"the captain" wrote in message
om...
for those of you that buy on ebay, do you look at the shipping price
and deduct that from the maximum you are willing to pay or do you just
ignore shipping and bid whatever you want.

this is something I have wondered for a few years now

NEVER EVER BID on anything until you
get a shipping fee quoted IN WRITING via
reply e-mail, with the full understanding by the
seller that he will agree to this pre-quoted shipping
fee if you win the auction. You can usually then tell
if he's making extra cream-on-the-side via an inflated
shipping fee and decide to bid afterwards. Bottom line
is if the seller has inflated shipping fees, it's a good
bet he's another former "hamfest gypsy" salesman
who's closed up shop at the flea markets and is
now scamming via e-Screw. Easy eh?