Steve, let me quote you -- "This is all my opinion and I respect anyone's counter opinions. As an occasional seller, I have rights as well. If I make all the details of an auction clear and up front, I feel covered in case of catastrophe. The buyer has few arguments if they ask no questions and choose not to purchase insurance. I am in fact telling them up front that I will NOT be responsible for loss or damage. The buyer will buy or not buy knowing this fact. Caveat emptor."

The above is so wrong. Morally you may be right, but not in a here-and-now practical sense. I made my comments to warn/help sellers. It isn't a matter of opinion; it is a matter of the law and eBay/PayPal's rules and users' agreement. What will you do when some buyer starts a claim with PayPal for INR (Item Not Received) and PayPal freezes your account and dips into it to pay the guy, or the buyer does a charge-back on his credit card? You say above "the buyer has few arguments....." Actually PayPal doesn't care about arguments; they don't care if you have 10,000 100% positive feedback and the buyer is an eBay newbie. PayPal just wants to see easy on-line stuff like delivery confirmation.

Incidentally, we never discussed PayPal's "Seller Protection Policy" -- if you have delivery confirmation and abide by some other simple rules, insurance is largely irrelevant and unnecessary. Of course, the buyer can always tell PayPal to take a hike and do a charge-back. And even if you have insurance, the buyer can refuse to cooperate with an insurance claim. Often the insurance requires the buyer to trot down to the post office with damaged merchandise or to sign forms, but there is no one to force him to do that. It's a buyers world out there.

Robert