eBay introduced a new fee structure for its Real Estate category that will take effect March 7, 2002. Currently, listings in the real estate category can be in an "auction format" or an "ad format." The cost to list a 3, 5, 7, or 10-day auction is $50, and a 30-day auction costs $100 to list. The cost to list a 30-day ad in the real estate category is $100, and the cost for a 90-day ad is $200.

Effective March 7th, most real estate listing fees will increase, and eBay will further differentiate its fee structure according to whether the item is "Residential, Commercial, Foreclosures and Other" or "Timeshare and Land."

Listing fees for auctions in the Residential, Commercial and Foreclosures and Others sub-categories will double for 3-, 5-, 7-, or 10-day auctions, from $50 to $100. Listing fees for 30-day auctions will increase from $100 to $150. Listing fees for 30-day ads will increase from $100 to $150, and listing fees for 90-day ads will increase from $200 to $300.

eBay is changing the listing fee in the Timeshare and Land sub-categories only for 30-day auctions, decreasing to $75; all other listing fees in Timeshare and Land sub-categories will remain the same.

eBay said the decision to charge different listing fees for items within the same category is because "the sub-categories in Real Estate are unique markets, with different average selling prices. The flat fee applied to all sub-categories is not the best pricing structure. Applying a different price structure to each category more realistically reflects each of these markets."

Unlike most eBay auctions, eBay Real Estate auctions are not binding due to the wide variety of laws governing the sale of real estate. But eBay announced that they would introduce binding auctions in the Real Estate category later this year.

eBay also introduced on Tuesday its updated Offer Management System (OMS) for REO properties and said its REO properties division will adopt the eBay Real Estate brand and discontinue the HomesDirect brand. eBay Real Estate is the largest online marketplace for REO properties. With more than 10,000 successful auctions each month, eBay Real Estate has created a highly efficient marketplace for real estate transactions by bringing homebuyers and their agents together with institutional sellers of large blocks of real estate to a centralized location on the Internet. http://www.ebayrealestate.com