Groupon may not turn out to be the next eBay according to our own Mike Arrington, but the social buying site is on a veritable tear. Coincidentally, the latest Internet giant to partner with the ecommerce startup is … eBay.
While arguably symbolic, the deal – which we predicted was going to happen when we covered the Yahoo-Groupon acquisition rumors – doesn’t go as deep as one might suspect.
For now, the agreement spans a co-marketing incentive whereby US-based eBay customers can sign up for Groupon deals on groupon.ebay.com and earn 5% back in eBay Bucks, the ecommerce juggernaut’s free rewards program.
Groupon closed a similar affiliate deal with Ning last week.
We’ll have to wait and see if these disitrbution partnerships grow into something more meaningful over time.
Groupon is currently live in more than 100 North American markets and running nearly 200 deals per day; eBay for one says it will use geolocation to determine the closest deal for each user.