I haven't had any chips lost, but insurance is paid on every package, unless it is to or from someone I've been dealing with for a while and is a low value package (like a dollar chip that I have more of).

As of early January this year, postage and insurance aren't up to the buyer of anything I put on eBay, I pay it as the seller. No room for conflicts or confusion concerning shipping charges, and I have a written receipt for every sale.

Five lost mailings sounds REAL unusual. I've had items take a month to get somewhere that should've taken 3 or 4 days, but they still got there.

Bottom line, be ready to be taken advantage of for offering insurance as an option. You can't prove you sent it, and you can't prove that they didn't receive it BECAUSE you can't prove that you sent it (no recourse with the post office). Insure everything, even a $1 chip sold at $3.99. No, or little profit, on one sale, but better than a loss on self-insuring by having to send out the chip twice.

Bob