Why do people sell stuff for 1 cent on ebay?

I've bought several things from ebay for 1 cent or 6 cents, with free shipping. Most of the time it's just stupid little things like phone jacks, hard drive cables, or things that aren't worth much, but with free shipping, I'm literally sending 1 cent or 6 cents to the seller, who then has to mail me the item, which I'm sure costs a lot in postage, especially since most of them are from Asia or somewhere else internationally. Occasionally I'll get CDs for 25 cents, or other items where the price doesn't even cover a single postage stamp, with free shipping. It would be cheaper for these sellers to throw their stuff in the trash rather than send it to me. I'm wondering why people would do this instead of setting their start price at least high enough to cover shipping.

2 months ago - -1 answers