Speaking from the other point of view, while $25 does seem a bit high I understand why shipping and handling costs can be higher than the cost of the parts. A couple of years ago, when I was actively putting together kits of hard-to-find parts and printed circuit boards for the CPU280 project, I saw first-hand the costs involved, especially when buying antistatic packaging supplies.
It would be easy to use the Amazon model and just build the price of shipping into the cost of the part, but even Amazon draws a line, as there are things I've ordered that had to be 'add-on' items since the cost of the item wouldn't cover the cost of shipping. Amazon is also able to cut deals with shippers for better rates, and smaller businesses (such as my hobby business doing the CPU280 stuff) don't have that leverage.
But the small box flat-rate shipping alone is at least $7.35 for Priority Mail; Priority Express is $25 or more. And then there is the cost of the packing material....
I understand the idea to build the cost of shipping and packaging into the item price, but I preferred, when I was actively shipping kits out, to quote costs for the parts (including in the parts costs a bit of my time to test the chips I shipped, especially the Z8028012VSC MPU chips and the very hard to find particular FDC used by the CPU280) and then let the buyer know that there was a cost for packaging; in my case, for US buyers I charged a flat $10 for shipping and handling (shipping with insurance for the kit of parts and board was usually $9 or so, and that left >$1 for my time to package it plus the various antistatic materials and bubble wrap). International was more, but International Priority Mail is rather expensive anyway, and as I recall I think I just barely broke even on that, with the cost $34.95 or so and I think I charged $35 flat S&H for International. Having said that, I didn't experience a single lost package with International Priority, and the shipping speed was pretty good.
So, while $25 might seem steep for shipping a few chips, the business overhead has to be covered somewhere, and some businesses choose to subsidize overhead across the parts costs, and some subsidize with the shipping and handling costs. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just saying that the business overhead costs have to come from somewhere, or eventually the business will close. In my case, after figuring my costs, over one year I netted like $16 or so for about $1,000 gross sales of just the CPU280, according to the P&L spreadsheet I prepared for filing my tax return for that year. Good thing that wasn't my primary business!
