The problems that eBay is facing goes to the core of their model. Since the beginning, they catered to their customers, the eBay Sellers who paid the fees, and gave them too much lea way to intimidate eBay Buyers with retaliatory feed back. Another offese to Buyers was an obscure arbitration method that protected Sellers most favored "Power Seller" status even after they cheated many buyers. (also to note, there isn't a "Power Buyers" status.)
It seems that for years there was a sucker born every minute who took a stab at buying on eBay. It used to be said that everyone has worked at McDonald's, likewise you could say that everyone has been cheated on a auction that they won on eBay.
After the callous treatment from sellers and eBay customer service, or lack of, Buyers took their money elsewhere; that had to be expected sooner or later. When the Buyers left, guess what? The Sellers followed suit and quit selling or cut back on listings. As listings decreased so did profits. EBay's current remedies of changing feed back and banning the worst performing Sellers is an attempt to lure Buyers back to the site by increasing the overall performance of the Sellers, thereby increasing Buyer satisfaction.
EBay is altering their model in a way that might please any economics professor. You can make a lot of money by renting boots at the market place, (like eBay does) but if there are no buyers at that market the sellers won't be interested in renting your space. eBay has finally figured out who is throwing those babies into the river and they want to get him to stop. I wonder if it is too little too late to bring buyers back to the site?
The increased fees and mandatory PayPal seems to be little more than plucking the goose in order to pay for the mistakes of the past. Those who are squawking the loudest may be some of the most responsible for the current crisis.