The week got off to a shaky start in the wake of several earnings disappointments, thus a lot of attention will be paid to Amazon (NASDQ: AMZN) when it reports its second quarter numbers this afternoon after the market closes.

Analysts are looking to see Amazon show earnings of 26 cents per share, and revenue of $3.96 billion. The last time that the company reported earnings was April 23, when be itat analysts' estimates by 2 pennies, with a reported 34 cents per share for its first quarter.

It has definitely been a tough couple of months for retailers, but we could see some strength in Amazon as a result of changes it made during the quarter which allows users to shop the store from their cell phones via its new service TextBuyIt.

Those who cannot drive are going online. Cruising to the mall, if it is 20 or 30 miles away, is no longer a cheap trip. With gas at $4 a gallon, some potential shoppers may not go to the mall at all.

Thank goodness for the internet. More and more people are getting online to buy the things they need. In an economy where many people feel poor, the average online shopper may not be spending big, but he is spending.

According to The New York Times, retailers "are experiencing double-digit sales growth at their shopping Web sites, creating a surprising bright spot during an otherwise gloomy time for sales in brick-and-mortar stores." The paper adds that Gap (NYSE: GPS) "had an 11 percent decline in same-store sales in the first quarter, but a 21 percent increase in online sales."

While the news is a silver lining, it probably does little to save the earnings of large retailers. Internet sales are still a relatively small portion of total revenue for companies that have to support the real estate and personnel costs at significant numbers of large stores. E-commerce traffic may lift numbers a bit, but they do not bring down the expense base that represents most of the problem for retail profitability.

Until the internet sales are 15% or 20% of total sales for a company like Gap, investors should not look at online revenue as a reason to buy retail stocks.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Back in January, e-commerce giant eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) announced some very controversial changes to the site that led to an uproar and seller boycotts within the eBay community. One of the most controversial changes was the decision to remove sellers' ability to leave negative feedback on the buyers, and this change is slated to start this upcoming Monday.

The decision to remove the sellers feedback has led to many eBay sellers finding alternative e-commerce sites to sell their goods, and those who remained are very worried about the impact this decision will have on their business. Sellers insist that the feedback is crucial in sifting through the large amount of buyers that give sellers hassle during transactions, but eBay feels that the change will benefit everyone on the site and prevent sellers from leaving retaliatory ratings for buyers.

The two sides just cannot see eye to eye on this one. Sellers insist that the feedback system allows the site to have a better buying community, while eBay believes that the changes are "really to make sure that we've got buyer accountability and seller accountability."

Shares of the online auction site eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) have been surging today after positive remarks from Banc of America Securities analyst Brian J. Pitz, who stated that the company is on track for a "solid" first quarter to the year.

Pitz made his remarks after analyzing the company's recent proprietary listings and conversion rate tracking data. As a result of his findings, Pitz gives the stock a price target of $38, and lifted his revenue forecast for the quarter from $2.03 billion up to $2.08 billion. This is slightly higher than the $2.06 billion that Wall Street is expecting to see, and as a result shares of the e-commerce giant have surged 5% today to $30.96, and hit a high earlier in the session up at $31.21.

eBay has been in the news a lot lately, but for the most part, it has not been positive. The company has been fighting off speculation that a seller's strike late last month that extended into the first week of March had had any material impact on the site's listing numbers. Some have argued that the strike led to a 13% drop in product listings, but eBay has adamantly denied any impact what-so-ever, and instead has insisted that a promotion that ran right before the strike had artificially inflated product listing numbers that were used to compute the strike's effectiveness.

If nothing else... eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) users are a feisty bunch. After just coming off a multi-week sellers strike, they are already planning their next revolt, tentatively set to launch May 1.

The most recent strike was orchestrated in reaction to recent changes made on the site and lasted from the week of Feb. 18 through last night. While eBay is steadfast that the recent site boycott had no effect on its business, not everyone is buying that, and are anticipating hitting the site again come May.

