Is eBay nuts?

So I'm watching a repeat of Friends on Tuesday evening when I'm interupted by the TV ad slot. I'm hypersensitive to TV ads ever since I read Seth Godin's Permission Marketing, where he differentiates Interuption Marketing (= getting your attention) from Permission Marketing (= offering anticipated, personal and relevant messages).

But even so, I was aghast when the new eBay commercial was shown. Why is eBay advertising on TV? It has little discernable competition. It has immediate and widespread recognition. It's product is simple to use and understand.

What can they be thinking? Do they have a huge marketing budget to burn through this year? Is there anyone out there that has a PC but hasn't heard of eBay? Have the creatives used all the other marketing channels, and TV's turn has come up?

It's not as if eBay has a strong track record in TV ads - they've been panned fairly regularly by the businesss press in the past (check out this example at Business Week).

Why advertise on TV when you have to hand the best adverts of all - happy customers. eBay is driven by its users, from sporadic buyers to power sellers. They do all the marketing eBay could ever need. This TV ad shows bad marketing judgement, profligacy in budget management, and a lack of appreciation of the power of customers.

It's not even a very good ad...