[novakjr]

I think a lot of times this happens because the seller was unhappy with the final winning bid. Sellers sometimes list stuff with lower than cost shipping to attract people, and then when it doesn't sell for as much as they wanted, they pull the "but it'll cost this to ship" pitty crap to try and get an extra few bucks..

I picked up a Feller signed ball on ebay a few years ago that had(something like) 3.50 shipping listed in the auction. The seller made the mistake of having the auction end on a monday at around 10 in the morning, so I won the auction for around $10. I promptly payed, only to get a message from the seller demanding an addition $4 for shipping because that what he said it would actually cost to ship it. I really did feel bad about such a low price, BUT a deal is a deal. I very "Un-politely" told him that the auction stated $3.50 so he was just going to have to deal with it.. The ball came somewhat quickly, and actually did cost him right around $7.50 to ship it, BUT the point is that he voluntarily chose to only charge $3.50.

He probably also should've mentioned the mlb authentication sticker in the auction, I'm sure people would've bid more had he mentioned it. I was pleasantly surprised to find it on the ball upon it's arrival.

Most people bid with shipping cost in mind. If someone was to buy an item for $15 with $3 shipping, that same person would've been willing to pay $18 with free shipping. Basically, they're buying an item that they know will cost them a total of $18 either way. There ultimately is no such thing as FREE SHIPPING, it's always built into the price.

Trying to tack on money after the fact is straight out classless.. Ebay should standardize shipping, by eliminating shipping prices. That way it would just be built into the bids.