I will let Rebecca or someone else tackle the fees as I am not sure on that one.
I had a eBay store for 6 mnts. and was using tubrolister for my listings. I was paying extra for more than 1 pic and had no template.
I saw the listings with more than 1 pic and fancy templates and the scrolling gallery and started looking into it.
When I found Auctiva it seemed to have everything except they only had 1 free template for boating they have many more if you sell other things. I found Jen'et from J. Nelsong and she did my Auctiva template for my eBay listings. I had a eBay store with over 600 listings that are GTC and a few auction's a month so it made sense to pay eBay for the store. (the bottom link)
With Auctiva I can have as many pic's up to 25 i think and not pay eBay for any extras as long as I use my Auctiva template and there listing tools.
When eBay started changing there policy's and fees I wanted a stand alone store that had nothing to do with eBay. (MarineSupplyDirect.com)
Around that time Auctive started Autiva Commerce which separate from there Auctiva listing tools. It is a stand alone store not linked to anyone or eBay.