There was a heated discussion on auction chat boards/forums this week about eBay's announced relationship with Keen.com. Keen.com describes itself as "the Live Answer Community, where people with questions talk to people with answers over the telephone." People "with answers" charge money for those answers.
Most people wondered why eBay would send people away from its site, when the eBay forums are full of experts who will share their expertise for free! Troy Wolverton, who reports on online auction news for CNET, wrote an interesting piece found at http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-1813162.html.
PS: there are many "expert" sites: Abuzz.com, Arzoo.com, Ask.com, Deja.com, Epinions.com, Exp.com, Infomarkets.com, Inforockets.com, Keen.com - and some are free. But I still believe the best place to start researching an item is on the forums on eBay!