I would disagree here, as eBay shipping charges can vary wildly. I have had one seller charge $1 shipping for a comic book because that it what the actual postage was, while another charged $5 because he wrapped it in cardboard to keep it flat, wrapped that in newspaper, and charged $1 for the manila envelope. eBay permits packing materials to be included in the shipping charge.
Similarly, some sellers list a fixed shipping price in the auction (which I think is clear and easy for a bidder to evaluate at the outset, even if it is slightly higher than the actual postage). Others compute the final shipping based on weight and postal rate to winning bidder's ZIP code. Some even require insurance be purchased for certain items.
A few sellers, when asked by me during the course of the auction, have responded with outlandish shipping charges, which meant I did not bid. The point here is that I take nothing for granted when it comes to shipping, and always check it out in advance. In the case of the OP, as we all know by now, he did check it out ($25) and decided to bid, anyway. The fact that the item was not well-packaged and did not really justify the high shipping cost, was after the fact. Fortunately the item arrived intact.
