Shipping charges imposed by ebay are higher than what seller actually received

[varnavasnicolaou]

I recently bought a set of AirPods from a reputable seller on ebay. The invoice I received had a shipping charge of GBP24.64. When I questioned the seller about it, saying that the charges were too high for a simple intra-EU postage, the seller showed me proof that he in fact only charged and received GBP6 for shipping of my item! Why has ebay charged me this much higher shipping fee while the seller himself only received a much lower one? Who has pocketed the difference? ebay?

Please let me have your opinion on this.

Many thanks in advance.

[rusticrye]

Everything you need to know about using Ebay, including what the Global Shipping Programme is and how it works, is in the Help pages with their integral search. You are also shown exactly what you will pay separately to the global shipper on every listing where the GSP is used, so I'm not sure how you managed to miss this very clear information.

You pay the seller only for the item, and the domestic shipping cost (to get the item to the global shipping hub in their country). You pay the global shipper separately for the international leg of the journey, for any sales and import taxes charged by your government, for the carrier's admin fee for collecting those taxes on your government's behalf, and for the global shipper's costs. 

@varnavasnicolaou