eBay is set to announce earnings on Wednesday, and some are also expecting an announcement of some changes to its fee structure. Last year, sellers protested the increases eBay made to some of its fees that took effect in February 2005, including the raising of commission fees for eBay Store items. eBay had announced the fee changes a week before announcing fourth quarter earnings for 2004. This year, rumors have eBay announcing fee changes the same day it announces earnings.

After last year's hue-and-cry over fee increases, President of eBay North America Bill Cobb said he would do a better job of communicating with sellers. Cobb is scheduled to participate in an eBay Town Hall event on January 26, 2006 at 2pm PT (http://pages.ebay.com/townhall).

Adding to the anticipation over earnings and possible fee changes is an eBay gathering scheduled for this week. eBay is assembling an unknown number of top sellers to its hometown of San Jose for an invitation-only meeting January 17 - 19. Some sellers, who will be attending, told AuctionBytes that eBay has not disclosed the nature of the meeting, which eBay has dubbed "Ecommerce Forum 2006" on the registration page. One seller said he was looking for candid conversation to take place, not a PowerPoint slide presentation. He hoped the meeting would focus on things to benefit high-volume sellers, though he did not expect eBay to announce discounts for high-volume sellers.

http://www.ecommerceforum2006.com