eBay has canvassed its sellers' views on the possibility of changing its charging model to allow them to bid for greater visibility in listings on the site.

The change echoes the situation with Google and other search engines, where companies which bid the highest amount for a listings position get the most prominent spots.

Of course, the return for this is the likelihood that more people will then click on those listings at the top of the product pages.

eBay hasn't said in its survey of sellers whether it intends to switch completely over to this model for its listings, or offer it as an optional extra for those willing to pay for it.

Nevertheless, e-commerce guru Chris Dawson of Tamebay.com also points out: "eBay fees are the highest that they've ever been."

In the past, though, eBay had a feature known as Featured First, which effectively meant sellers could pay for the highest visibility. This soon became compromised as the big boys moved in, with their big advertising budgets, and swept aside individual sellers hoping for a bit of a leg-up for themselves and their products.

The post announcing the changes on Tamebay.com solicited a response from Joe McDonald, in which he feared that history would repeat itself, and that "paying more money for increased visibility will only help the very biggest companies."

And he added: "Isn’t the reason people truly love eBay because it’s a good opportunity for small businesses?"