Will the 0.0005 transaction fee change so BTC remains competitive?

[c789]

Let's say you're buying a $10 product online. And, let's say the price of 1 BTC is $1500 (we're not there yet, but if trends continue...)

If you use PayPal, the transaction fee in USD is ($0.35 + (0.029 * $10)) = $0.64
If you use Bitcoin, the transaction fee in USD is (0.0005 * $1500) = $0.75

If the price of BTC keeps rising (and I hope it does), soon even PayPal transaction fees will be cheaper than BTC transaction fees for lower priced items (under $20). This is not good for online merchants who want to use BTC.

I know the transaction fee can be lowered, but some will not want to do this as it could cause a delay in the transaction being mined. Has the BTC community thought of lowering the transaction fee if the price of BTC/$ gets high enough? And/or if the amount of BTC being transferred is under a certain amount?

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[SgtSpike]

I think the default fee has changed to 0.0001 BTC already.

[PenAndPaper]

It has changed already, and it can change in the future as well.
Currently is at 0.0001 BTC

[c789]

Ah, 0.0001 BTC.

Thanks for the quick replies

[Barek]

If you are interested in the topic:

https://gist.github.com/gavinandresen/2961409