"I just bid on an item (not a chip) where the seller stated right in his auction that he would charge a $2.50 handling charge in addition to the cost of shipping. That seemed reasonable to me and I bid. If he had simply "inflated" the shipping cost, I may not have bid."

The problem for a seller who states the handling fee in the listing, but does not include it in the "Shipping" spot on eBay's form is that it's then not automatically added in to the invoice that eBay sends out at the end of the auction. This invoice will only include the bid and shipping amounts as they have been entered into the system.

I think eBay needs to return to labelling "shipping" as "s&h" as most mail order companies do. Then it would be more clear to more buyers that it is not simply postage costs.

-Aahz