It just never made any sense to me that the seller's responsibility ends once the item is shipped. Your Dell example is perfect! I generally self insure any chip that I can easily replace. In the case of the rarer and thus more valuable items, I beleive that the seller is a fool if he/she does not insure the items, whether the buyer wants insurance or not. It is just not worth the headaches that comes with losing something in the mail. My $.02