What: Designer Derek Lam recently partnered with online auction site eBay (yep THAT eBay) for a limited edition collections.

From Derek Lam + eBay: The collective consumer voice will determine the five winning dresses produced for the final crowdsourced collection—available in-season in May 2011 at accessible, fixed price points from $125-$295, in sizes 0 – 16, exclusively on eBay. The winning dresses will be announced on March 1 at Derek Lam + eBay. The collection, designed for Spring/Summer 2011, features 16 original pieces and includes seven silhouettes—the Shirt Dress; the Shift Dress; the Black Tie Dress; the Sun Dress; the Boho Dress; the Chemise Dress; and the Tee Shirt Dress.

What We Say: Ok. Fine. We like Derek Lam well enough, but some of the pieces look like things we could find at Old Navy, for far less than $300. The black evening dress, shown to the left, really stands out (apparently others agree as this Derek Lam piece currently tops the voting) and we like the causal elegance of the white shirt dress and hope that a designer at Old Navy is peeping the Lam + ebay collection for inspiration for the store’s spring line.

On a techy related note- we totally wish they would NOT show us where a piece is currently rated in the voting- as we’re 99.99% sure that’s going to influence the outcome (which might be the plan??? just a thought).

Our verdict? Splurge on the black evening dress ( or the white version would make a darling wedding dress) and skip the rest.