Something like this could make eBay more valuable to their customer base. Which is huge. The infrastructure for the project is certainly there. Neither site was live at press time. Another clear indication that Whitman and company are serious about this is a recent deal between Microsoft and eBay to jointly expand their global online presence while streamlining the online buying process.
Pricing has yet to be determined.
Some possible pricing models could include charging merchants a fixed fee for each transaction, charging a percentage of merchants' gross merchandise sales or a charging just a flat-rate monthly fee. The only risk to eBay in launching its storefront model, say analysts, is that the company might be over extending itself a bit. In addition to other changes, eBay expanded its international presence and launched three new local sites for users in Ireland, Switzerland and New Zealand. For any company to launch the international sites would be a challenge. But to do that and expand into storefronts means the company has a lot of balls in the air.