By Alfred Branch, Jr.
Apparently what’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander.
Days after StubHub’s parent company eBay pulled its advertisements from Google, the secondary ticket giant remains front and center in Google’s sponsored links when someone enters the keyword “tickets.”
EBay stopped advertising on Google after Google planned a party in Boston for its Google Checkout payment option the same week eBay was hosting an eBay Live conference in the same city. The two compete with payment systems because eBay owns Paypal. Though Google cancelled the fete, eBay still hasn’t returned to advertise with Google, which eBay claims is do to an experiment it’s conducting to see if other search programs are worth the company’s ad dollars, according to published reports. . .
StubHub! is firmly entrenched as the top secondary ticket seller in Ticketnews.com’s exclusive weekly roundup, and eBay remains the market leader in online auctions. So, with their strong brand identities, it’s a question whether StubHub! and eBay really need Google, though eBay is leaving the door open to return ads to Google.
StubHub! and eBay representatives could not be reached for comment, but the two are no strangers to controversy this year. In April, the two were sued by Ticketmaster for allegedly muscling in on what Ticketmaster says is an exclusive contract with a venue.
