It’s inappropriate to inflate shipping costs for any reason. There’s a right way of covering the cost of shipping supplies and time spent—use the handling fee option. Then buyers will at least know why the shipping is higher than they’d expect.
As for eBay charging a percentage of the shipping charge, it is a bitter pill, but you have to remember that eBay offers a service that saves buyers and sellers money—they sell discounted shipping labels for USPS, FedEx and UPS. These discounts help keep shipping costs down, which increases the odds of a buyer making the purchase, while lowering the final value on which eBay charges the final value fee. eBay is getting a volume discount and passing it on to sellers, who can either pass the discount on to sellers, or can charge sellers the retail rate and pocket the difference. I find the latter distasteful because, again, no one should be profiting from shipping charges. Be that as it may, eBay has an accounting nightmare for providing this service. An oversimplified explanation is that eBay likely receipts the funds collected from sellers for shipping labels into a pass-thru liability account, and is then charged by the shippers, whom eBay pays, using the same pass-thru account. This account must be reconciled, and given the hundreds of thousands of labels sold each day, and the number of accounting employees required to manage the shipping accounts, the cost to eBay is likely enormous. So of course they’re going to recoup that, and they’ve chosen to do so by charging a commission on the final value fee.
If sellers aren’t taking advantage of this service, they’re shooting themselves in the foot. The discounted shipping label reduces the amount of the final value fee, and it allows sellers to ask a higher price when they’re able to offer lower shipping charges, and still attract buyers. It also saves sellers a lot of time, as they can schedule a pickup instead of having to trot packages to the shipper and stand in line waiting to buy a retail shipping label, and then have to enter the tracking number on eBay for each item.
As stated before, I don’t believe in paying for a discounted label and charging retail shipping. I wouldn’t want it done to me, and I won’t do it to someone else. At the end of the day, a buyer’s trust is worth more to me than his money—as is my integrity. The honest way of recouping some of what eBay/PayPal charges sellers is not to inflate shipping, but to add a handling charge OR simply build the added fees into the asking price.
That said, when I’ve encountered absurd shipping charges as a buyer, I go ahead and message the seller to ask if they can offer the eBay discounted rate on a cheaper service. Most of them have been very gracious about doing so. Usually, I’ve sold the same type of item and know what it cost me to ship it, and I’m not shy about letting the seller know. If they’re trying to scam buyers, they just won’t reply. Then by all means, report them. But often it’s due to human error, and if you really want the item, asking the buyer about changing the shipper, the shipping method or charging you the shipping discount, can really pay off.
