IMHO, shipping consists of more than the price to actually mail the item. It can legitimately include the packing materials, your cost in getting the item to the post office/mailing store, as well as your time in safely packaging the item. Sometimes it's obvious that the seller is trying to make up for a cheap sales price by inflating the shipping charge, but that's not the only reason for a big shipping fee. If I were going to ship a sewing machine, I would be putting a lot of time and effort into safely packing it, and I would feel perfectly justified charging for that.