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For those interested in understanding the policy and fee changes that took place two years ago, please take a look at the official announcement:
http://announcements.ebay.com/2011/03/2011-spring-seller-update/
Personally, like thousands of other sellers, my fees were reduced by the policy and fee changes.
Others on the other hand saw their fees skyrocket - more so when the shipping charge was high relative to the value of the transaction.
"buyers should be held accountable for their unforced choice of delivery options"
99%+ of mail order businesses have long ago eliminated delivery choices for buyers. Since the seller will generally be held responsible for non-delivery to buyers, do not give buyers the option for uninsured shipments if insurance is important to you.
For most sellers of relatively low cost items (under $100 or whatever number makes you feel comfortable) there is no point in paying the high cost of insurance (typically 1.5% to 2%) since the loss ratio is a small fraction of the cost.
And, asking the buyers to pay for it - either directly (against eBay rules) or hiding the insurance fee in the price - will results in substantially lower sales as such seller would outprice himself against the competition.
When looking specifically at stamp dealers around the world (I noticed you sell stamps) the vast majority of transactions are sent by uninsured lettermail or letterpost (except for very expensive stuff). I do not expect that to ever change. And yes, my prices, like the prices of most stamp dealers, include a small minuscule percentage in the gross magin to cover the few postal losses we all experience from time to time.
"You once posted once that you insure with a Canadian company and pay a flat rate/yr and thus ship all of your items insured"
Like most stamp dealers, until I retired, I held a blanket insurance for my inventory, incoming goods in transit and outgoing shipments by registered mail (or similar options).
The insurance company is British with a large subsidiary in Canada. It has nothing to do with the subject of this thread. Dealers customize the coverage based on their individual needs.
"It made your advice to others appear different from the way you yourself did things"
Here we go again.
Anyone - but you - reading my posts on the subject of insurance understands the context.
Sellers are responsible for getting the goods to buyers. Period.
If sellers feel a need to purchase insurance, they have many choices.
One of them is insurance provided by the carrier (Canada Post or others) and we all know the cost of that coverage is very high in relation to value.
Others may prefer to self-insure on the basis losses are only a small fraction of the premium they would pay otherwise. That works great when most transactions have relatively low value.
Finally, others may prefer third party insurance. Some will purchase the coverage on individual transactions while others will buy "blanket" coverage. Some - in specific industries - will combine their coverage with inventory, liability and other form of business coverage. I do not expect you to know or understand such coverage unless you are involved in such industry.
Which part of this do you not understand?
I know from your many posts you state you are mostly a buyer on eBay and as such I can see you have no reason to have any knowledge of how insurance works to protect sellers.
