Friday File: The proof is in the petition 27 January, 2005 By Chris Talbot

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In its press release, OnlineAuction.com stresses that the customer base making up eBay is unhappy with the fee hikes, and that maybe they should consider moving over to the much lesser-known OnlineAuction.com, which has a monthly fee of $8. OnlineAuction.com's fee allows users to sell all they want, whereas eBay's fee structure is based on a per item for sale listed. A cheap ploy to steal some business from the uber-auction house, or does OnlineAuction.com actually have a point?

OnlineAuction.com compares eBay users to worker bees that are, and I quote, "tired of supporting [the] corporate giant." The press release continues: "eBay's increased fees announcement is causing quite a buzz, as the worker bees who built up the eBay colony claim they can just as easily bring it down and build another."

What's more, the OnlineAuction.com press release points out that eBay is not immortal, and the company's users could tear it down just as they built it up.

According to Chris Fain, the founder and CEO of OnlineAuction.com, "eBay has enjoyed what they considered to be an immortal status for years. Every good business person knows there's no such thing as immortality."

The company's proof of upset customers that are ready to jump ship seems to be based on a discussion with one eBay seller quoted in the release, CNN/ Money columnist Eric Hellweg and an online petition. ... Let that sink in for a second.

Online petitions are, of course, nothing new. The press release points to PetitionOnline, and after some digging, this reporter turned up the "Protest to the Ebay (sic) Fee Structure Increase," which as of the time of this writing had gathered 21,842 signatures. Apparently the millions of sellers on eBay can't bothered to voice their complaints on PetitionOnline.

The absurdity of using online petitions as proof of anything is hardly worth pointing out. Let's face it. Some people will sign anything. Name a television show you loved in the past. If it's not out on DVD yet, you're likely to find an online petition somewhere begging for whoever owns the rights to pretty please release their favourite sitcom/cartoon/drama/action/adventure/etc. on DVD.

For good or for bad, PetitionOnline allows anyone to create a petition and start gathering signature. An edumucated guess would be that few of these petitions affect anything, even if they should. Right up there with the anti- eBay, anti-Microsoft and anti-you-name-it petitions are others that truly deserve some attention -- like "The Stop Ashlee Simpson" petition with 226,710 signatures and the "See Bert Topless" petition with 10,541 signatures. Truly worthy causes, to be sure, and certainly proof that online petitions are good market research.