I agree with almost everything you have said - my only difference would be the threshold for requiring insurance. Postal insurance, like all other insurance, is a gamble - with the Post Office acting as the house in this instance. The first $50 of insurance is rather expensive - you only need to have 39 shipments go OK to break even - assuming the one that was lost was a $50 one. With chips, correctly packaged, the only real risk is a lost shipment. I think the Post Office has much less than 2.5% of the first class items mailed go astray. As you go up in values the number of successful shipments required to break even goes up as well - $100 - 45 shipments, $200 - 62 shipments, and so on. So I think you would be better off to put the insurance money into an account and use those funds to pay for any losses - that way you get to take the houses side of the risk - clearly the better bet. I do think it is appropriate to offer optional insurance to the buyer - they may value something they have purchased at a much higher value than the price they paid for the item - their risk is greater than yours - you have already established your max risk at the auction price. If the chip is one that you have several more of your risk is even lower - you can replace it with ease.

But then, not all gamblers collect chips and not all chip collectors gamble - so everyone has to find their own comfort level.

Chas

I only wish my net worth was such that I could self insure my car - I think I could make money on that bet too.....