Classified service from Google seems probable

• Google Base will allow users to submit information directly, and the company is also apparently thinking about online sales, says Online Media Daily.
• "The home page, Base.Google.com, was briefly available earlier this week" and, "Although it was quickly taken down, screen shots posted by Google watchers revealed a page with pre-created categories, such as housing, jobs, products, travel, services, vehicles, and want ads, leading to speculation that Google intends to start a classified service".
• Users could post and categorize items and, says the story, the instructions on the site's main page read, "You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base
• based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local."
• A company spokeswoman confirmed the sighting but would only say, "We are testing a new way for content owners to submit their content to Google, which will complement existing methods such as Web crawl and the Google Sitemaps program," says Information Week.
• Bloomberg News says the new Google service would threaten eBay because it would allow users to sell content online.
• Plenty of online auction entrepreneurs have tried to make a dent in eBay's total dominance of Net personal sales, but it still rules in that area and just as important, its PayPal is the top e-payment system.
• However, a Google threat is in another league altogether.
• "The test signals Google's intention to expand further beyond Web search," says Bloomberg.
• Adding online auctions or sales would give Google, "another way to tap its base of 400 million monthly users for revenue," and moreover, "Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said in June that Google was developing a payment service".