eBay and Google make up. Kinda

After falling out rather publically ten days ago, eBay announced on Friday that it would resume using Google's AdWords, though in a lesser capacity than previously. The auction giant plans to explore using other ad services to make up the difference.

Things kicked off two weeks ago when Google planned a party event designed to woo eBay users to Google Checkout, the chief rival to eBay-owned PayPal. On the same evening as eBay's annual merchant's conference.

In retaliation, eBay withdrew from Google AdWords. While Google makes billions from its text-based advertising, eBay has been its single largest spender - reportedly US$25 million a year.

The move was spun as an "experiment" - an exercise if you will, designed to measure the impact of the program by pausing all activity to see what would happen.

"The major takeaway is that we aren't as dependent on Google AdWords as we thought," said Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay. Despite this, the company has resumed advertising with Google, though at a lower spend than before. Additional budget will be diverted to the likes of Yahoo, MSN and AOL.

What's your take - just a stunt or a serious issue? Do you think eBay should open payment up for its users to include Google Checkout alongside PayPal? Share your 2p in our Forums, where we welcome all forms of currency.