Ebay hardball, Google flinches

Ha. After a report that Ebay was boycotting Google's text ads, the search engine has decided to cancel a party to woo stores on the online auction site. Google planned to hold the cocktail party tomorrow night in the fringes of Ebay's Live event for its biggest sellers. Mountain View, which plays on online shops' disgruntlement with Ebay's monopoly charges, had entitled the invitation, provocatively, "let freedom ring." Ebay's Meg Whitman must have blasted her Google counterpart on the hotline. Freedom for Ebay's imprisoned retailers, who are being lured by lower fees on Google's credit-card payment service, may yet ring. But not just yet.

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