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Yahoo, eBay Partner in Multi-Year Deal

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

May 25, 2006, 12:26 PM

Confirming Wall Street speculation, Yahoo and eBay on Thursday announced a multi-year deal that will combine the two companies' efforts in search and graphical advertising, online payments, a co-branded toolbar, and possibly "click-to-call" functionality.

Joint services are expected to be rolled out later this year, including a testing phase. Full implementation is slated for next year.

"Yahoo! offers an engaged online audience, which drives massive traffic through its rich consumer content and premium services," eBay president and CEO Meg Whitman said in prepared remarks. "Working together, we can create more exposure for our properties, which in turn makes them more valuable to our users."

In search and advertising, Yahoo would become the exclusive search and graphical advertising provider across eBay. On Yahoo's own search pages, eBay listings would be integrated in order to provide up-to-date listings of available products.

PayPal would also become Yahoo's exclusive payment provider, and receive prominent positioning. Yahoo premium services would be payable through PayPal, the companies said. Additionally, Yahoo will promote the payment system to its partners.

The two will also collaborate to produce a new version of the eBay Toolbar with integrated Yahoo functionality, and are investigating the feasibility of "click-to-call" functionality through Yahoo Messenger and Skype. The service could allow users to call an advertiser directly to complete a transaction.

"Our consumers will benefit from the combination of Yahoo! and eBay's leading technology and services, providing them with one of the best online experiences," commented Terry Semel, Yahoo chairman and CEO.

Add a Comment (15 Comments)

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By FataL

posted May 26, 2006 - 11:53 AM

YeBay

Score: 0

By ripfuel

posted May 26, 2006 - 7:39 AM

I think that this is an excellent move. I am getting ready to open a yahoo e-commerce store & already sell on e-bay. This is going to be awesome!

Score: 0

By tigurr

edited May 26, 2006 - 2:03 AM

GOOG Google Inc.382.99 '05 Gross Revenue (USD): 6.14B ----------------------
EBAY eBay Inc. 33.88 '05 Gross Revenue USD):4.55B -------------------------
YHOO Yahoo!Inc.32.92 '05 Gross Revenue (USD): 5.26B eBAY & YAHOO! 2005 Employees: >20K where google has only just over 5.6K hmmm, i wonder how many of those eHO! employees are ad exsiccs? a lot of fat to trim, where there's duplication there's waste../

Score: 0

By cranbers

posted May 25, 2006 - 9:27 PM

I think this was a good move for them although it is an act of desperation. They see the progress innovation and competition heat from Google, as a result both of them feel compelled to take huge steps and sacrifices. Yahoo offers an auction site that pales in comparison to ebay. So if you can't beat them join em.

Score: 0

By debonair

posted May 26, 2006 - 2:29 PM

yeah, act of desperation my ass. like you know what you're talking about. eBay had talks with google, msn, and Yahoo. Yahoo got the deal, that's all.

Score: 0

By wadedesk

posted May 25, 2006 - 7:51 PM

I agree that this will be huge, but not because of where eBay and Yahoo have been, rather because where they are going.

To get an idea you need to go to http://tech.yahoo.com and look at what Yahood is doing ...

Next think about where eBay is moving with eBay Express and remaking itself into the largest online store for new products ...

Now think about what kind of buyers and sellers these two Internet giants are going after ...

... everybody ...

Score: 0

By anmol.2k4

posted May 25, 2006 - 5:32 PM

bad days ahead for google

Score: 0

By rijp

posted May 25, 2006 - 2:26 PM

This will be so cool. Yahoo mail, yahoo search on Ebay, Pay-hoo-pal. You can say what you want about Google, but this is a *HUGE* victory for Yahoo. Even Google can't compete with the largest Auction Retailer... considering Yahoo could conceivable combine their online auctions with Ebay.. this will be monumental in the computer world.

LOTS of things can stem from this merger.

Score: 0

By cranbers

posted May 25, 2006 - 9:24 PM

I doubt it, I think combining these two companies would be the death of both of them. For one, yahoo offers some descent things but they are always so generic feeling not to mention just plain worthless. The ads they offer are mind numbing and go the highest bidder im sure. As for ebay I use them on a regular basis, they are behind the times though their system feels outdated and old. Where the heck is the real time clock already?

Score: 0

By TC17

edited May 25, 2006 - 3:37 PM

Its no big deal to me. Whenever I search for something on ebay, I always go to ebay, I would never use some search engine.

I also don't seen what Yahoo gains by combining their auctions with ebays. All this combine means is less competition so ebay can jack up fees all the more. Higher fees for the seller=higher cost for the buyer.

I'd take Google any day over Yahoo for a search engine.

I also remember reading a rumor in the past about Google coming out with their own auction site.

Score: 0

By rijp

posted May 25, 2006 - 4:03 PM

No, no... you missed the point. Whenver you search an internal site, even ebay they use SOME sort of search engine. So by default you will use Yahoo to search their site, even if you do only go to the Ebay site, it will be a Yahoo local search.

Yahoo will also promote Ebay and vice Versa. That's why I think this will be huge..

You don't see an advantage in two of the large online auctions joining forces? Are you kidding me? This will certainly be a bigger gain for Yahoo, than it will be for Ebay, but Ebay will benefit from Yahoo 20+ years of online experience and customer base.

Google coming out with their own auction site, will be like someone trying to compete with Walmart. It will be a VERY steep uphill.

Ebay is a household name, and now combined with Yahoo, both names (maybe a possible permanent merger) will definately put Google in a tough spot. Google could partner with someone else, but this will be a big lift for Yahoo, who is competing with Google (rather Google is trying to play catchup to Yahoo).

Score: 0

By twosheds

posted May 26, 2006 - 9:13 AM

Personally I prefer a situation of diversity and competition, but ultimately I can only hope the market takes care of itself in that regard.

Gotta pick you up though on the '20+ years of online experience' for Yahoo, which was only even vaguely thought about in 1994:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html

Score: 0

By Bogunch

posted May 25, 2006 - 4:49 PM

"Google coming out with their own auction site, will be like someone trying to compete with Walmart. It will be a VERY steep uphill."

...and then you will see the REAL Google. It will look a lot like MS!!!

Score: 0

By rijp

posted May 25, 2006 - 1:13 PM

Ha! I predicted it! Eat your heart out PC_Tool!

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted May 25, 2006 - 1:52 PM

Yep.

E-Hoo! has arrived. Still think it's too long. Shorten it a bit to E-Ho!, and you'd have a goldmine.

Score: 0

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