Some statistics have shown that eBay witnessed a 13% drop in its online listings, but eBay denies any impact. The site claims that the statistics out there are not taking into account a 20-cent listings promotion that it had launched just prior to the boycott that temporarily inflated its auction listings.

Some investors/readers probably are not aware that the internet -- critical as it is today for commercial activities and the flow of information -- was not designed to handle the volume and complexity of today's web tasks. Moreover, the appearance of internet traffic jams created an opportunity for Akamai Technologies.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) solutions accelerate and improve the delivery of internet content and applications.

Analysts like Akamai's broad 1,800-member customer base, including many blue-chip companies. Further, analysts also like the fact that AKAM has continued to deliver material revenue increases and earnings gains, despite expansion/infrastructure investments.

Further, the consensus among analysts is that 28,000-server Akamai will continue to have a competitive advantage in its key business segments for at least the next two years. The Reuters F2008/F2009 EPS consensus estimates for AKAM are $1.68/$2.04.

One source of contention among eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) users have always been that the company does not listen, or least hear, their concerns. Well, the company is hoping to change that when it launches a new blog next month, "eBay Ink.", which will be manned by social media veteran Richard Brewer-Hay.

Fortune Small Business was able to take a crack at Brewer-Hay and ask him the tough questions that many eBay users are bound to be asking themselves. It was a pretty interesting read to be sure, and according to Brewer-Hay his new blog will be completely his words with absolutely no control by eBay itself.

eBay has definitely been under fire lately. The e-commerce giant has been accused of losing touch with its users, and acting more out of greed than anything else. The company is hoping that this new blog will give users a more direct look into the internal operations and decisions by the company. While eBay currently has blogs and forums for its users to use, these are more geared towards more traditional corporate communications.

These are definitely some interesting times for e-commerce mega site eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY). In the past few weeks, the site has been under attack from some of its sellers who have launched a strike against the site in response to recent changes. While eBay denies any impact from the strike, there are some out there who just aren't buying it.

At the root of the current situation are changes made by eBay over the past month that have left its users frustrated to say the least. The core reason for the frustration relates to eBay's decision to lower its listing fees but at the same time raise its final sale fees. This is being seen as a direct slap in the face to the site's more successful sellers. Also adding to the current resentment is the decision to hold certain PayPal payments by up to 21 days in an effort to fight fraudulent activity on the site. As if those two things were not enough, the site went forward in changing its practice of allowing sellers to leave negative feedback on buyers.

As you can imagine, sellers were not happy and launched a sellers' strike that they hoped would convince the company to roll back their changes. Depending on who you listen to, the strike has either had a significant impact on auction listings, or no effect whatsoever.

Despite some conflicting reports that indicate that the current sellers strike on eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) has led to a 13% decline in product listings, eBay claims that the strike has had no effect on its listings.

According to company spokesmen Usher Lieberman, the company definitely "didn't feel an impact from the strike." While sellers have hoped that the current boycott would lead to the reversal of the latest fee changes, Lieberman has declared that no changes will be made.

So now we are basically in posturing mode between eBay and its sellers. The sellers have decided to extend the strike another week in hopes that eBay will reconsider its decision. My advice to the sellers: don't hold your breath. Even if eBay does start to feel some pain from the strike, chances are low that it will give in.

Last week I wrote a couple pieces on the current seller strike over at e-commerce giant eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY). The strike was supposed to last until today, but now it has been extended another week. Initial data is showing that the current eBay strike has lowered the items listed for sale on the site by an impressive 13%, so you can be sure that eBay is paying attention.

As most of you are already aware, the current strike is the result of frustrations by eBay users over a couple new changes that the site has introduced. While the site lowered its initial listing fees for items, it raised its completion fees. This has been seen by power sellers as a direct attack on the more successful eBay sellers. In addition, eBay has decided to keep sellers from leaving negative feedback on buyers, a move that has infuriated sellers who claim that feedback is their best defense in avoiding dead-beat bidders. The final straw came in the decision to hold certain PayPal payments for up to 21 days.

