shipping cost

[ytovbin1940]

Why does ebay allow sellers to charge idiotic shipping amounts?  $29 for the item and $800? shipping? 

[inceptions]

The cost of shipping is unrelated to the cost of the item. It is based on carrier, class of service, weight, package dimensions, and distance between buyer and seller (plus any handling cost).

If the seller is building his profit into the shipping cost and he were made to stop, he would simply move the profit into the item price. Examples:

Item     +      Shipping     =     Total

$29                $800                    $829

$800             $29                        $829

$829              Free                      $829

eBay has no way of knowing how much the shipping & handling cost for the package will be. Nor can they review the 1.9 billion items that are active at any point in time.

The bottom line is that if you don't agree with the total cost, don't make the purchase.

[eburtonlab]

Most buyers know enough to check the total cost including shipping before deciding to make an online purchase.

In some cases it may not even be the seller's choice -- calculated shipping for certain expedited services can be very expensive for oversize items if the buyer is far away from the seller. Local shipping options that the seller sees may be much more reasonable looking.