Damaged physically or internally? If it's too physically damaged I think you'll be out of luck no matter what company you get an MP3 player from. Warranties don't usually cover neglect if it's obviously been dropped, dunked, kicked, etc...
Only to play devil's advocate, I use FedEx shipping quite a bit for eBay and $30 seems about right if they overnight you packing materials with return overnight service as well. You've got to remember - that's $15 one-way to send a package overnight.
I just checked online with my FedEx account and these were the rates, using Apple's address at 1 Infinite Loop, and estimating total package weight at 2lbs. More than likely, Standard Overnight is the service they quoted (one way, shown below.)
FedEx First Overnight
8:30 AM Tue Feb 24,2009 $45.50
FedEx Priority Overnight
10:30 AM Tue Feb 24,2009 $18.22
FedEx Standard Overnight
3:00 PM Tue Feb 24,2009 $15.86
FedEx 2Day
4:30 PM Wed Feb 25,2009 $9.58