eBay Australia Experiments With Ads in Listings

Third-party advertisements appearing on sellers' item pages.

by Auctiva.com staff writer
- Sep 22, 2008

Australian sellers in some eBay.com.au categories may be surprised to discover outside advertisements in their listings.

Over the weekend, eBay Australia began inserting third-party ads into a number of listings in selected categories. A random sampling of items on Monday found the ads in listings for DVD movies, MP3 players, LCD TVs, alarm clocks and sports, for instance, but not in categories like laptop computers, mobile phones, fashion, or music CDs.

Sellers are complaining that unauthorized ads for eBay-owned Shopping.com and cable TV operator Foxtel are showing up on their item pages. The ads appear directly below the item price and Bid Now/Buy It Now button.

The move was unannounced by eBay. At press time it was not known whether the company plans to allow additional outside advertising to run on listing pages, or whether the apparent attempt to drive additional revenue will roll out to listings in other eBay regions. However, it's commonly thought that eBay uses its Australia trading site as a test bed for new initiatives.


4 Comments

4  
Only just came across this old articel and there is interesting development on this issue. quote: Originally by Fatimapuss: I am from Australia and sell a wide range of items including some in the categories ebay plans to put their ads in. I have not seen any of these ad's in my auctions, is this meant to have started yet?? I am totally against this idea, especially if only ebay profits from this - maybe a better idea would be to make it a choice for individual sellers and offer a discount in Listing or FVF Fees???? SUE the offending advertisers - they in turn will sue eB

  Posted by Jandra at 6/5/2009 7:44:00 AM
3  
I am from Australia and sell a wide range of items including some in the categories ebay plans to put their ads in. I have not seen any of these ad's in my auctions, is this meant to have started yet?? I am totally against this idea, especially if only ebay profits from this - maybe a better idea would be to make it a choice for individual sellers and offer a discount in Listing or FVF Fees????

  Posted by Fatimapuss at 10/5/2008 11:30:00 PM
2  
I read on the ebay boards that sellers complained directly to the company of the ads. They also said that the company decided to pull the ads based on how many sellers called threatening to not do business with them if the ads continued. I hope this is true since it shows sellers still may have some say in what gets in the listing they pay for.

  Posted by mynameforposting at 10/1/2008 7:28:00 PM
1  
I'm not from Australia, but I really don't like eBay doing this. I understand this is their site and they can do what ever they want. But putting this ad right where people place their bids is a bit to much. I'm not against eBay placing ads on their site. Most of us do it on our own sites. Why should eBay be any different. I just don't like the actual placement of it. It's too close to where a person whould be purchasing my item. It actually stands out and might make the buyer think twice about purchasing my item. As a seller you try not to put any distractions in th way of a person of purch

  Posted by Your Auction News at 9/25/2008 12:00:00 PM

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About the Author

Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.

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