There is nothing wrong with wanting to pay as little as possible for that item you really, really want. In fact, saving money and getting the most out of every penny you have are very admirable traits!  BUT...Don't let your frugality over-ride your common sense.

We've all seen them: sellers who sell items for a penny, .99, 1.99 and so on. These are generally the same ones who then have shipping rates at twice to several times what it actually costs to mail those items. Why do they do this? For several basic reasons.

-  Fee Avoidance - By listing their inventory at rock bottom prices, they are saving money on listing fees and final value fees. Fees are based upon what the item is listed for and also upon what the items sells for. The money that these folks save can sometimes be considerable. This means higher profit for them.

- Better placement in the listings - cheaper items (depending upon how you search for merchandise) show up ahead of higher priced merchandise. This is obviously to their advantage as sellers. By having their merchandise show up before normally priced merchandise that charge actual (or close to it) shipping costs, they have a greater chance of selling their merchandise than the other sellers.

- Higher sell-through rate - Psychologically, it seems that shoppers...even though many times they end up paying as much or more for that cheap item as if they'd have purchased through a seller who's following the rules...people seem to rather buy that .01 or .99 item and pay outrageous shipping.

What does this mean for you as a shopper?

What happens if you don't like what you received in the mail?

If your penny or .99 cent item seller even has a refund policy, chances are they are NOT going to refund your shipping charges (either the ones you original paid to ship the item, or the cost to return your merchandise). This is actually standard practice as a business. We don't wish to lose money on transactions. After all once spent, that shipping money is gone...all that is left is our profit margin. To return shipping fees after this point would cost us money or even put us in the red. So, unless we've made an error in your shipment...many of us do not return shipping costs.

Shipping gougers however, have made all of their profit through fee avoidance. This means that if you paid .99 or 1.99 for your item (for example)....and 19.99 to ship it, a refund would only get .99 or 1.99 back to you. You can kiss that 19.99 goodby and the seller still has made an extraordinary profit!

Yes, it's under-handed and nasty. These sellers continue to do this however for one simple reason: people continue to buy from them.

Stop buying from shipping gougers!

In fact, not only stop buying from them if it is an obvious fee avoidance instance....report them (there is a link at the bottom of every listing) so that eBay can investigate and take appropriate action! Ebay does police it's site, rigorously.  But, schemers and rule-breakers do slip through the cracks because of the sheer mind-boggling volume of merchandise that is sold here on eBay.

Lets help to make eBay a safer place and a fairer marketplace for reputable sellers.

Remember the old saying: You get what you pay for.

I believe that this applies not only to the quality of merchandise, but to the quality & customer service of the sellers themselves.  I'm not implying that cheap merchandise and those who sell it are unsavory. Not at all! What I am saying is this: If something seems too good to be true....is cheaper than the majority of items like it being sold....be careful and investigate before you buy!  Think before you shop!

Now go have fun here on eBay and find yourselves some awesome widgits!

Happy hunting!