Google slips in eBay's back door

Posted Jul 23rd 2007 10:04PM by Gary Sattler
Filed under: Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Competitive Strategy, Google (GOOG), eBay (EBAY)

Conventional wisdom says there's a tenuous relationship between eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Common knowledge says that eBay and Google compete in the realm of online payment services. It also seems to be an accepted fact that you can't use Google Checkout for purchases made on eBay, but did you know that Google Checkout has a back door into the eBay family? That's right, the eBay companies are not PayPal exclusive after all.

ProStores is an eBay merchants' option for the serious online retailer. ProStores is in fact an eBay company. ProStores directly competes with the in-house eBay Stores feature. The most interesting part is that ProStores allows the use of Google Checkout, while eBay itself does not.

Perhaps this isn't big news in the investment world, but I'll guarantee you that it's not common knowledge among eBay sellers, especially those who are straining to successfully operate eBay stores. The questions are, why does eBay keep this fact so quiet and why the double standard?

Could it be that eBay is using the availability of Google Checkout for ProStores as a marketing tool to create appeal to sign up for the ProStores service? If that's the case, then eBay is making a very odd, confusing, yet powerful statement. The availability of Google Checkout in ProStores says that eBay recognizes that service as a desirable option, yet the fact that Google Checkout is still being stonewalled from the eBay site itself says that eBay management still recognizes it as a considerable threat.

In the face of impending PayPal fee increases, which indicates that eBay profits are becoming stressed, the above scenario places some interesting angles on an already muddled eBay future.

What's it gonna be eBay: Do you Google or not?

Tags: credit card, CreditCard, eBay payment options, eBay ProStores, EbayPaymentOptions, EbayProstores, Google Checkout, GoogleCheckout, online payment, OnlinePayment, payment, PayPal, PayPal increases, PaypalIncreases, prostores

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-25-2007 @ 1:12AM

Vincent said...

You are really stretching this story. ProStores is pretty insignificant to eBay and is meant to allow people to run theri own stores as they wish. So of course maximum flexibility is the norm and people can use GC at their own risk and putting their own reputation on the line. Trying to then make a connection to on-ebay stores is a little far-fetched.

7-25-2007 @ 1:23AM

firemeg said...

First off, ProStores are beyond a joke. They are a rip-off and are used by very few eBayers. Your items in a Prostore do not show up in eBay searches, and the cost far exceeds any other leading online shopping cart software with similar features. Plus you have to deal with crappy eBay specific code, you can't take your database with you when you finally want to stop giving eBay hundreds of dollars each month, and you are at eBay's mercy if they decide to raise fees.

My guess is that eBay really has no choice but to allow Checkout on Prostores. Since the sites are all basically run by individuals outside of eBay.com, eBay doesn't really want to regulate how the sites are run. And they probably don't want to give Prostores owners one more reason to stop paying the asinine prices for Prostores.

...oh, and I forgot to mention:
Prostores are notoriously buggy and glitchy.
Prostores are not easily customizable beyond the means that eBay provides.
You have to do your own advertising with Prostores.
Prostores items are not on eBay.com.
The eBay Stores forum is usually filled with Prostores horror stories.

7-26-2007 @ 1:40AM

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7-28-2007 @ 10:01AM

trisha said...

why does this Gary fellow continues to bash ebay when is making purchases at Ebay still? Mmmmmmm?

Thanks Gary for contributing to Ebays profits :)

Your a sweet heart. LOL

8-02-2007 @ 12:30PM

john said...

online stores will always be limited to certain types of products. a customer will prefer purchasing a look and feel product through offline stores only. therefore, there is a need for advertisement/classified websites that offer the user the option to check out information and purchase offline. one such good site is http://www.clickindia.com