Geez, I live $45 miles closer to the guy than MikeV does and that seller wants to charge me more for shipping, $17.85? I know some people go around the Ebay fees by charging very little for an item and jacking up the shipping charge to make up for the small amount that a person bids for. Ebay charges a fee for the selling amount but does not charge a fee for shipping costs.
But if unknowing bidders doesn't see the inflated shipping price and a bidders war starts then the winning bidder REALLY loses big time money. In that case Ebay wins and the seller wins and the bidder loses a lot.
I got hit with that trick shipping trick...once. I won a Ebay auction a bicycle reflector for 99 cents and the shipping was $4. That was OK with me. The seller sent me a 'second chance' offer for another reflector for 99 cents and I figured I could use another one for another bike I had. And I could save on a shipping cost too. I payed the $2 for the lights and $4 shipping and waited a month for no product to show. I finally got a notice from Ebay that I did not pay for an auction. After contacting the seller, you can guess the rest of the story, he wanted $4 MORE to pay for the second light even though he was shipping them both in the same box. He explained it to me that the lights are minimum price to bid and he charges $4 shipping PER ITEM with no combining to save costs. He also explained the trick of underpricing the product and overpricing the shipping to worm more money out of Ebay.
Tough luck for me. Yes, with Ebays clout backing the seller I had to pay. It cost me $10 for a product that I could go to the local clearance store and get for $2. And junkie toy flashers were sent the cheapest media mail that took forever to get to me...about 85 cents was the sellers cost.
I didn't leave feedback because I wouldn't win that situation against the seller and Ebay. It was a bitter learning pill I swallowed in that situation.
So the seller on that auction is keeping the price low and you will make up for the price with the shipping cost so the seller can save a few pennies from Ebay.
There 'otta' be a law against that.