Charles,
I agree with you....I'm positive that my chips were stolen. I was a rookie on e-bay, and never thought about insurance. I was buying from someone who had a rating well over 700 at the time, so I trusted the seller. When I got the ripped open package I immediately e-mailed and asked the seller what to do. He told me to file a claim with the post office and they would cover the loss. They didn't, of course.

I believe that a dishonest postal employee was aware that the bubble envelope contained chips and simply ripped it open. I'm not criticizing postal employees. It's a sad fact that there are dishonest people in the world, and no occupation is immune from that.