Purchasing Insurance From USPS When Selling Coins On Ebay.

You get $50 free on priority... Nothing on 1st class... It all depends on how risk averse and what you can afford to pay out of pocket, worst comes to worse

I think that's correct. When considering USPS options for sending valuable items, I usually choose Express Mail with NO insurance - the parcel must be signed for at every point of exchange, and a postal employee could well lose his job if he cannot account for the parcel while in his possession. Same as Registered Mail but a heck of a lot faster!

If you are asking the question because you are trying to decide how much to charge for postage and insurance it is important to remember that your bids, if you are using the auction format, will be reduced by what you charge.

In other words, if you are auctioning an item and are charging $5 (it doesn't matter if it's postage only or with insurance) your bidders will likely reduce their highest offer by that $5 to end up at their highest bid.

If you are selling with BIN or BO, your buyers decision about a purchase or an offer will also be affected by the amount you are charging for postage and insurance.

This is especially true since the majority of coin sellers don't charge for postage. Plus, it's not like we are mailing tires. The likely cost of shipment is a relatively small percentage of many coin sales.

If you are asking just to protect yourself, always use tracking and always use signature confirmation on sales over $250. Only pay for insurance if you are worried about the loss. But insurance is expensive for the few (if any) packages that might be lost. It almost never happens.

While I have never had a package go missing in the U.S. using ebay's shipping, I normally do buy insurance for anything I sell that is more than $100. That's my policy for what it's worth. I feel better shipping a more expensive coin knowing it is insured.