In an apparent change of heart Google canceled their “Let Freedom Ring” event that would have been an attempt to steal eBay’s thunder and attract sellers away from the eBay Live event.
Google Offers Olive Branch To eBay
The move by Google came after eBay said that it was pulling all of their advertising off of Google AdWords. In the Google Checkout Blog Tom Oliveri explains, “eBay Live attendees have plenty of activities to keep them busy this week in Boston, and we did not want to detract from that activity.
“After speaking with officials at eBay, we at Google agreed that it was better for us not to feature this event during the eBay Live conference.”
“Google is constantly reaching out to new users and sellers, and we are available to privately discuss any matters of concern with individuals as they relate to Google products.”
What caused this latest kerfuffle was due to Google Checkout not being available to eBay merchants. eBay has maintained that when Google Checkout was launched it was unproven. Reading between the lines eBay does not want to directly compete with Google Checkout because they have their own payment service PayPal.
Hani Durzy, an eBay spokesman said, “We are pleased that they apparently have seen that the party was inappropriate. It is not the way one partner should act with another.”
eBay would not say when they would bring ads back to Google. “We have no firm date for how long the experiment will go,” Mr. Durzy said.
