The online world let out a collective yelp of outrage last week as the huge auction website eBay imposed a fee increase on its millions of members.

From February 18 it will in many cases cost 60 per cent more to flog goods through eBay and although the outrage is unlikely to die down, the selling will continue with equal intensity.

That's because in the internet world, eBay has become the closest thing to a monopoly there is. It's also a very good service.

Where else could you find a signed copy of sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine for US$75 or a glove box hinge for a 1965 Ford Mustang for US$10?

Even if you don't buy anything on eBay, or visit the site, media reports of wacky eBay sales are always a good laugh. There's the Florida woman who recently auctioned a grilled cheese sandwich reported to bear the image of the Virgin Mary - for US$28,000!

Last year eBay had 135 million registered users and earned US$778.2 million, or US$1.14 a share, on sales of US$3.27 billion. With that sort of scale the fee rises will generate a significant amount of extra cash for eBay.

Those increases range from a 60 per cent jump in the subscription rate for sellers who run eBay stores (from US$9.95 to US$15.95 a month) to a doubling of the cost of listing items for 10 days (to 40USc an item from 20USc).

So-called "Buy It Now" fees will no longer be charged at a flat rate, and will instead be determined based on the Buy It Now price.

If you're selling the odd trinket you won't feel the difference. But if you're a regular eBay seller you'll come to resent it.

New Zealand eBay members, many of whom are still waiting for their minute share of last year's settled class action lawsuit against eBay, received the same unapologetic letter as overseas members.

"These changes will help us continue to sustain and develop a thriving global marketplace, while balancing the needs of our buyers and sellers around the world," the letter read.

Usually it is lower prices that lead to a thriving marketplace and lower prices are usually driven by competition. But no one in the online auction world is close enough to touch eBay so there's certainly no incentive to cut fees.

The auction site has bumped up its prices simply because it can, and in doing so rendering all talk of defecting from eBay pure hot air.

The Motley Fool rightly described talk of bypassing the dominant auction site as trying to "boycott air". If you're an online wheeler-dealer, you can't live without it.