Gouging! Re: My first problem w/ ebay came up... needs your advices

I have had to "drop ship" items to customers from warehouses, to include on shipping charges that the original shipper (such as HP) has included in the price, and make money by adding phoney shipping. In some instances the large flat fee is good, especially if you live in Florida and buy from a seller in Washington state. I usually use a nearby zip to estimate what the shipping would be for UPS and then figure in what the seller has to get involved with in packing and materials to see if it would be worth my while. I have seen stuff that was priced really low, to include the buy-it-now, only to see a ridiculous flat rate shipping. I have a heavy Lexmark laser on ebay now and I calculated (realistically) that packing materials to ship it properly would cost me about $9.50 (bubblewrap, peanuts, heavy wall box (or two identical single walls) so I posted that as a "packing/material fee" and then posted that actual UPS ground applies to the bid and packing fee. I can't get anymore real with the buyer than that. I just bought a different Lexmark strictly to get one with a duplexer and network card, and they had a flat $45 shipping listed. It shipped from Sacramento, CA to me in middle KY and I estimated that the 60+ lb box by UPS ground would cost $42 alone so they got $3 for a very well done packing job. I made out on that one where I've bought printers for customers (to resell essentially) and needed one super fast so I've gone for a $65 shipping/packing from Ohio but I made that back from the customer, as well as being able to snipe my way in last minute and get a good price. The total of bid and shipping still allowed me to make about $25 on the resale.