I'm surprised that it was allowed to buy into a venture with Tom Online all the way up to 49%, but I'm glad it did. It is now in a position to enter the China platform in a way that it has pursued since 1999 and it can do it successfully with backing and support from people who know the lay of the land. I do imagine that whoever got this change pushed through had to employ a significant amount of fist to the table dialog in order to accomplish it. I'd like to meet that person someday.

The next thing I need to see from eBay is in regard to the effects on their domestic operations by Chinese intervention. It is my opinion that some manner of severance and equalization needs to be accomplished between domestic sales offerings and the ever uglier flood of eBay subsidized Chinese competition. I'm not saying that eBay shouldn't allow Chinese merchants to offer their merchandise through an eBay platform. What I'm saying is that the incredible influx of Chinese produced goods onto eBay North America by non domestic retailers since August 2006 is destroying what eBay was. If the changes in the site dynamic are acceptable to eBay management then I guess my point is useless. However, based on what I'm seeing over there, the site is having significant trouble brought on by the continued displacement of small scale domestic retailers. I'm very eager to see how fourth-quarter 2006 revenue stacks up against the third quarter and against fourth quarter 2005. If eBay management hasn't felt the ground rumbling, I think they're going to very soon. Dollars and public sentiment shall soon tell the story. Shall Meg Whitman and her entourage get yet another reprieve in expectation of a turnaround? Personally, I sure hope not.

Would it be too presumptuous of me to say that eBay could be saved by taking the Tom Online joint venture one step further? I think the next natural move should be to bring Tom Online stateside in an English version. Then I think we should sever the eBay North America / China connection, give some relief to our servers and maintain a separate China portal serviced from their end. We should allow China to market directly through the familiar platform they have built and give eBay back to the people who love it. Let's put some competition back into the equation. If you're looking to make some growth happen, I think that's one good way to create a bunch of it. But of course, eBay never asked me for my opinion, or at least when I've given it, I've just been whistling to the wind.