Fees for 2nd category listing

[torreyphilemon]

I have been listing in two categories for years (over 8000 items) with no extra charges for listing except when I do a reserve auction. And I haven't been charged a fee for listing in two categories until today (for non-reserve auctions with no enhancements). If there is no fee for a one-category listing, suddenly there's a fee for adding a second category. But the fee page doesn't say this and there was no notice that this policy was instituted. What is going on here? I just listed relisted five items each in two categories, and each now has a .35 fee which I wasn't charged before. 

[*eponymous* · Accepted solution]

Full insertion fee is charged, plus any listing upgrades.

Duplicate listings clog the servers and obscure other sellers' listings. https://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/insertion-fee.html

Duplicate auction style listing without bids is limited to one.

[lookng2015]

Why are you talking about duplicates?

Listing in 2 categories doesn't make it a duplicate. smh

OP, AFAIK there has ALWAYS been a fee for using a second category, and it does say right on the listing form (fees may apply) and before you hit submit it shows you the fees.

[slippinjimmy]

This has nothing to do with duplicate listings!!!!

Listing in two categories has been an option for at least 15 years, it's just one listing but it appears in both categories.

There has always been an additional fee for listing in two eBay categories, that extra fee applies to regular listings, Store included listings, promo free listings, I don't recall every see any exemption ever.

On the other hand if you have a Store you can list in two STORE categories at no extra charge.

[pjcdn2005]

I have to agree with the others as there has been a fee for a second category as long as I can remember.

[partial*eclipse]

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@torreyphilemon wrote:

I have been listing in two categories for years (over 8000 items) with no extra charges for listing ... I just listed relisted five items each in two categories, and each now has a .35 fee which I wasn't charged before. 

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As the others have noted, eBay has always charged an insertion fee for adding a second category.

None of your 5 current listings are listed in two categories, nor were a couple of your completed listings that I checked.  

A fee of .35 is not an insertion fee.  If you don't have a Store subscription, then the basic insertion fee is 30 cents.   I am wondering whether you have been actually choosing a subcategory (within the Books main category) rather than a second category (which would explain why it's free), and whether this 35-cent fee that you are seeing is a listing upgrade such as Gallery Plus in a category where it's not free.

Fees for sellers who don't have a Store:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

[kbcate]

I would love to see this topic addressed on several levels (one can dream, right?) And here are some of the problems/downsides of listing in two categories. No matter how many "free" insertions you have, you will always be charged for the second category listing. (does it cost ebay more?!)  Some categories come with "free" gallery, but if you list in two categories and one of those doesn't have free gallery, you must forego receiving the free category bonus or you will be charged 35 cents for the category that doesn't offer free. (don't cha think that ebay would want all of their listings to have the best photographic benefits?) Another lost benefit for the extra money that we pay to list in a second category is that only the item listed in the first category will reap the benefits of the "see what other people looked at after looking at this" (which will probably go away soon anyway since "promoted" e.g. paid for items are taking over and will continue to take over this real estate that was once the only way to get some extra interest in your items). Two more issues I've found is that after having listed in two categories, if one wants to change/revise the order in a flip flop manner e.g. change second category to first, first category to second, all of the Items Specifics disappear and need to be re-entered.  Last issue I have kind of related to this topic is that I often list a single item in Jewelry & Collectibles catgories. If I use the Collectibles Category first, it takes more than several hours to go live. Not so with Jewelry which is almost instantly live. I've been tempted and have once or twice listed in Jewelry as first, then Collectibles as second category then revised to flip flop just so I wouldn't waste several hours of solid selling time waiting for an item to index. (although even when eBay hasn't made that item live for buyers to see, it shows up in the auctiva scrolling gallery and shows up if I am a saved seller or the item is a saved search). Only downside to doing this is sometimes the switched items will not be updated to show the correct "see what people looked at after looking at this" at the bottom of the page. 

[georgiab31213]

When I recently added a second category to a few items, ( I don't have a store-just list about 25 items) it was clear that there would be a fee for the second category. What it did not say was that eBay would charge a final value fee on BOTH categories. I did not realize this until I could not figure out why my bill this month was so high, so I went to the breakdown of fees, and there it was. 

And of course, you cannot remove a second category. You can change it but not remove it. It gives you the option remove second category but if you do that, then when you hit the list button, a red note pops up at the top that says you cannot remove second category.

Being charged final value fees twice for the same item is just WRONG.

[nobody*s_perfect]

eBay's policy is not to double charge for the final value fee when a listing has two categories.   Are you sure that the second charge  was the basic final value fee, and not the fee on the buyer's shipping payment?