Not horribly long ago, I saw an auction I was 
interested in where the seller was wanting to 
ship the cel with the expensive next-day 
shipping. I sent them an email saying I was 
interested in bidding on their auction, but would 
it be possible to please ship at the regular 3-5 
day rate if I won, to cut back on shipping costs? 
They wrote back saying no, they couldn't/wouldn't 
ship it any other way, and that if I was buying a 
cel from Japan, I could easily pay far more for 
shipping. (Of course, it was because I'd been 
consistently shelling out $20-30-40 for EMS that 
I was feeling like a break on paying for postage 
coming from the next state over. ^_^)

So I went ahead and accepted that, bid on the 
cel, and won it. The cel cost less than the 
shipping. It was my choice to do that... but I've 
still got this tick mark against them in my 
mind. ;o) Of course, your case is different, in a 
way, since they're doing silly things like asking 
for unsafe shipping... but I really don't think 
that, say, saddling your bidders with the most 
expensive postage possible for nondescript cels 
is a good way to build up a healthy rapport with 
them. *g*

-Cres