Amazon gives non-Prime members free shipping at $35 or more of eligible items. Instead of simply letting users get the product with free shipping, they’ve added a discount that prices it exactly one cent below the $35 limit, while only subsidizing the price with $3.38, which is about half of what they’ll then charge you for shipping.
Are your 2 separate friends not checking ebay’s seller ratings and buying scummy shit from scummy sellers without using PayPal’s buyer protections?