Relisted an unsold fixed price as an auction and got charged insertion fee

[susano]

I just tried to  relist (or sell similar) one of my Unsold fixed priced items.   I wanted to change it to Auction instead of fixed price GTC, so I changed type and enter 7 or 10 days and a starting price.    I was then very surprized to find that I was being charged a .25 insertion fee.   Now I have a lot of free listings for auction left so it should be free.  In fact I had relisted some unsold auction items just a few minutes earlier and no fees.   This never happened before.  I tried it on 3 different item and all had the same issue.

I know it is insertion fee because when I clicked on the .25c it show what the fees are for and it said insertion.

Anyone else suddenly having problem changing fixed priced unsold listing to auction type?  Is this related to GTC? 

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

Are you sure that the listing is in one of the 13 categories where you can use your free auction-format insertions? List here:

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

[city*satins]

2 ways you could incur listing fees if you have a store 

1. not all categories are included in your auction listings limits.  For example  clothes are, but bedding isn't.  Check the category

2. if you put  a Buy It Now price on your auction listing, that will incur a fee.  BIN is free for the non-store sellers listing in their monthly freebies, but not for store sellers.

[susano]

Yes it is a type I list all the time. Just some headphones and some books. shouldn't be any problem with being an auction.

This is the message I get when I click on the Fees link.:
Review fees
These fees apply to your listing and any relists or Good 'Til Cancelled renewals.
Total fees for selected listing:$0.25
TitleFeesTotal fees
Wireless Gear Bluetooth Sports Earbuds G0481 NEW
Picture Pack Free
Insertion fee $0.25 $0.25

[susano]

Yes, thanks. If I put in a bin then fee changes to .30. without bin it is .25.

[susano]

okay so I double-checked from the link you provided and sure enough, Books and Electronics are not allowed for free auction insertion! Totally surprized as I was sure I had done the books in the past. I wonder if this changed recently.

Anyway so now I am really screwed by GTC. Not only can't I do shorter or 30 day fixed price, I can't even do auctions (unless I pay)! Wow!

thanks for your help!!!!

[nobody*s_perfect]

The categories for auctions have never been reduced. There have never been more than the current 13 categories.  This has nothing to do with the new policies about fixed price listings.

[fern*wood]

I keep hoping ebay will drop the category restrictions on store auctions---maybe as a way to help soften the GTC blow for some sellers.  It seems crazy that they do this anyway, since we pay for a store so they aren't exactly free anyway.

It's odd to me that store owners also are charged for BINs and scheduling too.   Plus store owners seem to get far fewer (if any) free listing promos.  It's sort of a store penalty. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@fern*wood wrote:

I keep hoping ebay will drop the category restrictions on store auctions---... It's odd to me that store owners also are charged for BINs and scheduling too. .... 

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There are historic (though not necessarily logical)  reasons for these policies.

Originally, everybody paid when adding a 'Buy it now" option on an auction-format listing.  Then during an unpopular semi-annual update, eBay granted non-stores two concessions: non-store sellers could add BIN for free and could use the Scheduler for free.  Previously, everybody had to pay 10 cents to schedule a listing, and stores still do.

Originally, store subscription free insertions included only fixed price listings. Then eBay added free auction-format insertions for a few categories which they collectively referred to as  "Collectibles," which was confusing because the Collectibles category was one of the eligible categories.  Then a year or two later eBay added several categories which they referred to as "Fashion," bringing the total eligible categories to the current 13. So these free auction insertions are in addition to the base free (fixed price) insertions.  Which is different than if eBay had formerly allowed free auctions in all categories and then limited it to those 13.  Perhaps in the future they'll add more categories, though with the latest GTC changes it looks like the trend is moving the other way.