It is *completely illegal* to sell fansubs for 
profit. They are legal only so long as the anime 
piece has not been released (or bought for 
potential release) in the US. . . And the **ONLY**
legal method of distributing them is to give them 
away free of charge. Obviously, someone 
distributing fansubs has the right to ask you to 
pay for the tape the fansub is copied onto, and 
they have the right to ask you to pay for postage 
(if shipping is involved) but it is 100% illegal 
for anyone to make a profit off the anime unless 
they have a contract with the people who legally 
own it.

There is one more "gray area" charge that gets 
tacked onto some fansubs - a tiny charge for VCR 
maintenence. This is done by some of the very big 
fansub distributors, but should still be no more 
than about one dollar per tape, if that.

If you're paying anything over about $7 (a price 
that would *include* shipping charges) then the 
person you are receiving the fansub from is most 
likely making a VERY ILLEGAL profit.

Also, you should know that the people who sell 
fansubs on Ebay are disobeying Ebay's rules 
against selling copied/pirated videos. (Go look 
at the list of disallowed items to sell under the 
heading of videos and photos.) Ebay doesn't 
enforce the rule well (there isn't much they do 
enforce well) but the rule still stands.

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac