eBay backs Google in fight against Europe: auction site is a 'strong commerce competitor' with search giant

Online auction site’s CEO said that eBay is in competition with Google’s shopping product — helping out the search giant

Google’s distinctive logo has become commonplace all over Europe (AFP/Getty)

eBay has helped Google out in its battle against the European Commission, after its CEO has argued that it is a strong competitor to the search engine.

The European Commission is bringing a high-profile case against Google, arguing that it has abused its huge power to promote its own shopping tool over those of others. But Google has responded by saying that it has actually helped to promote competition, releasing blogposts and other information to back it up.

In an interview with the Financial Times, eBay chief executive John Danahoe said that his company is in direct competition with Google. In the past, some have argued that Google doesn’t compete directly with such firms given it controls the search tools that people use to get to those sites, unlike Amazon and eBay.

Critics have said that Google doesn’t compete directly with eBay and other firms and said that they shouldn’t have to pay to have their ads displayed alongside Google’s own results.

According to Google’s blogposts, eBay is by far the biggest online retailer, alongside Amazon, in the UK and Germany. Google Shopping is much smaller than either in terms of unique visitors.