Looking at the number of feedbacks this seller is possibly a relative newbie and not familiar with all the shipping options open to them in their country. I will agree it's a trifle extreme in this case. A mistake ? I've done it once or twice.
Buyers assume that because base posage costs for doing the same thing are much lower in their country the seller must be trying to rip them off when they see the equivelent is much higher to them from abroad. I get this problem all the time when trading on Ebay, yet I always use published Royal Mail(RM)/Parcelforce rates, signed for and fully insured to the expected value. I will credit back the insurance if an item does not break a RM imposed value "threshold" at sale. I will sometimes "subsidse" the postage price to encourage bids on higher vaue smaller items.
I never charge for my time for administering the sale, time to pack and time to go down the post office and back. By my estimate the process of photgraphing/editing, listing/editing, even using standard formats, administering and packing for 20 varied items, done properly, is about 6-8 hours work. I don't make a charge for using PayPal although the price is arrived at by a "free" no minimum bid auction not a BIN. OK, very occaisonaly, I will incorporate a charge, at cost only, for specialsed packing boxes and materials I have had to bring in to ensure the stuff arrives in one piece. I always try to use F.O.C. re-cycled materials. As I said before I still get accused of ripping off or offering less than best value to the buyer. Yet somehow I always seem to be able to get top prices for my items most of the time. Go figure.
N.B. In the UK unless I have resonably sized regular pick ups then the likes of DHL/UPS/FedEX have no interest in me as a customer. They will only make their inflated "ready box" services available to me and only from locations 15-20 miles distant rather than the full service village post office that is 100 metres down the road. Sorry you got me on a sore point there.
Max.
