from here:

EBay Inc. is fast moving away from its roots as an online auction site and becoming an electronic-commerce site, President and Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman said at a press conference Tuesday in Brussels.

You know, I've noticed that and think the way they're going about it is a bad idea. I do appreciate when my searches for items turn up stores that have something that matches, but to essentially use the same system of feedback, etc (that is, a store owner could run an auction under the same persona) starts to dillute what it means to be an eBay seller. I'm also getting the feeling when I'm setting up sales, from both eBay and PayPal, that I'm supposed to think more like a store than a "hobbyist" or non-professional seller. I can feel the level of attention/emphasis shift from auctions -- what eBay does better than anyone -- to this shop mentality. I think it likewise dillutes their brand recognition.

I'd start by putting the store stuff under a different moniker, a different corporation, sorta like Microsoft did with Xbox. I don't think anyone's confusing the Xbox, running an IBM processor, for heaven's sake, with Windows. Though the Windows Media compatibility (iirc) is something of a lead-in, for the most part I've yet to see Xbox position itself to drive sales of Windows.

eBay needs to keep eBay eBay -- if they don't, someone else is liable to create an auction site that's just clever enough with auction specific features that eventually they'll reach a tipping point and eBay will see itself depending quite a bit more on their position in a market where there are many more, highly mature competitors.