Trading volume is brisk and share price is up, just hours ahead of today's Q3 earnings release expected from eBay (EBAY). The earnings call is scheduled for just after today's close, with company guidance suggesting a result of 37 cents per share on revenue of $2.18 billion. Those numbers are slightly off previous year Q3 results of 38 cents per share on revenue of $2.24 billion.

My question is, will eBay still be a buy after the coming earnings release? My answer is, absolutely.

It's quite a statement to say that one retailer will rule the entire online retail world, but that's just what retailing behemoth Walmart (WMT) has tried to say (and failed to accomplish) in recent years.

Internet retailer Amazon.com (AMZN) has blown away every other online retailer in terms of sales, product breadth and customer service. Why can't the brick-and-mortar folks keep up? As usual, the first-to-market is ruling the landscape. Amazon.com won't be toppled by Walmart in online sales ever, no matter how much money the world's largest physical retailer pours into its online operations.

You probably wouldn't believe just how much I think about eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY). You could say I'm obsessed with the company and you'd be right but it's more than just a fixation for me. It's as if eBay has taken up a part of my very being. I spend several hours a day thinking about ways to improve that company. People think I hate eBay because I express disdain for the current management profile over there. I don't hate eBay. I dislike the way it's being run, all the while maintaining that eBay is my baby.

There are some wild and outlandish things that I think eBay could do in pursuit of reestablishing its growth cycle. You see, like it or not, eBay is slowing down. Personally I'm not surprised by that but I think this stalling phase has come upon eBay much too early. Yes, eBay is stalling way too early ... early by a decade.

Gone are the days of holiday shopping in crowded malls and retail stores, it's all about point-n-click these days. Well, at least somewhat. With there still only being 24 hours in a single day and more stuff than ever to keep us all busy, online shopping is turning into a mainstream mode of buying products and services for people globally. Online shopping has been around for a while, you might say. You're right but in Britain, online shopping is expected to explode even further, tripling by 2011 according to a new survey.

Will that prediction come true in the U.S.?

Hard to tell, but online spending is speeding up by all measurements. Although the social aspect of shopping in person has quite a bit of weight behind it, online shopping is more conducive to the "time" variable these days since we have less of it than ever before. There are some retail purchases that will always require a personal visit -- but for quite a bit of shopping, nothing beats the convenience (and sales tax avoidance, if that's your thing) of online shopping.

One area that still has not taken off in the U.S. is food retailing over the web. Sure, you can buy quite a few items from Amazon's grocery section, but the experience is nothing like grocery shopping in person and fresh items like produce and meat aren't offered. Once that can be duplicated and the logistics can work -- which is a COO's nightmare -- nationwide online grocery shopping may become a reality. In my world, that's one of the last bastions left standing right now that still has not been fully attacked.