Before you think that you've been scammed by the postal costs of some auctions, keep this in mind: do your research and then you have a right to be outraged....

My friends and I all charge a $1 handling fee on top of the calculated shipping costs provided by USPS.  And this doesn't even begin to cover the extra costs of shipping an individual package.  Sometimes we have to buy special boxes and special packaging materials which run upwards of $2.50, not including tape, printing paper, etc...  Add to that the fact that the post office is 5 miles away, that's 10 miles total.  My gigantic SUV gets 15 miles to the gallon at best, which fluctuates around $3 where I live.  10/15 x 3 = $2 per trip.  Granted, one of us drives a Prius.  Add that to the time involved and you'll see where I'm getting at with this.  We cannot "eat up" these costs, no business [or person] actually wanting to MAKE A PROFIT can.  It's a sad economical truth that extra costs received by sellers and providers are ALWAYS passed on to the customer.  What can you do?  Blame the system?  What I mean is, I would feel completely justified to charge a $3 handling fee if my friends agreed with it.

Now let's talk about the USPS calculator.  First of all, my friends and I will only ship with Domestic Priority because if you print your labels out through Paypal, they give you free delivery confirmation (which is necessary if you want to be covered by Paypal's seller protection).  Domestic Priority is calculated based off of Zones (and there are 8 of them); so getting the idea in your head that you should be paying around $5 to receive something from the other side of the country is WRONG.  As a matter of fact, it will sometimes cost you an extra $3 or more; not because the seller is trying to scam you, but because it really does cost that much.

Priority Mail Rates

  Weight             Local
 not over            Zones      Zone 4       Zone 5       Zone 6      Zone 7       Zone 8
(pounds)        1, 2, and 3
    1                    $4.05         $4.05         $4.05         $4.05         $4.05         $4.05
    2                    $4.20         $4.80         $5.15         $5.30         $5.70         $6.05
    3                    $5.00         $6.40         $7.20         $7.55         $8.25         $9.00
    4                    $5.60         $7.45         $8.50         $8.95         $9.95        $10.90
    5                    $6.15         $8.45         $9.80        $10.40       $11.60       $12.80

Also, as you can see above, even if an item is ONE OUNCE over a pound, it will still be shipped as a 2 pound item (and will cost as much accordingly).  I can't tell you how many times my friends, and I included, miscalculated how much an item would weigh AFTER it was packaged up.  Such a mistake can cost a seller upwards of $6!

This has never happened to me, but I've actually heard of buyers OVERCHARGING their return shipping when a seller is kind enough to pay it for them.  Let me remind people that Ebay and Paypal do not require the opposing party to compensate you for return shipping!!  You are responsible for paying the shipping back to the seller, even if you feel they misrepresented their listing.

Now I know I shouldn't complain about listing fees and Paypal fees, but too often I've seen the subject concerning full refunds come up.  It seems that when buyers think they have been cheated by a seller, they expect 100% of their fees to be refunded (and sometimes want the seller to pay for return shipping).  Sometimes this is justified but all too often people become needlessly angry because it's just their nature when they don't get what they expected or wanted.  However, usually, an honest seller simply cannot refund you 100% of what you originally paid just because you're unhappy. 

It usually costs my friends and I around $2.50 to list an item.  Then we get final value fees if the item sells.  AND THEN we get charged by Paypal after receiving payment.  Typically, we list our items for just pennies.  When we list our items starting at less than a dollar we are taking a huge gamble.  And sometimes when they actually sell for that much, WE JUST LOST MONEY. 

For example, our typical auction:
$0.99 auction + $6.05 shipping + $1 handling = $8.04 is paid by you
$8.04 total - $6.05 shipping - $0.35 gallery - $0.50 subtitle - $0.20 insertion - $0.05 final value - $0.40 Paypal fees = $0.49.

That's right, ONLY 49 CENTS!  Now remember what I said about the $1 handling fee?  It doesn't even fully cover packaging materials, tape, paper, gas, and our time.  So when you think about, we just made ONLY 49 CENTS after taking the time to 1) take pictures of an item, 2) measure it, 3) write up a detailed description, 4) list it on Ebay, 5) print out the shipping label and package it, 6) drive to the post office and mail it.

As stated in the About Me section of this Ebay account, my friends and I use Ebay and the internet as a side medium for supporting ourselves through college.  Making just two quarters on an item that cost us all a lot more effort and personal funds to attain is nothing but a joke.  I realize that buyers are on Ebay to search for spectacular deals, but you should all realize the work put behind an auction by honest, dedicated individuals before you even begin to gripe about how a seller overcharged you for shipping.