Interesting question.

My opinion.... "Just my opinion"

Why should the buyer pay to protect the seller?

If the item is reported as lost or not being inside the package. How is the buyer protected? The buyer isn't the person who has to submit the claim, it is the buyer who purchased the insurance at their post office. The buyer cannot submit a claim to the post office since they don't have their insurance claim form.

If I were the seller, I would pay for the insurance myself regardless of whether or not the buyer requestes it. It's for my protection not theirs.

I know that some items are not that valuable and insurance is not too important on some items. On these items I might think about delivery confirmation at 35¢, or nothing at all if I can easily replace that item.

Let's say a package is delivered to the buyer and they report that the item purchased is not in the package. What would be the reaction of the Postal Service? Does the insurance cover this? Will the Post Office require some sort of proof from the buyer that the item wasn't in the package? Kind of hard to prove that it wasn't.

A claim by the buyer that the item was never received might well be easiler accepted by the Post Office, since usually a signature is required.

One for the lawyers here.

I've seen several auctions with a disclamer, that if the buyer opts out of purchasing the insurance, it's the buyer's tough luck if the item doesn't arrive.

My thought regarding this is, with so much wierdness in our world today, what if, since the buyer didn't submit insurance fees, the seller just doesn't send the item. Sounds to me like the Seller could still be liable under mail fraud regardless of the disclaimer.

Seems to me it's a world of buyer beware and the seller protecting themself. Then again it would most likely take many complaints to the post office regarding the same seller not sending items paid for before they would take action.

So what can we do to protect ourselves as both a buyer and a seller?

P.S. I've never had a problem with any purchases, just thinking out loud. And YES I have paid the Seller's postal insurance fee.