US-based Google and eBay announced an advertising partnership that aims to put buyers in touch with a wider variety of sellers, such as the neighborhood exterminator, math tutor or roofer, an Associated Press report said.
The report said that under the arrangement, Google would provide search results whenever an eBay member typed in a search term that failed to find any matches on eBay's vast auction site.
Although eBay listed millions of physical, shippable goods, such as antique airplanes and used cloth diapers, the company had long struggled to sign up service providers, or people who sold their labor or intellect and not their physical wares, the report said.
But eBay had not been able to attract similar numbers of professionals to its site, the report further said.
Under the deal, eBay visitors would get text advertisements from Google.
Although eBay risked sending visitors elsewhere, it ensured consumers that by going to eBay for nearly anything, they would find a seller somewhere, the report said.
Financial terms of the deal were not released, but both companies acknowledged that it included revenue sharing, so eBay would also likely get a fee for referring people to other sites, the report further said.