eBay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

eBay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Other controversial practices of users
Sellers of inexpensive items may benefit from inflating the shipping cost while lowering the starting price for their auctions, because some buyers overlook the shipping cost when calculating the amount they are willing to spend. Since eBay charges their fees based on final sales price without including shipping, this allows sellers to reduce the amount they pay eBay in fees (and also allows buyers to reduce or avoid import fees and sales taxes). This is called 'fee avoidance', and is prohibited by eBay policy, as are excessive shipping and handling charges. A danger to the buyer in such cases is that in the event of defective merchandise, the seller may claim to have met his refund obligations by returning only the minimal purchase price and not the shipping costs.
Sellers sometimes charge fees for use of PayPal as well to cover the fees that PayPal charges them. Although this is officially banned by eBay and PayPal and is against some local laws as well as violating merchant agreements with Visa, MasterCard, and Discover (except in the UK), eBay does sometimes police for this and will suspend auctions where the seller requests an additional fee for taking PayPal. This could lead inexperienced users to pay these illegal and unenforceable fees."