http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1762447003
Nine dollars??? 
Good Lord, look at the shipping and handling?!!
K
This looks like the cheap ādecorative whistleā that came on a flower arrangement I sent my wife last year for Valentineās.
It wouldnāt even produce a sound dry, much less when dunked (and dissolving) in a glass of liquid.
Itās amazing what you can sell on Ebay, and at what price!
āJames
http://www.flutesite.com
Makes me distrust the feedback ā buyers praise this guy to the stars. I guess that just means they received what they paid for . . .
Tery
Looks like a lazy way to make a slide whistle
I have a really simple philosophy about auctions like this - anybody who wins this auction richly deserves toā¦
John
I wouldnāt pay that thing drunk. Could you imagine getting too spirited, slamming the end into the bottom of the cup and swallowing it??!!
On 2002-08-29 12:51, Chuck_Clark wrote:
Looks like a lazy way to make a slide whistle
I think the Juice Whistle is meant for those times when you are too drunk to notice that a straw with a fipple-hole doesnāt work very well but you keep trying anyway.
I just saw the āshipping chargeā. asuming heās using uninsured Priority Mail, which most sellers do for US domestic shipping (and he says he wonāt ship outside the US), then heās also making a 100%+ profit on the mailing. Not a bad scam, but not someone Iād ever deal with.
This is not necessarily true.
Iāve done a lot of shipping on ebay; good packing materials aināt cheap. Peanuts or bubble wrap can add $.50 or $1.00 to the cost of shipping. A good box (if the USPS is out of shipping boxes..as happens sometimes) can add up to another $2.00.
Of course, itās not fair to assume uninsured priority mail with no features. I often tacked on delivery confirmation to prove I shipped an item and help avoid fraudulent paypal chargebacks.
Base rate priority is $3.85. Adding Delivery confirmation ($.45) makes it 4.30. Add insurance ($1.30 minimum) makes it $5.60. Even without the insurance, it only leaves $2.70 to account for packaging and handling.
Even if you get the product in a cheap hand-made box packed with newsprint, the guyās making a couple bucks max on the shipping.
Iād often charge $5.50 to $6.00 for priority shipping (on light-weight items) back before the latest rate increase. Sometimes, Iād come out ahead. Sometimes (because of additional packaging costs) Iād come out behind. I doubt I made more than $10 āshipping profitā on all the items I shipped, combined.
Of course, then you have to factor in āhandlingā for someone whoās doing Ebay as a business. This charge factors in the gas, car depreciation, and the time spent standing in line at the post officeā¦and these factors are more likely to show up on a small seller with a smaller profit margin than with some company like Amazon (who can more readily absorb these losses into the profits of millions of salesāeconomies of scale and all that). A company like Amazon can also make better deals with shippersā¦I remember being able to get $3.00 overnight shipping from Airborne Express back when I used to purchase $4million/year computer equipment for the company I worked for.
In short, Iād hesitate to call it a āscamā, unless you get the thing mailed first-class postage (at which point the costs drop considerably). Unforutnately, I have seen this kind of thing happenā¦its always good to clear with the seller what the shipping costs go toward.
That $9.00 initial bid, on the other handā¦ 
Greg
On 2002-08-29 14:35, Chuck_Clark wrote:
I just saw the āshipping chargeā. asuming heās using uninsured Priority Mail, which most sellers do for US domestic shipping (and he says he wonāt ship outside the US), then heās also making a 100%+ profit on the mailing. Not a bad scam, but not someone Iād ever deal with.
[ This Message was edited by: Wandering_Whistler on 2002-08-29 15:24 ]
On 2002-08-29 10:17, Bloomfield wrote:
Nine dollars??? >
Maybe you get the glass, filled with cider to go along with it?
Aodhan
Heheā¦the number of page views was at 6 this morning, and now it is at 90. Wonder if weāre confusing the sellerā¦
If you ask me someone who would sit and figure handling and packing and all kinds of other non sense charges is trying to make money on the shipping. jeez. get a free priority box from the post office and wrap that stupid whistle in grocery bags.
On 2002-08-29 16:07, avanutria wrote:
Wonder if weāre confusing the sellerā¦
It probably doesnāt take much to do that.
This is not funnyā¦
On 2002-08-29 19:33, Tony wrote:
This is not funnyā¦
No it sucksā¦
Get it? it Sucksā¦ Ha Ha
Oops! I guess it doesnāt, It blows!
edited to change my mind.
~Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often~
[ This Message was edited by: chattiekathy on 2002-08-29 20:36 ]
The āfreeā box is not always available. I was pretty sure I mentioned that. I have had to buy boxes from the post office when I got there and they didnāt have any free boxes available. Theyāre generally around $2.00 for a box of comparable size.
There have also been times when Iāve been out of newspaper, grocery bags, and the like, and had to buy shipping materials.
So, are you saying that ebay sellers should eat $3 or $4 in packing costs on a $5.00-$10 item? ājeezā indeed.
On 2002-08-29 18:46, Adriel wrote:
If you ask me someone who would sit and figure handling and packing and all kinds of other non sense charges is trying to make money on the shipping. jeez. get a free priority box from the post office and wrap that stupid whistle in grocery bags.