I would steer clear of any auction item where the shipping charges are exagerated to make up for a low bid price on the item. Your recourse with either eBay or Paypal (if thats how you paid) is limited to the cost of the goods, not the shipping.
Generally it is not allowed on eBay to inflate shipping costs to make up for cheap prices as eBay receive less commission on those transactions. I have noticed a seller from Macau running nearly all of his auctions at 0.99 Buy It Now with exhorbitant shipping charges qouted to make up his costs, I am amazed eBay has not shut him down. I would avoid sellers like that like the plague.
On the whole, I have always found eBay a very safe place to buy and sell, I personally have nearly 1400 positive feedback from both buying and selling and have only ever had 2 bad deals in 7 years.
Just my 0.02