eBay Gives a Dime

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How well are things going for eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) these days? Let's just say that all day today, most of the site's new auctions will run the lister an insertion fee of just 10 cents. Yes, auction insertion fees, which can run as low as $0.30 to as much as $4.80 for each item put up on the virtual block, will be marked down to a dime through midnight.

Now before you think that eBay is resorting to desperate measures to drum up new business, let's explain that the world's leading auctioneer usually sets aside a day after Christmas as a free listing day. It's been doing that for years. The fact that that freebie is now being marked up by a dime is actually bold. Truth be told, it's also brilliant.

If your item sells, eBay will still collect its final value fee. So it's not as if it were a giveaway, even when it was marked down to nil. But after the company initiated a price hike earlier this year and didn't skip a beat, the popular site didn't even need to turn to this one-day year-end sale just for tradition's sake.

Another factor here is that the free listings brought a lot of noise into the trading network. Folks would list unmarketable items at unrealistic prices because all it cost was time. That had to be upsetting to the site's regulars who suddenly found themselves competing against a wave of preposterous auctions. Then again, since eBay successfully sold off Bryan Adams' sweaty socks for charity earlier this month and a grilled cheese sandwich with the likeness of the Virgin Mary back in November, one has to wonder what can't be traded away on the site.

While eBay isn't the only auction site out there -- everyone from Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) to Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) has tried to make it work -- it's where the bidders and sellers flock to because they can count on the other side showing up, as well.

I'll admit to having taken advantage of the free listing day to move unused domain names and wares that I no longer find appealing yet I still believe are marketable. So will I be participating in the wave of new listings today? Frankly my dear, I do give a dime.

What's the oddest thing that you have ever seen on the eBay auction block? Do you have anything that you would like to move today, given the site's dime insertion fee? All this and more -- in the eBay discussion board. Only on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a satisfied eBay user and he's ready with a roll of dimes in his pocket. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story and he is a member of the Rule Breakers analytical team, seeking out the next great growth stock early in its defiance.