Bill Burnham post on Walled Gardens brings up some issues which are taking place in the market. Currently users are moving away from Walled Gardens towards free alternatives or to publishing packages suited more for their needs.
The way things are going now is that ebay and similar sites will go threw some hurting times as the people who prefer free listings or cheaper ones. That does not mean ebay will simply die out as there will aways be a demand for paid services where there are free ones. Has
The Village Voice brought the end to
New York Times
There is a free bus in Halifax, Nova Scotia called Fred, though it may cut into taxi cabs business it does not stop those who want or need a cab. Just like a free bus will not destroy the cab business a free listing site will not destory ebay. Ebay has all ready made its direction clear by cutting out the lower paying customers and will most likely improve services to suit the ones who stay.
Human nature does not change much over the course of time and what we are seeing on the Internet is the market re-balancing its self tell the pendulum swings the other way again.
Bill Burnham on rss and google
The Walled Garden “Hit List” 
