Hi signsintime!
I'm still a newbie myself , so my reply might not be the definitive one but it'll get you started.
The sellathon counter integrated into the Auctiva lister is free, and it will count. However, you can only access it if you click on your own listing to see the count. Apparently, if you don't have a pay-per-month subscription to Sellathon you cannot access any info from their site.
There are FREE counters available from Andale and you can constantly monitor all your auctions from their site as well as resetting or changing the styles. They have MANY different styles which I like to coordinate to Auctiva's templates.
The only drawback to Andale is that you must add the counter AFTER it posts which just shows on your listing as an item added on bottom. (I don't think you can integrate Andale counters into Auctiva as Auctiva has an agreement with Sellathon) Once you give Andale your eBay ID they will monitor your account for any new listings not having a counter. It's VERY easy to do. They even have 'web counters' which you can add on your web page or your AboutMe page on eBay. They don't give you detailed info about your hits unless you suscribe , but you'll get all your counts in one place for FREE! We all pay enough fees as it is!!
Most eBay listings have a link to Andale by the counter. Once you're there click on Auction Tools then Free counters. HTH Jeff