Ebay throws toys out of pram

GOOGLE HAS CANCELLED a planned party at Ebay's Live conference this week after the auctioneers pulled all their advertising from the search engine.

The two companies have a hate-hate relationship which is barely concealed with the vast amounts of money Ebay spends on Google AdWords advertising. Rumoured to be in the region of $100 million a year, there are those who would suggest that the massive spending amounts to little more than a bribe to keep Google out of the online shopping game.

Google introduced Checkout, a directly competing service to Ebay's Paypal, last year. Ebay doesn't allow the service to be used on its site, and Google organised a party at this year's Live! event to woo some of Ebay's heaviest hitters in the selling world, with the hope of piling on the pressure and getting Ebay to relent.

However, the search marketers then cancelled the party abruptly, after "speaking with officials at Ebay", a conversation which apparently included Ebay pulling its entire ad spend from Google as a threat.

Which appears to have done the trick. µ