TomSwango:

Could be they were rude so they could be rid of you as a customer. The way things seem to operate with some companies nowadays is if they get it right most of the time for most of the customers, they don't want to deal with people that have a logical argument before they even purchase anything.

You may or may not be right about the shipping charge being part of the profit, but if you think they are gouging people, try opening your own shop and see if you can do better.

Just so you know, I am not being flippant, but having done other things as a side business, and currently doing some knife sales on the side, not all that comes my way is the large profit that some may think exists if all they saw is my cost and my selling price. You can make a profit on food at a low mark up because it is sold everyday on a large scale, and here in Wisconsin, the average large store has a 1% to 1.5% profit margin on groceries. Jewelry stores the world over charge 100's and 1,000's of percent mark up because jewelry is not a large scale purchased commodity.

Good luck!

Bountyhunter