Here is a rough guide of what it costs to POST some items by royal mail etc. Just so you know. Included are USA to UK rates:

CD - 50p 2nd class 70p 1st class
VHS size packet £1.20 2nd class £1.48 1st class
DVD - 50p 2nd Class, 70p 1st Class
CD from USA $4.50 1st class intl $6 Priority
DVD from USA $6 1st class intl $7.50 Priority
GUITAR EXPEDITED USA TO UK (usual intl rate) $120 dollars is the average price

I grow so very tired of seeing that small percentage (not so small if you look around and know your rares), doing what they like and charging what they like. Ebay has in place an EXCESSIVE POSTAGE AND PACKING POLICY, which means that the rule is policed and taken care of. That is what a policy is for!

On a few occasions, where postage is ridiculous, Ive had to manually lower postage in the seller discount and charges box. Where i deduct the difference from the postage to a fair one. E.g. cd or dvd £2 quid and I still allow a decent amount over that too since paypal fees arent much to cover but shouldnt be covered by the buyer.

A lot of sellers have said to me "If you dont agree with it dont bid". No! I don't think so. I want the item. The seller by agreement must sell to the winning bidder FOLLOWING EBAYS POLICIES AND NOT BREACHING THEM. That's a crummy attitutde to have. But fortunately, ebay have taken measures against this, which I dont think affect selling too much. Instead of items being pushed further down, the items should have a small mark next to them e.g. seller rating for postage. In an optional seperate column.

A few times, where nothing can be worked out between myself and the short sighted, arrogant illogical seller, I have gone to paypal after paying in full, and created a paypal claim case where there is an option for excess postage to be ticked. After, I point out the policy page where it clearly states that sellers may only charge postage cost, packing cost and SMALL!!! handling fee....

A few examples of my own experience:

1. Seller 1: CD won for 99 cents... postage from USA - 30 dollars (actual cost from USA, 4.50-6 dollars). After paying full amount, and seller refusing to sell... created claim case, won back money which he refused to refund. Left negative feedback including follow up for more room to write in.

2. Seller 2: Guitar won from buyer. Paid 30 postage. Sent by royal mail for £12. - Created claim case - was then refunded £18. Said nothing to seller.

3. Seller 3: DVD won for £2. Postage charge £3.95 *(Actual cost of sending 50-70p (2nd or 1st class) Same as a CD. Am currently dealing with this. I usually email and I'm cool about it. I explain myself in full. The seller usually tries to snap back with a short... if you dont like it you should have bid for it. Kind of like trying to hold up a shield... but that shield can be broken down pretty quickly if you know what you're doing.

Amazon marketplace has templates for selling and a cd and dvd both have 1.24 postage and books all have 2.75 postage. This sucks sometimes since a small book costs 98p to send (thin A4 size) A larger book would cost 5-6 quid (e.g. big 1000 page textbook). The sellers on amazon take this into account and price slightly higher.

A lot of times, sellers cnat face the fact that they will not get what they paid for an item originally.

Ebay couls use this same template for listings. In some categories anyway e.g. Media.

Some sellers charge postage excessively to circumvent ebay fees since final value fees are only charged for the actual item and not postage. There is a REPORT ITEM link at the bottom of the page and one of the options to report for is circumvention of ebay fees (e.g. seller selling Ipod for 99 pence while postage is 90 quid - Good example of this)

Soon.... Sellers will not be able to retaliate with negative feedback towards buyers so honesty can be used more often when leaving feedback. Some users buy and sell from the same account so therefore cannot risk doing so sometimes. A lot are complaining about it being unfair but crapy buyers are far and few inbetween. I havent dealt with any bad buyers and have sold over 400 items. Mostly because I am an honest seller myself with an honourable business attitude. Very realxed too and allow plenty of time for payment.
If you are an honest seller, you wont have any problems at all. Should you require help, if you follow ebays policies and point them out to the buyer, seller.... if they have an ounce of logic and reasoning, they should see their error. The importance of reading the site rules and help pages to educate yourself should really be stressed to new members. And old members too.

Will write more later.