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The suggestion came up today in the Weekly Board Hour. The answer was provided by eBay.ca Country Manager:
@forester_studios wrote:I have also noticed that sales seem to have slowed down since the password problems last week. Is Ebay considering a way to help sellers sales increase? How about a month of free listings? Maybe that would help sales recover.
Hi forester_studios.
Now THAT is a good idea. Unlikely to happen in exactly that form, but a good idea nonetheless. 🙂
Right now the focus is on ensuring we get everyone through the password change process globally, and then recovering paused marketing and communications programs, etc.
On the other hand, like many sellers, I expect eBay to offer a "free listing" promotion sometimes in June, maybe two.
The major problem with so many "free listing" promotions is that too many items are listed that are simply not worth listing. Adding several million listings on eBay will not increase the amount of money buyers spend on eBay.
The same amount of money is simply divided over more listings. Auction listings sell for less and fixed price listings stay on the shelf longer.
At this time, what sellers really need is not more "free listing" promotions but a few million buyers coming to eBay to spend $100 each.
The problem at this time is that many potential buyers will NOT come to eBay because of the recently disclosed password problem. Some may have tried to change their password and had technical problems.
So having more items for sale because it is free to list and fewer buyers because a few are afraid to take the risks to shop online is a recipe for disappointment.
I think the folks running eBay understand that and know they have to generate more buying traffic before they increase the number of items available on the site. That came from the first lesson in Business 101: laws of supply and demand.
Here's a really "original" concept folks. Ebay could spend some of their billions we sellers have paid them and ADVERTISE! 
I see ads for Kijiji daily on the tv, but have hardly ever seen any about Ebay. If all the other billion dollar companies that constantly bombard the public with commercial messages seem to think it pays to advertise their products/services on the "boob tube" why can't Ebay run some commercials about what a wonderful place they are to shop? 
My sales have been fine. They continue to follow the same pattern they have for months.
Wonder how much damage done during the 3 months we were kept in the dark?
By all accounts, absolutely nothing happened except panic. Panic that was fostered by the "what if" crowd.
"absolutely nothing happened except panic."
You are a lucky man since your sales level has remained constant.
That is NOT what has happened to many other sellers who have seen a drop in hits and sales.
It does not really matter why buyers are not buying or bidding, whether it is panic, fear, inability to sign in (forgot to change email address or phone number or whatever), paranoia, take a "wait and see" attitude, whatever. The results are the same for many sellers: fewer bids, fewer sales.
@pierrelebel wrote:"absolutely nothing happened except panic."
You are a lucky man since your sales level has remained constant.
That is NOT what has happened to many other sellers who have seen a drop in hits and sales.
It does not really matter why buyers are not buying or bidding, whether it is panic, fear, inability to sign in (forgot to change email address or phone number or whatever), paranoia, take a "wait and see" attitude, whatever. The results are the same for many sellers: fewer bids, fewer sales.
Yes, Pierre, I agree that was the fallout from the "what if". Supposing this non-event had never been published? We would not be having this discussion. Nothing would have been affected.
All the negative effects are due to the publishing of the breach, not from the breach itself.
"All the negative effects are due to the publishing of the breach, not from the breach itself."
That is correct as far as the last ten days are concerned and most likely the next few months.
"this non-event"
I am not so confident about that. Somewhere someone has a file containing hundreds of millions of eBay users: name, address, phone number, date of birth - everything needed to create a false identity.. That file may have been sold already or may be sold in the future, in whole or in parts. It may take years before its full impact is felt.
If I were a crook and had access to that file (or part of it) what would I do? Where would I begin? I would set up my "scam", whatever it is, where folks have money: USA. It is easy to have access to ZIP codes with the highest level of income or net assets. Why waste my time and resources elsewhere? Go where the money is!
Canadians may be way down the line.
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