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.

Today eBay officially announced its much-anticipated new service, eBay Express (read the release). From what I can tell (I haven't tried it yet myself), it is essentially a separate site for customers who are looking for new stuff and not only want to skip the auction process, but want to buy from several different sellers all at once. Only "qualified eBay merchants" are allowed to sell from the site. That should provide users some assurance that what they buy will actually arrive and be in the condition they expect.

Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, explained the goal pretty clearly in the release, "eBay Express is for buyers who prefer a more conventional online shopping experience," he said. "We think eBay Express will attract new buyers to eBay and inspire existing buyers to use eBay even more."

I think eBay Express is a good idea and I plan to use it (I'll write about my experience here). But for investors, I want to point out that this is a major new step in eBay's evolution of becoming an e-commerce retailer -- not an auction site.

Here are some quick observations on the significance: