The current, ludicrous, rating system that EBAY has saddled sellers with, is grossly unfair, capricious, and loaded against them.  My purpose in writing this guide, is to advise buyers of what is, and what is not reasonable expectations of a seller's shipping & handling responsibilities.

Sellers do NOT establish the cost of shipping your purchase.  That is determined by the carrier (USPS, UPS, FEDEX) and is directly related to size, weight, and distance shipped.  Handling charges are those costs a seller encounters for packaging, packing, and transporting your item to the shipping office.  Honest sellers clearly state, in their ads, just what these handling charges will be.  In addition, most sellers also include a shipping calculator in their ad, which tells you, within a few cents, exactly what it is going to cost you to ship your purchase BEFORE you submit your bid.  This calculator adds any handling charges BEFORE it displays the shipping total.  It also shows up to 3 carriers prices for the service.  This information is clearly, and readily available to you PRIOR to submitting your bid.  If you disagree with the prices quoted, then you shouldn't bid on the item. 

When a seller gives you this information in advance, and you choose to purchase from him, then any complaint about "high shipping/handling charges" should be directed towards yourself; not, the seller.  Only if these fees are NOT specified before bidding, do you have the right to chastise the seller after the purchase.  Dispite what EBAY's ludicrous and disconnected  management will try and tell you, it's YOUR fault if you bid on something that is too costly to ship, and you were advised beforehand.  Take some pride in your own judgement, and accept personal responsibility for your own actions and judgement.  Don't develop buyers remorse after the sale and then try and slander the seller under the disguise of annonymity as EBAY encourages you to do.

This latest fiasco of rating systems that EBAY has fostered upon us is ludicrous to say the least, and is unfair and discriminatory at best. It, alone, is the reason that good, honest sellers are leaving the EBAY community in record numbers; and, why YOU the buyer have an ever-diminishing spectrum of choices available to you.  Every seller does NOT have access to discount shipping fees from UPS, USPS and/or FEDEX.  These discounts are only offered to volume sellers who move thousands of pieces each month.  The rest of us (the bulk of EBAYS merchants)  must charge the regular fees.  If you don't like that, then don't buy from us; and, find some volume merchant who will sell you your item and ship it to you at the price YOU consider proper. 

EBAY heavily weighs the "rating" system in favor of the buyer and handcuffs the seller with it.  The seller cannot rate a buyer as anything less than outstanding; whereas, any buyer can slander and ridicule a seller, with or without reason, annonymously.  The seller has no recourse, but to accept the slander.  A single bad star rating, deserved or not, will take 500 transactions by the seller to live down.  How is this fair?  I have seen hundreds of bad star ratings given by buyers, with absolutely NO  support for such a rating  stated in the written comments.  This is cowardice at least and is underhanded and childish at best.  If you think a seller deserves less than a 5 star rating, then be adult enough to SAY so and take credit for your opinion in your narrative when you rate him!  Regardless of what you do or say, the seller's hands are tied, in that he cannot say anything about you or defend himself from your attack, because of EBAY's stupid, head-in-the-sand,  policy.