The strike, which started last week, has had a couple of impacts on the e-commerce world. One result that I examined last week, was the increase in traffic and users to some smaller e-commerce sites that historically have had a hard time breaking into some of eBay coveted traffic. Now we are starting to see just how hard the strike has been hitting eBay itself. According to reports, the site has seen a 13% drop in its auction listings.

For the past several years, eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) has pretty much cornered the market for online auctions. It has created such large barriers of entry, that smaller sites have difficulty breaking into the market. But this week's seller boycott on eBay has opened the door for some smaller companies.

We took a look earlier this week at the reasons behind the current eBay strike. We made note at that time, that some of your bigger name competitors, such as Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) were going to be capitalizing on the sellers' strike, but now we are also starting to hear about gains made in some smaller companies that you may have never heard of before.

In a recent article from Seattle Post-Intelligencer, two Washington-based companies said they have been loving all the negative attention that eBay has been receiving as of late.

If you are one of the upset eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) sellers who has decided to boycott the popular e-commerce site this week, don't think that you have to lose a whole week's worth of business. eBay's competitor Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) is looking to reel in your business.

In case you missed it, eBay has definitely been ruffling the feathers of its users with the company's newly announced rate changes, and its sellers have decided to join forces and boycott the site all this week. Well, one site's misfortune could be another site's gain, as Overstock.com is trying to lure in disgruntled eBay users by offering them up to 50% off initial listing fees all this week.

While Overstock is officially claiming that the promotion falling during the eBay strike was just a coincidence, you really have to wonder how much truth there is in that. With eBay users showing their disgust over the new fee schedule this wekk, it seems like perfect timing for competitor Overstock.com to jump in and offer such a hefty discount. You can find more of the promotional offer details as laid out on the overstock website.

The choppy/consolidating (or perhaps worse) market conditions sometimes give the impression that growth plays do not exist, but that is not the case, and one growth company worth reviewing is Vasco Data Security. (Note: Vasco is only for investors who can tolerate high-risk.)

Vasco Data Security International, Inc. (Nasdaq: VDSI) designs, develops, markets, and supports patented user authentication products.

Analysts like Vasco's security tokens, handheld devices, and related software used for authenticating a person's identity to computer networks. VACMAN Controller serves the banking and e-commerce markets, while VACMAN Middleware provides user authentication to existing Radius based environments.

The U.S economy may be in for a period of sluggishness (we hope it's just cyclical sluggishness), but the internet continues its growth ramp, and with this in mind, ValueClick is worth an evaluation

ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) is one of the world's largest and most diversified online marketing services companies.
Analysts see 2008 revenue increasing 15-20% following a likely 15-17% rise in 2007, as the internet continues to grab an increasing share of marketing budgets. Analysts also expect VCLK to add to its corporate customer base.

Meanwhile, the company's revenue mix remains favorable, and operating margins appear to have bottomed in 2007. Further, there's ample room for VCLK to broaden its international footprint. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for VCLK are $0.71/$0.83.

When we took a look at eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY)'s fourth-quarter earnings last night, we also made note that long-time CEO Meg Whitman would be stepping down, to be replaced by John Donahoe. We wondered what changes Mr. Donahoe would be bringing to his new position, and some of those answers have come quicker than we expected, as Donahoe has already announced a few changes that we can expect to see.

One thing consistently on the mind of eBay users is the website's fee structures. Since last year, users have been openly voicing their disappointment with what they consider to be abnormally high selling fees, and it seems like Donahoe will quickly look to address these concerns.

Donahoe said that within a few weeks, we will be seeing a brand new fee structure from eBay. In response to what users are demanding, eBay is planning to lower its upfront listing fees, but at the same time will be raising final selling fees. These final fees are only paid once an item has been successfully sold, and I am sure that users will not like to hear this too much, but they should be happy to hear that the initial listing fees are going to be reduced.