I have a recent experience I can relate. About two weeks ago, I sold a box of Browning rifle parts to a person in Houston. I shipped the parts in a small USPS flat rate box. The priority flat rate box is supposed to be automatically insured for fifty bucks. A couple days ago, the purchaser contacted me by e-mail and said he had never received the parts. According to the USPS on-line tracking site, the package was delivered on December 2. I took my receipt for the mailing to the local post office and got absolutely no satisfaction from them. It was insured for $50 so I thought I could get that much back on the deal. Nope. USPS said the package had been delivered and that ended their responsibility. They said the buyer was a crook and was trying to get something for nothing. That may have been the case (I don't personally know the buyer), but it seems harsh to make that assumption without any investigation. This was an eBay deal and the buyer doesn't have a lot of feedback (only 16) but what he has is all positive. I guarantee everything I sell, no matter what, so I refunded the buyer's money.
To be fair, I have been buying and selling stuff through the mail for 30 years and have had very few problems. I guess if you do enough of this, sooner or later something is going to go wrong.
- - - - Buckspen