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11 replies

Estimated fees calculating wrong

A afterthesaleMember
Is anyone else seeing a problem with the fee estimates? I am seeing a mysterious 40 cent increase in the total fees when I add a reserve price to a listing.

Here's an example of what is happening:

According to ebay, this is what I should see,
Item start price: .99 Fee - .20
Gallery image Fee - .35
Reserve ($16.00) Fee - 1.00
Total Fees 1.55

However, when the estimate comes up in Auctiva, it looks like this:

Item start price: .99 Fee - .60
Gallery image Fee - .35
Reserve ($16.00) Fee - 1.00
Total Fees 1.95

If I remove the reserve it looks like this:

Item start price: .99 Fee - .20
Gallery image Fee - .35
Total Fees .55

Why is there an additional 40 cents added to the listing fee when the start price hasn't changed and I only added a reserve price?

If anyone else has had this problem it would be good to know. Hopefully Auctiva will fix it soon.
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tazfrompatazfrompaMember
Even though you are starting the item at .99 you are setting the reserve at 16 dollars and Ebay is charging you an insertion fee based on that higher price!I listed several air conditioners 2 weeks ago and started them at .99 to get the lower insertion fee and Ebay charged the higher insertion fee of 2.40 based on my reserve price They catch you with the reserve fee and also with the higher insertion fee. Why do you think alot of people have taken to calling it FeeBay, they get you every possible way they can!I do not do reserve price auctions I hate giving Ebay my money!If only there was a better way. But you do have me wondering if this is a Auctiva glitch and if it is how much extra money Ebay is making off of it? Going to have to check on that one!
N ninthwaveMember
It is obvious that ebay is considering the reserve price to be the de facto starting price, sort of interpreting it as your "real" starting price since it is, in effect, your minimum price, and thus the insertion fee is based upon that "real" starting price. Ebay needs to disclose this on their fee schedule. I can see why After The Sale was confused by this, as was I. Very clever ebay! Roll Eyes
H helpandsellMember
Apparently I missed the info on the eBay fee list. The insertion fee does, in fact, base iteself on the starting OR reserve price. The funny thing is that it is only shown in the heading of the chart of fees and nowhere else in the fee pages. When I spoke with eBay support even they agreed that the amount I thought the fee should be was correct. I guess they aren't aware of their own fee policies either!
N ninthwaveMember
Ebay is obviously well aware that if they didn't charge the insertion fee based upon the "effective" starting price ie. the reserve price, that people would use the reserve price as a means of fee avoidance - they could set a high reserve along with a meaningless $0.99 starting price and only pay $0.20. Ebay certainly isn't going to let anyone get away with that! Eek

PS - Personally I'm of the mind that Reserve price is a really bogus concept to begin with. Many bidders are turned off by them and the sell-through rates are miserably low on those types of auctions. If a seller needs to have a minimum price, why not just be up front about it and set a minimum starting bid and be done with it, instead of all the smoke and mirrors. IMHO Roll Eyes
Last edited by ninthwave
choochooguychoochooguyMember
Help and Sell - you were lucky to get a response from eBay support at all let alone for it to be accurate Frown

ninth - I found the best option with a reserve was to state what it was on the listing just as it would be in a live auction house. Otherwise yes it puts buyers off and the extra fee rarely makes it worth the effort in my book, may just as well have a higher start price.

However when selling collectibles just make sure that the end time is a peak viewing times and you can hardly go wrong. Know your buyers habits before listing valuable items. Smile
N ninthwaveMember
I know that setting a low starting bid on a Reserve type auction is ostensibly supposed to "get the bidding going" but does it really do that any more than a higher starting price with no reserve? Even if it does, wouldn't the number of turned off bidders cancel the advantage? And....if the reserve price is stated in the listing, who would knowingly bid below that? I mean the whole affair seems rather pointless. Can anyone offer a good reason as to when and WHY this would be a preferred auction method(over just setting a higher minimum bid), other than it perhaps being somehow "traditional"? I just don't get it.Confused
Last edited by ninthwave

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