Shipping options for small items?

[brad_cardsandminiatures]

I'm new to selling on eBay, and one thing that I'm having trouble with is shipping. I'm trying to sell some small items, mainly Xbox games and some valuable Magic card singles, and would like to offer international shipping.

Magic cards are basically little squares of cardboard so lettermail seemed like the most logical option, but it seems like they don't offer any sort of delivery confirmation, so it seems I'd be SOL in the event of a chargeback or item not received claim. Am I correct in assuming this, or is lettermail actually viable?

I ended up using small tracked packet for international buyers and expedited parcel for domestic, which ended up being like $15 and $10 or so, respectively, which seems ludicrous considering the freight could easily fit in an envelope.

Basically I feel like I did something wrong. Could I have done something different here without putting myself at the mercy of my buyers?

[salesgroupcanada]

Lettermail / Oversized Lettermail

Light Packet - USA

Light Packet - International

Only cheap options in Canada

[brad_cardsandminiatures]

Lettermail / Oversized Lettermail

Light Packet - USA

Light Packet - International

Only cheap options in Canada

Yeah but what are my options with these if the buyer claims to have never received the item? As far as I can tell none of them offer any sort of delivery confirmation or tracking that could be used to prove they did actually get the package if they try to make a fraudulent claim.

Canada Post offers registered mail but a) it's almost as much as small packet and b) I read somewhere that eBay doesn't accept it as proof in a claims case.

[tobyshitzu]

You have 20,000+ games listed by Canadians all the time.   Other then Toysruscanada, inetvideo and usa destined ones from pnpgames (driven across the border to ship usps), they are virtually all mailed untracked

The choice is sell them knowing you will be ripped off on a rare occasion, or demand tracking and not sell anything

[renfrewite]

I agree with toby, I used to sell a lot of DVD movies when I first started selling, I never shipped them tracked or I would never sell anything, also if you sell them on ebay.com your shipping has to be $4.00 or under for that category.  I took the advise from all the knowledgable sellers on this forum, and made my own insurance.  I added 10 cents to every listing and put that in a jar so to speak, so if I got an item not recieved claim I could take the money out of there instead of losing it.  I sold a lot of movies and games, and I never once had a problem, but I do have all my auctions set so that people with so many strikes against them can't bid on my auctions, and that has helped a lot I think.