What if you held a protest and nobody noticed? Unfortunately it happens all the time. And while a group of eBay sellers who are protesting eBay's new fees are getting some media attention for their week-long boycott, the truth is that it's hard to findy any real impact on the auction site.

The boycott launched on Monday, and according to Fortune Small Business, eBay listings are down just 3%. That might sound like a substantial figure until you realize that it means there are 14 million items listed for auction, down from 14.5 million a few days earlier.

Those figures come from third party services, while eBay officials tell Fortune that there's been no noticeable impact at all. And even if there was an impact, would it make any real difference? eBay is still the biggest name in online auctions, and even if the site isn't the seller's paradise it once was, it's still the go-to spot for buyers. So while sellers may be able to stage a one week protest, we're guessing they're going to wind up returning to the service soon with no choice but to put up with higher fees.

While eBay isn't the only online auction site around, it doesn't face very serious competition from any other service, so while there's pressure to increase revenue, there's little pressure to stay competitive with Amazon Marketplace or other rival services.

[via Silicon Alley Insider]

Want to sell some old junk lying around the house on eBay, but don't feel like putting up with listing fees? The company has announced plans to cut listing fees by up to 50 percent.

The cuts aren't across the board. In fact, some fees will be raised. For example, if your items sells for less than $25, you'll now be charged 8.75%, which is a 67% increase.

The new fees take effect on February 20th and are aimed at the US, although eBay plans to announce rate changes in the uK and Germany soon. The move comes at a time when eBay is struggling with flattening growth and competition from other online auction sites.

Do you still use eBay to buy and sell new and used items? Or have you started turning to other auction sites? What do you think of eBay's current listing and transaction fees?

Reuters is reporting that Cingular is set to announce a new partnership with MySpace today, offering a paid Java-based client on their phones with access to the popular social networking site. An extra $2.99/month will bring photo sharing, email checking, blogging and friend searching to about 90 percent of Cingular's handsets in the coming weeks. Video, strangely, won't be featured at the service's launch (strange because of Cingular's big push into video services as of late), but is said to be on its way some time in 2007.

Given that plenty of other social networking sites like Facebook and Vox offer mobile access and even download clients for free, this venture rubs me the wrong way. On the upside, however, MySpace is where I spend roughly .3 percent of my time (hey I have an account for the same reasons as everyone else: marketing myself), so I'll be happy to hang on to my $2.99, thankyouverymuch.