AMCP Tech Blog

eBay is now banning the use of Google's supposed PayPal killer, Google Checkout, which launched last week. In an update to eBay's Safe Payments page, Google Checkout was reported as an online payment system that wasn't permitted on eBay, saying that it didn't offer "substantial historical track record of providing safe and reliable financial and/or banking related services." Stating that Google doesn't participate in online transactions is clearly a poor excuse attempting to block out a competitor. Google has a long history of online transactions - Through Google AdWords, Google's flag-ship advertising product, and premium content on Google Video, a repository of videos online.

While some people think that this move to combat Google Checkout isn't malicious, this has anti-competitive motives written all over it. I firmly believe in companies competing over users, because it causes both companies to innovate to out-compete each other. It's a process that has been occurring for a number of years. Limiting what services consumers use will only bring bad publicity, and might actually cause consumers to switch to a different service. It will be interesting to see what kind of excuse eBay comes up with, as Scot Wingo points out.