Incase you missed it, Ebay raised their price schedules - boy did they raise them! I posted an item for auction today, and the cost to post the item for sale was $11.00! Worse, they now take 8% of the final sale price, which is a massive increase from before. Add to that, you have to use Paypal as its the main accepted form of payment - and they charge outrageous fees as well.
Clearly, this illustrates the fact that Ebay now has a primary monopoly - and they are going to exploit this while exploiting their customers. There are alternatives, and we will discuss these.
Last year, I started using Amazon.com to sell my hardware, software, books, DVDs and other things. Amazon fees aren't cheap, but its guaranteed, no hassles, and payments are directly deposited in your checking account. Everything is fast, handy and slick, and your auction items are placed alongside new products, so you get maximum exposure. So first, I have to recommend Amazon for most auctions.
There are other "Ebay Like" auction sites out there that are starting to catch on, and heres a few to check out.
http:///www.epier.com
http://www.bidville.com
http://www.livedeal.com
http://www.overstock.com
Enjoy and good luck finding your alternatives to Ebay.. Perhaps, if one of the alternatives gets big enough, the price war will start back up.. Competition is good for consumers.