Analysts from Cowen and Company attended the 3rd Annual Internet Merchants Association (IMA) Conference in Las Vegas this month. They found seller sentiment on eBay remains extremely negative, including widespread skepticism of the company's recently announced turnaround plan. Sellers reported that the eBay channel is under performing while the Amazon channel appears to be holding up quarter-to-date.

"We continue to expect eBay's core marketplaces business to remain under pressure due to competition from Amazon, Google, and other alternative marketing channels," according to the Cowen and Company research report authored by Jim Friedland and Kevin Kopelman.

"The intensity of the criticism and frustration with the eBay channel has increased meaningfully over the past two years. We were also surprised to find that a number of online retailers have completely abandoned the eBay platform. We did not hear this in 2008 or 2007 at the conference." This may be having a negative effect on the variety of listings on eBay as it continues to advantage larger sellers.

While most attendees reported using Google Base/Product Search, most were not focused on the purchase of Google AdWords. And while merchants are not currently planning to drop Google Checkout following the recent fee increases, they are likely to hurt future Google Checkout adoption by online retailers.

http://www.cowen.com