Is it damage control or genuine sincerity? That's the question many eBay users are asking themselves today after eBay North America President Bill Cobb announced a small cut in listing fees, a store subscription rebate and major customer service changes on Sunday.

Smaller eBay Store owners have made it clear they are unhappy about a Jan. 12 announcement that basic store subscription fees are being raised from $9.95 per month to $15.95 and a variety of listing and Final Value Fees (FVF) are also being raised, effective Feb. 18. Besides thousands of negative online forum postings, an online petition asking the San Jose, CA-based auction giant to reconsider its new pricing structure has gathered more than 23,000 signatures since mid-January.

Acknowledging user frustration with eBay's customer support services, Cobb said the most of the company's automated response systems will be shut down within 90 days in favor of 'real' email responses to users' questions.

"eBay has a fantastic Customer Support team, but Meg (Whitman, eBay's CEO) and I agree we haven't invested enough in giving our CS reps the flexibility and tools they need to really take care of you. You'll hear from a human being who will try to help you with your problem or question right off the bat. We will only use auto responses to acknowledge receipt of spam or policy violation reports," said Cobb.

“As a seller on eBay for over 8 years now, I can say that I've rarely seen eBay do a single thing to help put more money in seller's pockets, while they have always focused on doing things to put more money in eBay's own pockets. Sellers are squeezed tighter and tighter with increasing fees and eBay's attempts to lower final values for items on it's site. This new announcement is more of the same.” —"toyranch" eBay customer

Cobb also announced that, beginning April 1, all eBay Store owners will have acces to phone support. Currently, only Silver, Gold, Platinum and Titanium level Power Sellers have access to eBay phone support.

Given the volume of negative responses on various Web forums, including eBay's, however, many users aren't taking this olive branch gesture very seriously.

Michele Gregory, who sold children's clothing on her eBay Store, is skeptical of eBay's intentions.

"I guess the phrase 'Too little, too late' is a bit of an understatement," she said on Monday.

"This is simply damage control. A five-cent reduction on the lowest listing fee tier is ridiculous. Who in their right mind lists anything for under a dollar anymore with sell-through rates dropping like stones? And with all their billing glitches, I have zero confidence that this 'free month' will be pulled off without a hitch. Too late anyway, as I have already closed my store," said Gregory.

Gregory said she is moving her business over to Wagglepop in the near future.

While it was difficult to find any positive comments about Sunday's announcement, eBay user candysbookthongs said she's taking a wait and see attitude.

"Kudos to eBay for its most recent attempts. I know it will feel like placating to many, trying to get all those angry (users) to calm down, I think eBay is in a lose-lose situation with all the angry sellers. Anything they do now may, and probably will not, be received well," she said.

"But, it's an attempt and since I wasn't angry to begin with (don't get me wrong - I do not want to pay higher fees and I'm not happy about that!) I can accept the olive branch well enough and am happy to see this type of effort... Not just a small announcement about lowered fees, but a letter from Bill and (hopefully) some concrete change," she added.

Sellers mostly skeptical

Jennifer Abdelwahed, who along with her husband sells foreign currency and collectibles on eBay, said she was disappointed with Cobb's letter because she felt his motivation was to improve eBay's stock price instead of help the site's user community.

eBay's stock has dropped precipitously since late December, from a 52-week high of $118.42 to around $75 today.

"I'm just glad to see that the stance that we small sellers are taking is having the desired effect upon the 800 pound gorilla and making him take notice of us. I don't think that eBay planned for this many sellers and buyers to group together and take a stand," said Abdelwahed.

"As far as the perks...they are not worth it to me. For me to get the benefit of one months store fees, I would have to pay that same fee for 2 months. Also, for the reduction of insertion fees, that's laughable. I don't know of very many small sellers who can afford to let something go for $.99 or less just to save a nickel. I'm seeing this as eBay's way to try to look better in the media so that they can save face and say, 'Hey we are offering you a deal, why won't you take it?,'" she added.

Another eBay store owner, who asked that her name not be published and who closed her eBay Store last week, said the new fees only assist "extremely high volume sellers or others who do not have a bottom line to consider." She said the average seller, and the majority of sellers adversely affected by the fee increase, cannot start listings at or below .99.

“eBay has a fantastic Customer Support team, but Meg (Whitman, eBay's CEO) and I agree we haven't invested enough in giving our CS reps the flexibility and tools they need to really take care of you.” —Bill Cobb President, eBay North America

"This announcement was released in order to do damage control in the hopes that the media would not understand its contents and report the impact inaccurately," she said. "In addition, the phone support offered up to store owners is no great asset. Just ask any Power Seller who has had access to phone support for years. Ask them about the average hold time or ask them if they are able to speak with anyone at eBay who can provide them with accurate and helpful information. That is part of the whole global eBay problem: untrained and unknowledgeable staff," said the store owner.

She added that the recent fee increase is not reason alone why many people are abandoning eBay.

"The problem is, and has always been, that fee increases have historically not been spent to correct existing problems," she said.

The owner cited frequent billing issues, site stability, third party advertising banners slowing down search results and the "suspend accounts first, and ask questions later" approach to fraud prevention as just some of the issues users routinely complain to eBay about.

In fact, eBay pre-billed store owners for the higher subscription rate on their February invoices instead of the March invoices - a mistake eBay acknowledged on Feb. 3.

In a posting on eBay's Store Owners forum on Sunday, power seller "toyranch" said Cobb's announcement is another reason he wants to leave eBay.

"As a seller on eBay for over 8 years now, I can say that I've rarely seen eBay do a single thing to help put more money in seller's pockets, while they have always focused on doing things to put more money in eBay's own pockets. Sellers are squeezed tighter and tighter with increasing fees and eBay's attempts to lower final values for items on it's site. This new announcement is more of the same. The fees for items listed under 99 cents are being reduced. Whooptie Doo! I'm sure sellers who list CD's for a penny are happy," said toyranch.

"As a buyer on eBay, I am very dismayed at the new fee increases. I frequently find good buys in new BIN (Buy It Now) listings, and those will be reduced considerably. Also, the gallery is going up and now it will be much harder to shop on eBay," he added. "Adding phone support is great in theory, but not at the price. eBay already lost me as a seller, and now eBay is about to lose me as a buyer as well," he added.

Cobb did not respond to an interview request by press time.

Devin Comiskey is the Managing Editor for ECommerce-Guide.com