Why do I have to pay the reserve price fee, even though my item didn't sell?

[ramoslc12]

I'm just going to lose money until my item actually get's sold. That doesn't really seem entirely fair...

[scifan57]

You have to pay all your eBay fees except a final value fee even if the item doesn't sell. You may not consider it fair,but you had to agree to these fees before you were allowed to start selling.

[karl*katz]

You get 50 Free basic listings per month.

You can save money by not using add on options such as buy it now or reserve price.

Just start the bidding at the minimum price you are willing to accept.

[femmefan1946]

Any opening bid is a Reserve, since no one can bid lower than that.

For the lowest listing fees, use your 50 Free Auctions, ask the lowest amount you will be content with, and skip all the paid eBay options.

If the item gets no bids, you have no fees.

If the item gets one bid, you get your asking/reserve price.

EBay encourages sellers to have a low opening bid-- even a dollar or less-- and add options like Reserves.

This is good advice for eBay, but not for sellers.

Most bidders don't like hidden (or even stated) reserves, since the apparent asking price is bogus.So the seller gets fewer or no bidders.

The few that do bid  may not notice the Reserve and will lowball their bids.

EBay gets paid whether the item sells or not.

Since you missed the part where eBay will charge you listing fees, you realize that there will be selling fees should your item find a buyer?

And that your buyer's payment will be held back by Paypal for  21 days or more pending good  performance from you?

[dmil8030]

Hello 'ramoslc',

Since you have successfully added a reserve price to your auctions, you have invariably seen this important link about reserves:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/reserve.html

But did you go all the way and get to the bit about reserve price fees:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/fees.html#reserve

It's perfectly fair, - and you can't say you weren't warned. 🙂  Ebay makes using a reserve price sound ideal and wonderful, - kidding you into thinking that loads of bidders will keep nibbling away with their bids until some lucky devil finally meets the mark.  Phah, not true, is it.

Reserves are absolutely no fun at all and the only reason any reserve item every gets any bids is because the newbie who placed the lone bid didn't initially see the Reserve Not Met shouting back from the page.  You're right, you're losing money.  And ebay makes money, both from your reserve fees and the fees paid by the other seller when the bidder went elsewhere to buy.

So decide on a price you will be happy - or at least willing - to accept.  Make that your starting bid.  Lots of auctions with realistic starting bids only get the one buyer, - but the item is sold.  Or if you get tired of relisting, list it as 'buy it now', looping around until someone buys it.  You can add the 'make an offer' feature if you like, - those are fun, and of course people who don't want to wait don't have to use it.

Listing with a low starting fee (like one cent or a buck) is foolhardy because there are times when bidding is down everywhere and you may have to sell something valuable for $12.  Most people are content to pay a fair price for things, but economics is a reality for everyone and people need to know whether or not they can even contemplate buying your item.