EBay Pleased With Yahoo Ads, As Google Tests Start

EBay Pleased With Yahoo Ads, As Google Tests Start

The online auction site is ratcheting up its use of Yahoo search advertising to help boost buyer activity, after initial U.S. testing produced positive results.


SAN FRANCISCO - EBay Inc. is ratcheting up its use of Yahoo search advertising to help boost buyer activity, after initial U.S. testing produced positive results, an executive of the auction site said Tuesday.

The online auctioneer has found few conflicts between these ads and traffic to existing sellers, Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan told investors at a Merrill Lynch investor conference in New York.

Some sellers feared that incorporating Web ads alongside online auction listings would siphon away customers. Last year, eBay struck deals with Web search ad suppliers Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. to use Web search tools to help eBay buyers find products to purchase.

The online marketplace leader also started testing search ads on international sites with Google last week, but this will not affect financial results for several quarters, Swan added.

"We wouldn't really see any impact until the second half of the year because we are just beginning testing now," he told investors at the presentation, which was Webcast.

Swan also reaffirmed that he is comfortable with its earnings and revenue outlook for 2007, with growth coming both from its core auctions market and from newer businesses.

The company's 2007 outlook is for earnings per share growth of 20 percent to 23 percent over 2006, on revenue growth of 18 percent to 22 percent.

In January, the San Jose, California-based company had said it expected 2007 revenue to range between $7.05 billion and $7.30 billion. Full-year earnings, excluding one-time items, were expected at $1.25 to $1.29 per share, eBay had said.

Shares of eBay dipped 2 cents to $32.78 in late session trading on Nasdaq on Tuesday.