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***mandy*** · 07-01-2006, 09:18 AM,

Another article speculating on the possibility of Google opening an auction site. I don't think it will happen. Tongue

Quote:Today, you can imagine how much traffic Google must send eBay's way. Rarely do any of my searches for a product on Google not turn up some links to an eBay auction.

So, it's not very hard to imagine Google sending some of that link love to its own auction service where Google can get a bigger cut of the action (than it can through eBay's participation in Google's AdWords), particularly if it has its own payment service in place. After all, if PayPal is the only other big game in town, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to start an auction service and then send the transactional part of the business to your competitor. And, judging by the way users of both AdWords and Google Checkout will get a financial break, Google is clearly interested in the network effects of its reach. So, this (Google Checkout) is a piece of the puzzle that Google is better off having in place than not, should it decide to enter the auction business and further leverage that network effect a prediction that I'm very optimistic about (read: no caution there folks). How can it not at this point? ...

full article: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=3282

stardust · 07-01-2006, 04:17 PM,

I didn't read the article, but why would they want to *enter* something that's on its way *out* in popularity -- and which hundreds of others have failed at? My guess is they're smarter than that.

xppman · 07-01-2006, 04:28 PM,

They are just screwing with ebay's head to make them foolishly
spend more money on endeavors that are destined to fail.

Sign10

sneakymagenta · 07-01-2006, 11:24 PM,

Quote: why would they want to *enter* something that's on its way *out* in popularity

Google's alternative venue will be its search engine with GBuy buy links on ads.

***regic*** · 08-10-2006, 02:09 PM,

Another voice calling on Google to start an auction site:

Quote:A small group of eBay sellers launched a discussion group on Google Groups to "beg" Google to consider opening an auction site. The move comes after eBay announced a significant fee hike for Store inventory listings in an effort to "rebalance" the marketplace toward the core platform (non-Store listings).

The Google Group, called "Google We Need an Auction Site," was created on August 3 and had only 17 members. The Group had grown to a still-minute 80 members by August 9...

full article: http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m08/i10/s01