As a small retailer I can tell you that the cost can be comparable (ridiculous though that is) - 20% of the item cost is not unheard of. The wholesalers charge what they want to for shipping and you have no real say in it. Like many ebayers, some of the wholesalers make a portion of their profit off of the shipping charge. And since they have a monopoly on their product you can't really go anywhere else. Wholesalers also get away with cheating retailers - saying things like "free shipping with a $1000 order" but then charging for shipping anyway - and there isn't really much you can do if you want/need to carry their product. Big retailers probably have enough leverage to avoid such things but not small ones :-(

Consider a good board game (not Monopoly or Sorry, etc). Stragegy games promote higher thinking skills and there are a lot of good games out there now. There are games specifically geared towards children (e.g., Forbidden Island and Gulo-Gulo) as well as games that can be enjoyed by children but that involve strategies that take time to master (Carcassonne and Zooloretto are a couple of good choices). The downside of games is that someone has to play with them - And that's the real answer, the most inspiring gift you can give to children is the time to play with them - regardless of what the toy is.