That's because eBay and PayPal fees have nothing to do with shipping and handling. When you know shipping is $1.34 (it's $1.69 for one strike if you use PayPal shipping with delivery confirmation) and someone charges $3, you know they are inflating shipping to make back fees. eBay and PayPal fees are a cost of doing business, and like them or not, you still will get more for an item on eBay than you will anywhere else, and in most cases, you will more than cover the costs and still come out ahead than if you tried to sell elsewhere.

You also aren't taking into account the 40% final value fee discount in effect now if you offer free shipping. For the month of November 2008 (december reports aren't ready yet) I did $17249 in eBay sales, and paid $1120.40 in eBay fees and $376.05 in PayPal fees. Total fees for both is $1496.45, and if you divide that by the total sales, that is only 8.6% combined, nowhere near 25%. Also, the more you do in volume, the lower your percentage is on PayPal. If you hit $10k per month or more in PayPal, you get the lowest percentage.

Argue about eBay all you want, but they are the only game in town that gets results, and if done properly you can do very well on eBay. Trust me, I have had my share of issues with PayPal and eBay, had battles with them on money frozen while they do an "investigation", written letters to both company Presidents, but even with all that stuff, it still can't be beat at this time.

Dave.