eBay starts blocking auction sites
Summary
Topics
AuctionWatch said that it had been in discussions with eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) to license its auctions. On Wednesday, it decided against the licensing deal, and eBay rejected a counterproposal.
"We don't think they have anything to license. By signing a licensing deal, that acknowledges they do have property to license," said Dan Neary, vice president of AuctionWatch.
Blockade began Wednesday
eBay confirmed that it was blocking AuctionWatch's servers from its sites, but would not comment further.
Neary said eBay requested the IP addresses for its servers in order to block them, and AuctionWatch has given it those addresses. Neary said two of AuctionWatch's servers were blocked Wednesday at 5 PM PT, and more will be shut down.
Despite having given up the IP addresses, Neary said that AuctionWatch "is going to vigorously fight this process."
"We think we are in full compliance with all applicable laws. This is something that consumers want."
Neary noted that other large auction sites, such as those run by Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), have supported AuctionWatch's listings.
Will users be ticked?
One analyst questioned eBay's blocking strategy.
"That'll upset a certain number of users. You tend not to want to attack users," said Rob Enderle, an analyst at Giga Information Group. "If you have a concern, you come up with your own version of AuctionWatch and then you watch everybody else's auction sites as well as your own."
AuctionWatch allows users to monitor auctions on various sites.
eBay has escalated its battle against auction search sites, blocking AuctionWatch.com from listing its auctions.
AuctionWatch said that it had been in discussions with eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) to license its auctions. On Wednesday, it decided against the licensing deal, and eBay rejected a counterproposal.
"We don't think they have anything to license. By signing a licensing deal, that acknowledges they do have property to license," said Dan Neary, vice president of AuctionWatch.
Blockade began Wednesday
eBay confirmed that it was blocking AuctionWatch's servers from its sites, but would not comment further.
Neary said eBay requested the IP addresses for its servers in order to block them, and AuctionWatch has given it those addresses. Neary said two of AuctionWatch's servers were blocked Wednesday at 5 PM PT, and more will be shut down.
Despite having given up the IP addresses, Neary said that AuctionWatch "is going to vigorously fight this process."
"We think we are in full compliance with all applicable laws. This is something that consumers want."
Neary noted that other large auction sites, such as those run by Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), have supported AuctionWatch's listings.
Will users be ticked?
One analyst questioned eBay's blocking strategy.
"That'll upset a certain number of users. You tend not to want to attack users," said Rob Enderle, an analyst at Giga Information Group. "If you have a concern, you come up with your own version of AuctionWatch and then you watch everybody else's auction sites as well as your own."
AuctionWatch allows users to monitor auctions on various sites.
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
Facebook Activity
