[Tanniker Smith]

I have to agree with you. I stopped buying stuff on eBay because the shipping was ridiculous. I bought in the old days when people package and mailed things themselves at the Post Office. Now they just use UPS and charge high fees for everything.

I remember the days of shipping books to someone second class to save on the postage. (His choice, he took the risk.)

I have literally seen auctions for things worth about a dollar (regardless of the bid price) that had have shipping costs of 8 bucks or more. Just silly.

The impulse buys have disappeared for me entirely.

[Stoat]

I stopped buying stuff on eBay because the shipping was ridiculous.

Although I agree with what you say about not buying things without careful consideration, I'm wondering if I might be so bold as to suggest a reconsideration of your blanket condemnation of eBay buying due to the shipping costs....there are at least a few reasons for this:

• Many sellers have very low shipping rates.....but if the item is a really good deal, be prepared for highly competitive bidding which will bring your ultimate costs up anyway.
• I have purchased high-ticket items from sellers who have breathtakingly high shipping fees, for the reason that the high shipping costs will scare many buyers away and so the bidding on the item is frequently more sedate.  I've frequently gotten spectacular deals on things with astronomical shipping rates.....but my end cost was far less than I could have hoped to get it anywhere else....all because I was the only one bidding on the item because the shipping cost was so high.
• Judge each seller independently and look at their feedback statements, not just the numbers.  I've found that reputable sellers who charge a bit more for shipping will oftentimes package your item quite a bit better.  Many sellers view their quality of packaging as a point of pride (those sellers are in my "favorite sellers" list) but they view this service as being something of value and so they won't give it away, which I consider reasonable on their part.  If you pay rock-bottom prices for shipping and your item arrives broken, the hassle and expense that you'll go through in order to correct the matter will far outweigh any savings you've garnered on the original shipping fees.  But it's true....there are some unscrupulous sellers out there who will charge an arm and a leg for shipping an inexpensive, unbreakable item via the cheapest and slowest possible route in a flimsy wrapper.

Caveat Emptor.