eBay underwrites print outreach

Seeking to reach new audiences, eBay is paying 25% of an eBay seller’s ad in a print newspaper, magazine, catalog or newsletter. (Via Auctionbytes.com)

The Perfect Store, a recently published history of eBay, suggests that print marketing flops for online auctioneers. Times Mirror launched Auction Universe against eBay in 1997 with full-page ads in the LA Times, Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant and Long Island Newsday. “The company’s internal projection was that the ads would generate at least 35,000 new registered users. In fact, they produced just 200.”