Just read this article http://www.leebandoni.com/2007/06/11/auctionads-sell-out-or-investment-from-ebay/ So you think it will happen?
Sounds like something ebay would do. They like sites that already have alot of members and it works good for them.
I agree. AuctionAds is going to keep on growing and it would be a good idea for ebay to grab it. ShoeMoney would get a really good amount of cash for this. It could be in the millions.
The story does look a little strange. Not sure whether its fake or not. eBay had an exclusive relationship with ampkeywords.com until last year. Maybe this is a replacement deal for that relationship.
I can't see why eBay would take over AA - what would the benefit to them? Yes AA is helping them get valuable affiliates but that would carry on to be true even if they don't take over AA. Also as AA gives out 100% of commissions back to their members so eBay's acquisition of AA wouldn't achieve anything IMO. I dunno if I made any sense, but I highly doubt this article is true. Correct me if I'm wrong...
Exactly, but how much do they pay Shoemoney? Large publishers can negotiate much better deals. I think it may make a lot of sense for them to buy it, on the other hand they might just built their own. Who knows.
This news from Ebay heavily worries me, naturally a startup companies goal is one of two things which are to either become as large as other big companies over time or be intergrated into a larger company within the short term, Myspace is a good example. I just worry about the quality and the conversion rates, for example if AuctionAds became very popular then we might see the conversion rates begin the dwindle, ebay might lower its affiliate rates as well. Things always get incredible complicated when large companies take over, for example very soon we will supposedly be seeing 18 - 30 second ads showing on all youtube videos, whenever large companies get involved thier first thought is how can they make as much as possible while giving users just enough of a reason to keep using there product.
I still believe it is fake. No major techno news site has publised it. Ebay rejects some or most international affiliates like me. I suppose that many, many Auction Ads members are international webmasters. Why reject them and then buy a company to get a lot of members that were rejected previously. Also, 17000 members is a lot for a company the size of Auction Ads. For ebay it is peanuts. Last, the article makes no reference to any source. It is clearly (at least for me) a link bait. If it turns that I'm wrong, I will apologize. But it looks fake.
AuctionAds is not fake by any means. And im not worried about eBay buying it or reducing affiliate payouts. AuctionAds means great things. I think this will mean many auctions will get more attention, thus more bidding. More bidding clearly is good for eBay as it will push prices up and thus push fees up. Its great for ebay sellers for the same reason. 18,000 isnt alot, no. But its only been 3 months. I wouldnt be suprised to see that jump to 100,000 by years end. I think enough of it that I added an AuctionAds support forum on vBulletin FAQ.
There has been no talks of auctionads to sell out to ebay and certainly various popular blogs the likes of techcrunch and others would be the first to be hinted of the rumours. The important reason for that is that it would simply increase the value of auctionads if something like this leaks out. From a marketing perspective this would make sense to raise the profile and the stakes. Auctionads is only 3 months old and has its internal technical issues to deal resolve and has yet to reach its peak. no doubt ebay will keep an eye on it and in the future it may prove to be a lucrative deal for ebay especially if they decided to cut CJ out of the loop, the savings would make sense long term
The number of Auctionads is going to grow at a rapid arte simpley because its getting so heavily promoted on wenmaster forums and such.
joeychgo: Read my posts. I never said Auction Ads is fake. I said that the article is fake. I use Auction Ads and I'm very pleased with them.
From my perspective is that auctionads could replace CJ only for the ebay and the other countless number of sites services by CJ. But that would be a great service if a competitor rose to the cause and thought what the hell, we will set up with all these affiliates like a co-operative and payout the maximum out. This would be awesome.