10 Brand New baby items for $.01!!!!! WOW! Except you end up paying $26.99 to ship them. The actual shipping cost is usually more around $3-$8.

This is a practice called fee circumvention. A seller makes almost the entire amount from shipping in order to avoid paying Ebay fees. Those same sellers also know that you buyers want a good deal and search for the lowest prices. And since many buyers don't read the entire listing, you may never see how much you are truly paying until the invoice comes.

If reported these listings can be removed and you the buyer could lose out. If you end up returning the items, you might not get the S&H amount back, which means you could also lose all of your money.

Now I will admit that I have bought from a couple sellers like this in the past and saved some money. Truthfully that is why we shop on Ebay, to get hard to find items or for below retail prices.

What many new ebayers fail to realize, is that the same items are often available by more honest sellers that are not circumventing fees.

To my astonishment, these $.01 auctions with $26.99 S&H are getting bids and the same items for $14.99 with $6 S&H are going unsold.

You can save $6.00 and buy from an honest seller and get the same items. All you have to do is stop passing up the higher starting prices and stop doing searches only for the lowest price. 

This does not mean that all penny auctions are bad. Many sellers do start penny auctions and still charge normal shipping. Just beware of those with the very high shipping as these sellers are often the reason that Ebay is getting a bad name.

Just remember if these sellers are dishonest with Ebay by avoiding fees, what will they be dishonest with you about?

In addition, most sellers with high shipping costs either do not offer combined shipping discounts or only reduce it by a couple dollars. Sellers with lower shipping prices often significantly reduce shipping when you buy multiple items. Again, you save even more money.

In conclusion, if you can get the best deal for your money with the fee circumventer, by all means, go ahead and buy. But before you do, make sure that it is really the best deal. Calculate the overall price.

Don't be fooled by $.01  or  $.99  with $30 S&H