Also, I was wondering what the fees about will cost per ticket. Is there a sight that I can look it up. I know that I can using euraileurope.com, but I hear it is over priced. Is there a way to look up how much reservation or taxes will be with a eurail pass for train tickets on the german rail site www.bahn.de or another national rail site. Thanks.

I have used the eurail select pass (at least twice), german rail pass (2 maybe 3 times), swiss rail pass  (this one about 4 weeks ago).  I have never had to pay “taxes” on a “ticket”.  Your pass IS your ticket.  After validating, you need to fill in the dates you are travelling, that’s it. 

You might have to pay for reservations (for special trains), which are usually around 5 euros. 

For night train, reservations are usually required.  Couchettes costs are a bit more (about 20 euros) than just a seat (which might or might not be available, this depends on the route).  

db.de is great for schedules, but usually only gives pricing information on routes that are in Germany ONLY.

You can get the couchette supplement prices for night trains to or from Germany via http://www.nachtzug.de/site/nachtzugreise/en/booking/tickets/tickets.html
Select “Accomodation surcharge only, ticket exists” for “what is required”.

You might want more clarification from your friend.   Unless he was travelling only on night trains, and/or he was travelling on routes not covered by eurail (where a eurail pass might offer a “discount” ), it’s hard to tell what exactly he paid the extra “tax” for.

Sounds like a lot of confusion.

1.  You do not pay extra taxes on either eurail passes or on eurail tickets (individual point to point tickets which can be sold by authorized eurail agents0.

2.  Your friend is probably talking about reservations.  If you choose to take a specific train that requires a reservation (most trains do not, but a lot of the express trains between major cities do) you have to pay extra for the reservation.  Reservations usually cost about 5 euros, but on some fancy, named trains like Thalys and EurostarItalia they can cost 10 to 20 euros.  Sleeping accomodations on trains range from about 15 euros up to nearly 200 for the fanciest private roomettes with bath.

3.  Reservations cost about twice that much if you buy them from home from the railpass websites — which is the only way you could ever pay 40 euros for a reservation.  Buy your reservations at the train station after you get to Europe.