The first time this hit home was when my wife bid on a 1 cent auction for a snow suit for our daughter.  Normally this particular suit sells for $75 to $100 on ebay, and she thought she was onto a great deal.  It was down to less than an hour to go, and the suit was less still at 1 cent.  She decided to watch it to the end, so she could jump in with a higher bid if necessary.  Anyway, as she read farther into the fine print it became very clear this 1 cent snow suit was no bargain - in very small print the seller noted shipping was $99.99.  Now I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can figure shipping should be no more than $8.00 to $12.00.  Figuring in a healthy handling fee $20.00 might have been fair - but $100, that was down right unreal.

To make a long story short - We wrote the seller, explaining how we felt, and after many emails they decided to let it go.

Scam Warning

  If a deal sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

  There is a group of sellers out there trying to avoid ebay fees by running 1 cent or 99 cent auctions on normally expensive items, and hiding excessive shipping fees in the small print of their auction descriptions.  I've run across this several times - some of the items that come to mind are:  posters (1 cent starting price - $29.99 shipping) - Laptop computer memory - (1 cent starting bid - $35.00 shipping). 

  You also see this a lot in electronics auctions on more expensive items.  Laptops with $35.00 to $45.00 shipping costs.  Cell phones with a $20.00 shipping charge. 

  Another time I got hit really hard was buy a seller who would not combine shipping on auctions.  I bought 12 sports cards for $5.00 each, and $3.95 shipping.  I never thought to ask about combined shipping - I just figured they would offer it.  No such luck.  The seller charged me $47.40 shipping, even though they sent them altogether in one envelope for $3.85.  Needless to say I learned a hard lesson, but so did that seller after receiving 12 negative feebacks.

How to Avoid Being Scammed

  Ebay really is a buyer beware market.  Most sellers are honest, and will do whatever they can to help out should an issue arise.  But you need to execise caution in all of your ebay dealings. 

  Here are a few tips to keep from being burned by these predators.

1. Always check a sellers feedback.  10,000 feedbacks is no proof that they are a good seller.  Go deeper into it, and click on their feedback number.  It will show you the number of positives, negatives, and neutrals, along with how many the seller has received of each during the last month, six months, and year.
2. Be sure to read the fine print of the auction before bidding.  These scammers normally list everything in the auction, they just hide the details in the fine print, hoping you won't find them until it is too late.
3. If you have concerns - email or call the seller, and ask them to clarify everything for you.
4. Don't assume the seller will combine shipping fees - Make sure they will before bidding on multiple items.
5. If you are buying from a trading assistant or ebay trading post read the fine print - Most of them state in bold lettering that they will not combine shipping.  Take this into account when bidding.
6. Look for sellers with fixed shipping fees.  They are specified by the price before you click into an auction.  This removes any chances for a big suprise down the road.
7. Remember if your seller uses a shipping calculator, this is no guarantee that their shipping is fair.  The ebay shipping calculator allows a seller to add any handling fees they wish into the calculation.
8. Ebay now allows you to report violations and excessive shipping charges.  This is considered fee avoidance, and ebay will deal with those sellers.

Hope this helps, and saves everyone a little frustraion, and wasted cash.