Reply #10: It's just a good way to fuck you, the buyer.

[gtp1976]

The seller can set the price as low as he/she wishes and then really stick it in deep with the shipping and handling. Perfectly legal, and for the most part more or less ethical because the terms are usually in the item description.

eBay has its flaws, but it is still a great place to buy things at a discounted price if you make sure to read all the details.

I used to sell a lot of movies when I worked at Blockbuster Video in college. I could get a very discounted rate on movies that weren't available for retail purchase but were being sold as "Previously Viewed Tapes." I would take a little bit in the shipping/handling category, but I would never inflate it much past a buck or two. As in, if I knew it cost $1.50 to actually ship, I might charge $2.50 or $3.00 for shipping.

What absolutely chaps my ass, though, is when I see something that would cost maybe $1.00 to ship and the shipping/handling is around $10 bucks or so. That's just being an asshole, IMO.