[quote name='electrictroy']Also, you've told me what handling is NOT, but you still haven't told me what handling IS. Please define it for me. Marx's theory was a decent theory. But it had one fatal flaw: It depends upon humans being honest & fair, and that will never happen. There are always a few who will lay around all day, doing nothing, and just sucking off the system like parasites. Or else, rise to leadership and steal from the common property. The foundation of Marx's theory is "humans are angels", and that's simply not true.[/quote]
I'm talking about his criticisms of capitalism, which, if anything, indicates that people are anything but angels; that's neither here nor there, so I'll drop that.
What is handling? That's a good question, and an ambiguous one at best; at the moment, you are looking at it one way, and I another. I contacted eBay to explicitly ask "can a seller include their listing fees, final price fee, and paypal fees in shipping and handling costs?" We'll find out soon enough; having looked at eBay's help pages, I assume that their official answer is "no." However, they seem to skirt around the issue of the large gray area for excessive shipping (and they also don't define handling). They say that $25 shipping for a DVD is excessive; what about $15? $20? $10? They don't say. I think that they are looking the other way when it comes to sellers deceiving buyers, while their official rarely-enforced company line is to prevent "escessive fees." In other words, they've not done a damn thing about it.
Yes, I have. It's obvious. Think about it. As for disclaimers, I have no objections. to adding this to my sales:
DISCLAIMER: "A shipping and handling fee can cover the seller's reasonable costs for mailing, packaging and handling the item." - Ebay policy. Mailing = $2. Packaging = $1. Handling = $2. TOTAL SHIP & HANDLING = $5.00
Why don't you list the individual eBay fees too? You know: "Handling=eBay listing fee: 0.30; eBay final item fee: 1.20; Paypal fee:0.50." Your hypothetical quote above provides no indication that you're making the buyer pay for your costs as a seller, and you're still deceiving them.
myke.