General Motors and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) will kick off their car-selling partnership on Tuesday, according to gm.ebay.com, the website that will serve as the storefront for the program.

Consumers will be able to browse cars offered by GM and either buy them at a fixed price or make an offer and haggle. They will also be able to research financing options and find out whether they qualify for the Cash For Clunkers program. The actual sales and servicing will be handled by individual GM dealerships.

This is the second in a four part series which I hope gives buyers, sellers, shareholders and dare I say, management, a platform for discussion.

Now that I have unloaded Skype from eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) in Tuesday's post (Serious Money: eBay should auction off Skype), it's time to move on to an asset that is not losing money, eBay Motors, but may be of more value to one of its competitors like Carmax (NYSE: KMX) or AutoNation (NYSE: AN).

It might also find a home with Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), its closest competitor in non-automotive categories. There is also the possibility that any number of auto-parts companies like AutoZone Inc (NYSE: AZO) or even the online car referral site Autobytel Inc. (NASDAQ: ABTL) would find eBay Motors a very compelling addition.

The Big Three American automakers might want to compete for this great asset. Since General Motors (NYSE: GM), Ford Motors (NYSE: F) and Chrysler are having difficulty selling new cars, expanding used car sales would be enticing. The problem is they are basically broke and holding on to a thread for dear life. That is not the case for Honda (NYSE: HMC) and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM). Perhaps eBay Motors might find a place in their long term plans.

I'm actually finding the cries of anguish coming from eBay sellers a bit amusing these days. Yes, in my opinion they're getting what they deserve over on eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY).

Why do I say that with a cold-hearted grin you may ask? It's because I did my part so long ago. Yes, we had a seller's strike once before, and it was a pretty damn good one. It didn't work then either, or at least it didn't change any eBay corporate minds in reference to anything that matters.

So now eBay has raised fees again. I don't need to say I told you so, but I did. This time though there's a significant additional angle to the rift. Due to pending changes to eBay's feedback system, sellers could be left defenseless in the face of potential deadbeat buyers, four of which have struck my wife's eBay selling account in the last week. It's great service to eBay's vision and it's easy logic to grasp and accept if you have insight into eBay's plans.

There's a lot of chatter around the blogosphere discussing a formally announced agreement between eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) and General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM). I picked up on the official GM press release at Autoblog.

Here's what I make of it: GM will be placing all of its available GM certified, used car inventory from 3,900 dealers on eBay in the classified ad format. I believe this means that people won't actually be bidding for the cars on eBay, but they will be able to look at them there, and then they will be referred to the dealership that has the car they want. It may be similar to the way Craigslist operates. You know, Craigslist . . . an eBay company.

The GM press release states: "The eBay Motors agreement means that GM Certified dealers will have millions more eyeballs looking at their inventory, and more traffic drives sales," said Mark Mathews, director, GM Used Vehicle Activities. "Teaming with eBay Motors provides shoppers with convenient access to all GM Certified inventory and continues GM Certified's commitment to interactive marketing. We now offer our dealers the most comprehensive program in the industry, listing their inventory on more than 300 websites."

Last time eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) raised fees, at the end of the summer, there was a big uproar from eBay sellers. So much that here at BloggingStocks many of them found a venue to voice their passionate disappointment with eBay. Many debates ensued between eBay investors and eBay sellers, especially Store sellers whose fees have been hiked.

Well, yesterday afternoon eBay raised fees again, but this time it targeted auction listings. Insertion fee for the $1.00 to $9.99 level was raised by 5 cents (from 35c to 40c) and the final value fee for the $25.01 to $1,000.00 level from 3% to 3.25%. eBay Motors fees were also raised. The new fees will go into effect on January 30, 2007. eBay didn't raise its Stores fees or Store Inventory listings.

Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America announced the fee hike. He also gave some data about eBay's holiday season: According to Nielsen/NetRatings, traffic grew by 12% compared to last year during the holiday period (starting Black Friday) "and eBay was shoppers' number one destination that day with an impressive 7.5 million unique visitors." Apparently, eBay was the most visited Internet site on Cyber Monday as well with 5.6 million visitors.

Regarding 2007, Cobb said, "I think you'll find we're taking a surprisingly fresh look at some of the old challenges, and I'm excited about the road ahead."

As an investor, I'm naturally curious to see eBay's "fresh look," and while fee hikes are generally better for the bottom line, I'm also curious to see sellers reaction to these new fees. On the face of it, the fee hike doesn't seem to be that much, but depending on the item price and on the volume a seller does, the hike could amount to a considerable increase.

[Thank you, VC, for the email. Via auctionbytes]