don't some of you realise that there is no ebay mandatory law that you have to post on every thread.

No, really? Well I never and I have been trying to comply for such a long time, now I won't feel so bad having the odd half hour off :^O

one seller wanted $15.95 international post, and the other wanted $28.99 US. When I asked if the higher one would match the lower post price, he said postage was not determined by him, he simply put his item details in, and the E Bay site selected the postage required and it included registering and insurance of the parcel. Personally I think its crock!

No it isn't a crock, the first seller may have posted by a service that did not have seller protection, they may have used less packaging and they may have had a far smaller stockroom so it took them less time to find and package the item. The second seller nay have been using a tracked and insured delivery service, have use more expensive packaging materials and may have had a far higher number of stock items and so spent more time on packaging and handling.