Forbes: Google Gunning For EBay?

Forbes:

When Google began testing a payment system in February for Google Base, its virtual catalog product, Internet pundits assumed the company was moving ahead with efforts to go head-to-head with eBay, the online marketplace giant. Not so, Google executives claimed.

That’s standard operating procedure for team Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ), which is constantly rolling out new products while insisting they are not meant to compete with established players. But in this case, the company may be more ingenious.

While it is clear that Google intends Base to be a place where sellers and buyers can meet to conduct business, the real value for the company may not be in creating competition for eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ). Instead, it appears as if the company is trying to extend its core advertising business, the source of almost all of the $6.2 billion in revenue the company racked up last year.