I posted about this in the Google forums (http://goo.gl/GgLIw) but didn't get any help in actually fixing this issue. There is a "hidden" break tag being added into the code after the dollar sign:
<td align="right" nowrap="nowrap" width="1%">$<br>
<input id="item_price_1" name="item_price_1" onfocus="this.style.color='black'; this.value='';" size="11" style="color:grey;" type="text" value="Amount">
</td>
That break tag only shows in view source. It is not visible in the HTML editor. Someone suggested I try styling it inline like this:
<td align="left" nowrap="nowrap" width="1%" style="position:relative;">$
<input id="item_price_1" name="item_price_1" onfocus="this.style.color='black'; this.value='';" size="11" style="color:grey;position:absolute;top:0;left:15px;" type="text" value="Amount">
Either I'm doing it wrong, or that doesn't work either. Really looking for suggestions on how to make the magical, secret break tag go away.