San Jose, Calif. – PayPal, eBay Inc.’s online-payment-services division, said it will offer as much as $100 million in holiday rebates and free shipping to fend off competition from Google Inc.
Consumers will receive up to $20 in cash-back rebates from Pay Pal when they make online purchases on eBay.com and certain merchant websites in North America, San Jose, Calif.-based PayPal said Monday in announcing the biggest promotion in its eight-year history. The rebates run from Nov. 23 through May 15.
PayPal’s promotion shows how eBay chief executive Meg Whitman is trying to lift online-payment revenue while warding off Google’s Checkout payment-processing service that also offers discounts. Google’s program debuted in October.
“This is not an event that impacts eBay’s numbers,” said Scott Dev itt, a Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst in Baltimore. “But strategically, it’s worth watching if Google makes Checkout an initiative.”
Devitt rates eBay as a “buy.”
