eBay has officially rebranded its shopping comparison site shopping.com as the eBay Commerce Network.

Adding up

In August 2005 eBay purchased shopping.com for US $620 million and since then has largely let the site operate independently. The strategy has worked: shopping.com reaches over 250 million consumers every month in markets including the United States, Australia and Europe.

However eBay wants shopping.com to be even bigger, and in a blog post explained the new branding reflects shopping.com's evolution from a single-destination comparison site to a robust commerce network.

“To keep pace with the changing nature of buying and shopping, the eBay Commerce Network has evolved into an active commerce ad network capable of connecting retailers with buyers at any stage of the shopping experience – from awareness to purchase,” the company wrote.

Merchants and publishers

This means the eBay Commerce Network is aiming to attract more merchants, who in exchange for placing listings and ads will gain access to the network's partner sites including eBay, Bing and CNET.

This positions the eBay Commerce Network as a central hub for campaigns that can be pushed out to a range of partners and third-party publishers.

It also indirectly puts the new network in competition with Google Shopping.

eBay expanding

Over the past 12 months eBay has introduced a range of new functionality beyond buying and selling, much the same way Amazon evolved from selling books.

Recent additions to eBay's offering include same day shipping with eBay Now and a move to becoming a mobile payments platform.

With the eBay Commerce Network the company is opening up another revenue stream and potentially cornering the lucrative online shopping ad space.

To learn more visit ebaycommercenetwork.com.

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