Members of the Internet Merchants Association (IMA) say the Board of Directors and the Ethics Committee butted heads in recent days. The organization is composed of eBay and online sellers. Some members say the tensions began when the Board overruled the committee's decision in an ethics matter and failed to act transparently, and a few have said they believe the group may be in danger of disbanding.

Suzanne Hallam of aGenius-Marketing.com wrote about the incident on her blog, writing that she had been "recent Chairman of Ethics and Moderation for one of the trade groups dealing with internet commerce and ebay sellers," a reference to IMA. In the post, Hallam wrote that "things were done in the back room and not reported to the members."

IMA Vice President and Board member Ben Mandell said there had been an issue involving ethics and that the Board made a decision to overrule the Ethics Committee (which serves at the pleasure of the Board, he said) in order to make sure everyone was treated equally and fairly.

The Board has more experience in making tougher decisions, said Mandell, and the Ethics committee was not as experienced. He could not confirm or deny whether IMA President Steve Grossberg had been suspended, saying all ethics matters remain private and confidential. But, he said, any member that does something wrong, whether they are President or Board member, would be suspended.

It's ironic that the current tensions at IMA revolve around transparency issues. The IMA was formed in 2006 by several members of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA) who had a problem with what they said was a lack of transparency on the part of the PESA board. PESA had similarly experienced internal turmoil in July 2004 and nearly disbanded until Scott Samuel (Honesty, Ethical) allegedly helped to broker a deal that gave PESA's founder Joe Cortese a lifetime role as Chairman and permanent board member of the organization.

IMA Board member Larry Phillips said he was restricted from speaking publicly about Board matters, but said his intent was to "ensure the continuance of the IMA," a sentiment echoed by other members contacted.