Reserve Fee Question

[m-cstuff4u]

When a seller opts to use a reserve price on their listing, is the reserve fee charged upon listing, or not until the first bid is received? The latter is how I understood it to work in the past, but Ebay's always changing things - in their favor - as we all know!   The Selling Fees page lists it under "optional upgrades" and states "Charged whether or not your item sells", which sounds like maybe it's charged when you list, but...? Anyone know for sure?

This is just a simple question; I'm not contemplating using a reserve myself, so I don't need the whole argument against using a reserve (with which I mostly agree ;-).  TIA!

[jame234]

An Item Reserve is charged whether the item sells or does not.  Therefore, it is charged when you create the listing.

[pargran3]

The reserve fee has always been charged when you create the listing.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@pargran3 wrote:

The reserve fee has always been charged when you create the listing.

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Yes, the listing upgrade fee for using a Reserve has always initially been charged as a listing fee, going onto the seller's account as soon as the listing goes live.  

Long ago, eBay changed the policy a few times; there was a period when the Reserve fee was refunded if the reserve was not met; and a different period when the Reserve fee was refunded if the reserve WAS met.  But for many years the Reserve fee has been non-refundable regardless of the auction outcome.