eBay Marketplaces is a core property of its parent company, encompassing eBay itself, Kijiji, Shopping.com, and StubHub, among other sites.  Unfortunately for eBay, the unit may soon be without a leader, as president Lorrie Norrington is resigning.

eBay critics shouldn’t draw too many conclusions about the cause of Norrington’s departure, as it’s rumored to be due to an illness in the family.  It’s more the aftereffects that could be problematic.

In a press release announcing the development, eBay admitted that it doesn’t have a new president of eBay Marketplaces lined up at this time.  The existing team’s just going to report to company president and CEO John Donahoe while an external search is conducted.

The word "external" could be a red flag, too, since it signals that someone completely new will have to be brought up to speed in short order.

Then another problem is that a simple check of eBay’s stock shows investors aren’t happy about Norrington’s resignation, sending the stock down 3.27 percent so far today.

On the bright side (and on a slightly different subject), eBay’s release stated, "In addition to announcing this management change, the company said it expects its third quarter 2010 results to be near the high end of the guidance provided on July 21."