One more opinion on postal insurance, from a seller who sends out about 80 - 100 auction lots of chips per week, to perhaps 25-40 different buyers (I have plenty of multiple lot customers).

I know and accept that it is my responsibiity to deliver the chips, but I also know that I am virtually defenseless if they say the chips never arrived. If I use regular mail, I cannot prove that the chips DID arrive if they say they didn't. I may sell gambling chips, but I'm not rally a gambler.

On any order over $10.00 or $15.00, I don't give them a choice, I just tell them they can choose either 1st Class or Priority Mail, and insurance is an additional $ .85, or whatever it is. If they don't want to pay for insurance for some reason, I will agree, but I get them to acknowledge that they are assuming responsibility for delivery. This may or may not be "legal", according to the UCC or other applicable laws, but it's worked well for several years now, and it's never been a problem.

If the order is small, and I do sell plenty of $3.99, $4.99 and $5.99 lots, I send the following email:

"Your high bid was $x.xx, regular postage in a protective bubble envelope is an additional $1.50, or Priority Mail is an additional $3.20.

Insurance is $ .85 per $50.00 of value. If you elect not to take the insurance, I cannot be responsible for delivery, although we've had over 1,500 uninsured transactions and have only had two packages lost in the mail."

I let them decide if they want to add the additional cost of insurance to such a small order. I would estimate that about half opt for the insurance, and half don't.

I want to give my buyers the option of keeping their postage costs as low as possible, so the cost-per-chip stays low, but I also don't want to leave myself open for a scammer to get free chips by saying the envelope never arrived. When I was young and dumb, I had that happen a couple of times, and I whipped out refund checks ASAP because I wanted to be a good seller. That policy stopped when I happened to come across those very same chips being sold on Yahoo auctions by the same guy who said they never arrived! The %$&*@# even used my photograph!

Of course, for my very best regular customers, who may buy $100 or $200 or more per month, I pick up the postage and insurance myself, as a way of saying "thanks for the business".