I've been selling on Ebay for about 3 years now and have delt with all sorts of people from all over the planet. Most of the people I deal with are very nice and understand the concept that shipping something somewhere isn't free. I tend to pack my items extemely well, and because of this, I plan on absorbing some of the shipping costs myself. My philosophy is simple, if the shipping company loses or damages the goods, I'm the one that will get the negative feed back, so for my buyers, the buck is going to stop with me. Mostly I deal with tin wind up toys, robots and guitars. The guitars have been the easiest to deal with because I charge a flat rate and pack them like they are going on the space shuttle. Tin toys and robots have proven to be more problematic. Some people think all you have to do is wrap a little newspaper around them, throw them in an old shoe box , put a stamp on it, and drop it in a mail box.  I've had some items that were so badly packed and shipped to me, its a wonder they ever made it to me in one piece. I try to pack stuff the way I like to receive it. For the longest time I thought the answer was plenty of big bubble wrap and packing peanuts and about 3 to 4 inches of space around the entire item. The big bubble wrap is rather expensive and I was using plenty of it. I also like to use new boxes for sturdiness, and that usually added another three to four dollars. If I didn't have to use a new box I would always refund a few dollars to the buyer. I would use a lot of bubble wrap for an expensive toy robot, and would charge an average of $10.00 for packing materials. I hear some of you gasping right now, but read on. If I could re-use old bubble wrap I would refund some of that charge. Recently, I sold two wind up robot toys worth about $400 to a buyer in New York and shipped it via a shipping company I will call FX. I packed both items with plenty of the big bubble wrap and surrounded that with about 3 to 4 inches of packing peanuts. The box was damaged during the shipping process, and somewhere along the way they items were removed and the box was retaped by FX and shipped to my buyer. My buyer called me immediately. The item was insured and the claim was paid, but that left a real nasty taste in my mouth, and I no longer use FX  because of it. I have also had to re-think my packaging strategy. I went to the home improvement store and bought some 1 1/2 inch thick styrofoam board used for insulating houses. Now I use smaller amounts of bubble wrap and I can custom make a styrofoam box to go around the item. I use wooden skewers to hold the box together while I tape it with packing tape in every direction. I put this box inside a card board shipping container and use packing tape to seal it in every direction. I do tend to use quite a bit more packing tape these days. I can re-use the card board shipping boxes now though, because the item is already wrapped in a sturdy styrofoam container and the contents are a bit safer from theft and damage. I also take pictures of the whole process to not only show my buyer but anyone handling a claim who might need to see how the item was packed in the event it gets damaged. Yes its a lot of work, and I still charge $10.00 for packing materials and I know it is costing me a bit  more than I'm charging  to do this. I also try to use the U S Postal Service as much as possible, because they seem to have a slightly better record than the other shipping companies I've tried using in the past.
 When ever I list a wind up toy or a tin robot, I know I will always end up with at least one person a day complaining about my shipping charges. Not only that, they feel they have to be rude too. Some  accuse me of gouging and what ever. These aren't the types of people I am going to sell to in the first place. They  usually won't bid anyway. That is fine, and I want to help them not bid in any of my auctions ever again. I go to the site map and add their user name to my Blocked Bidder List. I have had some of these same people try to bid in other auctions later on  and ask me why they were blocked. I don't bother responding  as it isn't worth getting into it with them. I understand that may come off as abrasive, but I have good customer feedback and quite a few repeat customers because I do try to go the extra mile. Please  remember, not everyone that charges for packing materials charge is out to scam you. They might just be trying to insure your item gets to you in good condition.