As an ebay seller and buyer for some time it looks like many of you are unfortunately missing some important information. I should also meniton my seller account has almost 30,000 feedback and 100% positive.
First forget paying for USPS insurance. You'll go through more hassle than its worth and almost never get your money back. By all means offer insurance but don't buy any. Keep the money in a fund to use to pay for the lost items. In effect YOU are the insurance. Its all a scam anyway and the PO makes more on it than on postage.
The main reason you do this is because when a buyer pays with paypal and say they do not receive the item, you almost always have to refund the customers money. Trust me I've been doing this for a long time and your not going to change it. If you take Paypal you'll almost never win the judgment. This is especially true in the case of out of country shipping. There is no way to track items and so Paypal has no way to prove the item ever arrived.....you lose. ( shipping out of country items fed ex is your best bet)
So heres my advise based on many years of selling.
1. offer insurance and keep the money in a "lost item fund". It works out, trust me.
2. Always pay for tracking on your item. Charge a little more for shipping to cover the cost or whatever you need to do but its the only chance you have with Paypal. Anything expensive ($50 for some people $250 for me) ship signature required.
3. pack responsively. For coins this means using tyvek envelopes or completely taped over paper envelopes at least, to prevent accidental opening by the PO machines. Wrap items in invoice or other cardboard or whatever inside and tape them down so they don't shift.
4. have the PO stamp that you delivered it so your tracking has an official start. Most times you don't have to wait in line just go up to the window and have them stamp them, provided that you have prepaid. This isn't alway practical but is an additional step that helps.
5. keep in contact with your buyer and let them know when it shipped and ask when you think it should have arrived for them to let you know. Contact is important.
6. When the seller reports a missing item, tell them you will check the tracking. Ask them to be patient while you check. Give it a little time. Keep in contact. They have a long time to make a claim. (45 days)
7. If they make a claim to the Resolution Center, decide if you have tracking that it arrived, let Paypal resolve it, maybe in your favor. If not, just pay it from your fund even if they didn't pay insurance, and move on.
8. NEVER leave feedback until they do. It lets you know they are happy with the deal and everything is OK. The deal is not done until they leave feedback, period. Remember, feedback only hurts the seller. Buyers don't really care. You do as it may lose you customers. Buyers buy anyway and can always just get another account. Ignore those that accuse you of holding their feedback "hostage". You don't need theirs. The upshot is they will still be pissed and leave you negative and your stuck because you already gave positive.
If you do get a negative there is a remedy if your serious about it. It costs but there is an arbitration service that tries to make it work for both parties. Also you can ask the buyer to mutually withdraw feedback and what it will take to mutually do that. You can send them a form for that. It works and its worth it.
Bottom line, I've found most ebay sellers forget this is a business. IT'S NOT PERSONAL!!! If you can't get past that , your not cut out for retail sales. Sell, make a profit, take care of your customers(even the a**h0Ies !!!!), refund if you have to and then MOVE ON!
