Google and eBay Bully each other via Boston Party Scene
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Written By Jonathan Cho | June 14, 2007 | Share This
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Cat fight! eBay and Google appear to be in a bit of a tiff, after Google announced a Google Checkout party that coincided with the annual eBay Live event in Boston. The Google sponsored party was to be named “Let Freedom Ring,” representing the historical significance of its host city during the revolutionary war.
Google’s party planning wasn’t just a social taboo - according to CNet, it was a protest against eBay’s ban on Google Checkout (eBay currently only uses PayPal). Later in the day, eBay announced that they would perform a “test” to effectively pull their ads from Google AdWords. Sources close to the situation have stated that the”test” was in direct response to Google’s party stunt, but eBay spokesman Hani Durzy claims that the two events are unrelated. He did, however, express his concerns over Google’s poor planning.
Related or not, Google since decided to cancel the Checkout party and have not stated whether or not they plan to reschedule. In the meantime, eBay has not disclosed how long their “test” will continue, but industry experts note that every day without AdWords is likely hurting eBay’s business.
Despite the adolescent nature of this pending drama, one has to wonder if anti-Google moratoriums will become a recurring trend. As Google attempts to broaden its product offerings in on and offline advertising, they’re likely to make more than AdWords customer unhappy.
Topics: Advertising: Online, Google, Search: News |