Uncle Joe Radio

eBay sent email today announcing that the AdCommerce ads program would be terminated as of August 14. eBay was pushing the program as late as eBay On Location: Dallas in May.

Experience would suggest that eBay already has something up its sleeve to replace the program’s ad sales – though perhaps not internally to eBay Sellers. If eBay returns to selling off-site advertising, or restricts sales to its favored mass-retail clients, I would anticipate some backlash from smaller sellers who are increasingly vocal about moves that affect their ability to compete in the marketplace.

UPDATE: eBay’s “Griff” said on this afternoon’s “eBay Radio” program that there were no plans to replace the program.

The AdCommerce program was eBay’s most recent “pay-per-click” effort to sell advertising on the marketplace site.  The email announcement, in part, read as follows below.

We know you’ve either registered for or purchased AdCommerce pay-per-click advertising placements recently to promote your eBay Store or listings. We wanted to let you know this advertising program will be discontinued for eBay.com and eBay.ca on August 4 to ensure the most relevant listings from sellers providing the best prices and service are highlighted in search results.

You do not need to do anything-these AdCommerce placements will no longer be available for eBay.com or eBay.ca and any ads you already purchased to appear on these sites will automatically expire on August 4. Your final billing will be sent out in early September.

eBay has been busy the last couple of years picking up the pennies where it could find them.  We’ll have to see what they decide to do next.

Filed under:
eBay, eCommerce by Uncle Joe Adamson