Mapping the Google vs eBay Local Shopping Wars
WSJ: Getting an Oil Change Off eBay [sub req]
EBay is aiming to take over the phone book's customary role as the first place people turn to find local services from housecleaners to accountants.
While eBay Inc.'s focus for now is on auto services like oil changes and brake jobs, its goal may be to connect consumers with local businesses of all kinds. This could signal a major shift in the way consumers shop for such services and greatly affect pricing and competition among local shops.
Does eBay have any sort of a map? How are they going to do local without one? Craigslist (which eBay owns part of) links off to Google and Yahoo! maps. I think Google and Yahoo! get information from the same source: Navteq. Not sure if Navteq is going to go after local search as well, but they recently partnered with Zagat.
Any chance someone would want to scoop the leading map company? Are there any other high quality digital mapping companies?
Froogle was recently upgraded, and without a hitch! Google's Froogle Drops eBay for a Day.
When Paypal was upgraded in June Google overshaddowed the news with the announcement of Google Wallet.
Here is yet another article about who should be afraid of Google.
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Hello - we hope you'll forgive this question, but we are contacting as many sources of information about eBay as possible.
We are a group of eBay UK shop owners who are very concerned about the massive loss of traffic from Google since October and the sudden (coincidental?) appearance in Yahoo searches of a new eBay Directory which no one seems to be allowed to join. http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=best+ebay+shops&prssweb=Search&ei=UT...
Please could you let us know if you have any information about this - if not, we apologise for the intrusion. We have recently set up a blog at http://mysterybay.blogspot.com/ to act as the central point of co-ordination and this also contains further details about these eBay/Yahoo developments.
Many thanks,
Hobart
In answer to the question above, "Does eBay have any sort of a map?" they seem to be allowing third party developers like auctionMapper.com to be doing the development for mapping eBay items.
There are also eBay mapping applications which use Google maps and Virtual Earth, so this strategy seems to be working well.
Of course, eBay could always be working on their own killer map app. without announcing it yet.
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