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Dear eBay Community Member,

An important part of any business strategy is the regular evaluation of pricing structure. From time to time, we make pricing changes to correct unhealthy dynamics in the eBay marketplace, as was the case last July. Typically, however, we make changes on an annual basis at the beginning of the year.

Today, I'm here to tell you about fee adjustments for eBay.com and eBay Motors which go into effect on January 30, 2007.

Let me say that, while we believe these changes are modest, we consider any changes that may impact our sellers with great care. These adjustments are the result of careful analysis and we believe they're the right thing to do to keep the marketplace strong for our eBay.com and eBay Motors sellers.

To learn more about each of these changes, I invite you to read our Frequently Asked Questions and our eBay Fees Help page. (To learn more about Canada fee adjustments, please check the Announcement Board for eBay.ca.)

A Successful Online Holiday Shopping Season
As I've said many times, one of our most important jobs here at eBay is ensuring that we're driving buyers to the site. This online holiday shopping season was a big success, and I want to acknowledge the outstanding efforts this last quarter from our marketing team led by Gary Briggs. Our integrated «IT» campaign performed well for the second year in a row, reaching our targeted shoppers an average of 13 times per person.

In fact, according to Nielsen NetRatings, overall traffic to online shopping sites on the day after Thanksgiving (known as «Black Friday») grew 12% from last year–and eBay was the number one shopping destination that day with an impressive 7.5 million unique visitors. But the good news didn't stop there. This momentum continued through the weekend to «Cyber Monday» (the Monday after Thanksgiving), which has become associated with peak online holiday shopping activity. I'm pleased to report that Nielsen declared eBay the most visited Internet site that day, too, with 5.6 million visitors.

Of course, our shelves need to be well-stocked when the buyers arrive, so these results are testament to the partnership we have with our dedicated sellers. We can all be proud of our joint success in pleasing shoppers with whatever «IT» was this season.

More to come in 2007
Looking ahead at the new year, it's never been more important that eBay deliver value through our marketing investments, product initiatives, and Trust & Safety strategies. Times have changed from 11 years ago when we were a small innovative idea on the Internet. Quite frankly, some of the problems demanding our attention are more complex. But what inspires me every morning–and what I hope inspires you, too–is that the opportunities for eBay and its Community to succeed by celebrating what makes us unique have never been greater.

Later this month, I'll be addressing a group of eBay sellers who will be here in person in the San Jose area, and I'll be sharing some of our plans and priorities for the coming year. My keynote speech will be available via a recorded Webcast for our whole Community (more details will be available soon) and we'll be following the event with more announcements on specific initiatives. 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.

On behalf of everyone at eBay, I wish you all a very Happy New Year.

Sincerely,