Posted on: Wednesday, November 7, 2001

Yahoo plans to charge auction commissions

Associated Press

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Yahoo! Inc. will begin charging commission fees for items sold through its online auction service, the company announced yesterday.

Beginning Nov. 20, Yahoo! Auctions will begin charging sellers between 1.5 percent and 2 percent commission on the final value of the item sold.

To somewhat offset those new fees, Yahoo will lower its listing fees for auction items. The listing fees currently range between 20 cents and $2.20, but Yahoo will drop that cost to 5 cents to 75 cents, depending on the starting price of the item.

By comparison, listing fees on eBay Inc., the industry leader, are between 30 cents and $3.30 for most items and the company charges 1.25 percent to 5 percent commission fees on items sold.

Sunnyvale-based Yahoo, the second-largest auction site, saw its number of auctions fall 90 percent last winter after it began charging sellers to list items.

Yahoo says it also will launch a community page Nov. 20 where buyers and sellers can discuss auction items through the portal's message boards.

Shares of Yahoo rose $1 to $12.99 in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.