was approaching crapflood levels.

    Let's hope that eBay pulling back will result in searches that're actually relevant. (Searching for Anime and being told that an anime sale is going on at foo.com makes sense; being told that I can buy anime on eBay is unnecessary.)


    Triv

  5. If they weren't that dependant on AdWords by king-manic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why did they go back? I think they were more dependant then they thought and went back in a more limited fashion to protest their dependence.

    --
    "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
  6. Re:It's not google's fault! by MyLongNickName · · Score: 4, Funny

    Keep up the good work, and we will let you have a user account soon! However, you need to work on your spelling... it is entirely too good.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  7. Sounds like a pre-divorce situation by fishthegeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wife: I don't like it when you do (this) so I'm going to cut you off.
    Husband: Oh yeah, well I'm going to have a beer with guys on your birthday.
    Wife: Oh yeah well I'm going to ask my mother to move in.
    Husband: Oh yeah! Well I'm going to let you.

    Both think about it for a minute.

    Wife, well maybe we can uh, you know work things out a little bit.
    Husband: Well maybe. Have you seen my socks?

    There is tremendous interdependency between an awful lot of web companies and to spite themselves they're going to have to play nice in the sandbox if they are going to get anything done.

    --
    load "$",8,1
    1. Re:Sounds like a pre-divorce situation by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sure. Where would slashdot be without Roland Piquepaille's blog

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    2. Re:Sounds like a pre-divorce situation by Brother+Seamus · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The problem with this is that Google should view Ebay as a competitor, not as a spouse. These moves hurt Google's ability to innovate. They have to back off on entering certain new markets to protect their bread and butter ad business.

    3. Re:Sounds like a pre-divorce situation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was just shown earlier today that eBay has an Alert via IM option. Only AIM, Windows LiveTM and Yahoo! are supported, and I thought to myself that the only Jabber user big enough for them to bother adding support for would be Google, but with the recent tiff that possibility would be even more remote than before. Now, though, at least they have no reason to be against it (actually supporting it would take time, money, etc. but there would be no politics)

  8. I was hoping eBay would boycott forever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is nothing quite as annoying as Googling a current event and seeing things like "Find Democratic Debates and more at eBay!"

    1. Re:I was hoping eBay would boycott forever by lilfields · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, but it is not well known that this is actually how some candidates buy elections.

  9. Try defining your search! by Nushio · · Score: 4, Informative

    You could try searching for stuff and adding "-ebay" at the end.

    The "-" tells Google what to skip, so if you're looking for something in particular, and keep getting spammed with "BUY!" and "EBAY", just type your term, and add "-buy -ebay".

    --
    Check out Unsealed: Whispers of Wisdom! http://unsealed.k3rnel.net It's an action-RPG about Open Sourcerers.
  10. Re:It's not google's fault! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It sounds like AMD, Apple, and Google need to clash soon to find where our faith lies - which one is our one, true god?

  11. Which is Worse? by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Which is worse? Pulling all eBay ads from Google, or the GDP (Google Death Penalty) of making you effectively disappear from the Internet. There's no Must Carry rule for Google, although they need do this sparingly, lest they become irrelevant in the search market. But eBay is only one company, and an arrogant one at that based on the number of legal items they ban from being sold, and the way they can suspend your seller account based on unverified complaints. eBay can hardly bring down Google.

    Come to think of it, both eBay and Google are a lot alike. Both pull your sites/listings based on often unverified complaints, then make it d@mn near impossible to actually talk to somebody who can rectify the situation and have you reinstated. They deserve each other!

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  12. Maturity? by PsEvo · · Score: 1

    Come on now major corporations... play nice.

    --
    "ATI cards are like buses...They're huge, red and have bad drivers."
  13. how long will it take google to enter onlineretail by sandeepbansal · · Score: 1

    lets just see how long does it take google to enter the online retail bussiness. they did it with paypal they will soon do it with ebay.

  14. Right... by Jaqenn · · Score: 3, Insightful
    From the summary:

    'What we found is that we were not as dependent on AdWords as some people thought.'"
    Which translates as 'We found that we're way the hell more dependent on AdWords than we thought', right? They went back to Google in, what, 5 days?
    --
    You are awash in a sea of fiercely stated opinions. Obvious exits are: 'File->Quit', 'Reply', and 'Page Down'.
  15. They are so cute by Roliel · · Score: 1

    Aww, Google and eBay got back together again after their little lover's quarrel. I think it's a good thing that this made them realize they are not ready for their previous level of commitment and that they made it clear that it is o.k. for each other to see other corporations too.

  16. "Kinda" is right by hendridm · · Score: 2, Informative

    If given the choice between:

    a) Not seeing as many eBay ads on Google, or
    b) Being able to use Google Checkout on eBay

    I'd choose B.

  17. Freedom from "Slaves" and other dumb google ads by BillGatesLoveChild · · Score: 0

    Try this Firefox plug-in. Never look at eBay's stupid ads again:

    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q= customizegoogle&status=4
    http://www.customizegoogle.com/

  18. I was Tired by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was Tired of seeing ebay ads all the fuckin time I searched for shit on google.

    1. Re:I was Tired by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >I was Tired of seeing ebay ads all the fuckin time I searched for shit on google.
      I'm afraid to ask what you want with it... you do realize that you can produce your own, right?

  19. Google Payments? Who cares. by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Google Payments only works in the USA, the UK.... not sure where else.

    As a Canadian, Google Payments are 100% useless to me (both as a buyer and a seller).

    1. Re:Google Payments? Who cares. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As an America, you are 100% useless to me.

  20. Making amends by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    ... is "doing something in order to make up for a wrong inflicted on someone." To whom are Google and EBay making amends -- surely not us, their users? I suspect the headline meant to say that they "made up" or that they "reconciled" or [insert thesaurus entry here].

    Yes, I realize it's pointless to complain about Slashdot editing.

    1. Re:Making amends by jginspace · · Score: 1
      ... is "doing something in order to make up for a wrong inflicted on someone." To whom are Google and EBay making amends -- surely not us, their users? I suspect the headline meant to say that they "made up" or that they "reconciled" or [insert thesaurus entry here].

      Yes, I realize it's pointless to complain about Slashdot editing.

      Indeed

  21. SUPPORT:? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WHEN an, eservant suports ghag. i'll be happy?specken 4nglih