Why do people put all of the money they want to sell an item for on ebay in the shipping???

Like put $400.00 for shipping and put $0.01 starting bid on the item???
Is it against ebay rules, terms of use, or something like that???

I an eBay buyer and seller... And I've noticed the same thing too. I think they feel that if they put something up for Auction and they don't get a good response that they loose money on their item. So to compensate they jack up the price on the S&H even tho their item didn't do as well in the auction.

It is against EBay rules. You are not supposed to "Cushion" your shipping fees to cover the eBay fees, and to make money on shipping. That is usually the reason, to make their fees back, and to be sure they get out of it what they want. EBay has fees, and so does pay pal, and it nickles and dimes the sellers to death!! Be weary of these items, because you can usually find them cheaper, if you look at the items starting from least to most expensive. You can report the seller BEFORE YOU PAY FOR AN ITEM. But ususally if you bid, knowing what the costs are upfront, you have no luck!


FROM EBAYS RULE BOOK PEOPLE:
Listings cannot use techniques to avoid or circumvent eBay fees.
Except as noted in the specific policy as exceptions, sellers cannot:

Offer a catalog from which buyers may directly order.

Allow buyers a choice of items.

Exceed multiple listing limits.

List a single item but offer additional identical items for sale in the item description.

Include separate payment surcharges that buyers pay to use ordinary forms of payment.

Misuse the Reserve Price option.

Charge excessive shipping.

Offer the opportunity through eBay to purchase the item or other merchandise outside of eBay.

Use their About Me Page to promote outside-of-eBay sales or prohibited items.

I don't think it's against the rules. People can set their own shipping costs.
It's a marketing scheme. Let's think. While you're scrolling away through all the listings, would you even click on a listing that shows $300.00 starting bid? Probably not. It's a ploy where sellers use to get people to click on their listings. You see a $0.01 listing, so you click it. Then, you notice the hundreds of dollars of shipping cost.
Yes, it sucks. But what can you do? Nothing. Just don't buy from that scam artist.

It's so if the item does sell for only a penny, they still make their money. It makes their listing fees cheaper. There are no rules against it, but after the auction is done, and you leave feedback, you are allowed to leave feedback as to if the shipping charges are fair, and the seller doesn't see that feedback, that goes to eBay. Good luck!