Tech Rumor of the Day: eBay

eBay (EBAY Quote) is quietly gaining an underdog stature.

It was only a couple months ago that Wall Street wrote off eBay as the online retail laggard behind a resurgent Amazon (AMZN Quote).

The investment theme at the time was that eBay's auctions were out, and Amazon's low prices and immediate gratification were in. The theme played out in the stocks. Amazon rose 65% this year, more than tripling eBay's 21% performance.

But eBay's showing signs of stabilizing.

Amazon Vs. Ebay Source: TheStreet.com

In addition to spinoff plans for Skype, its Internet calling service, and the acquisition of South Korea's GMarket online retailing site, eBay has brought some changes to its core marketplace unit.

For example, to help appease sellers and make product searches easier for potential buyers, eBay will charge one price to sellers' Buy It Now listings with multiple variations, like color, style or size of an item. This lowers the sellers' costs and lets shoppers filter items like shoes or apparel by color or size.

Another trick eBay has recently learned from its competitors is free shipping. Just like Amazon, which has successfully helped boost its customers' ticket size by offering free shipping on purchases of $25 or more, eBay has started using some of the special sauce.

"The percentage of listings offering free shipping on eBay has gone up from 2% in the beginning of 2008 to about 30% in the second quarter of 2009, " writes Barclays Capital analyst Doug Anmuth in a research note. He added that "management expects this ratio to reach 40% by the end of the year."