Has anyone "actually" ever collected from UPS, FedEX, USPS, or others, when they DID insure?
I've heard on here that even with insurance, the carriers deny it for pool cues.
I was an active professional eBay seller for a few years, and I have had all three major shipping services lose packages. Collecting on the insurance from FedEx was never a problem, although the process was unnecessarily cumbersome. Collecting was about a 50-50 shot with UPS, again using a process that seemed designed to discourage claims. Was only able to collect one time with USPS insurance, and that was after a 3-month battle with them and ultimately filing in court.
I don't ship nearly as much of my own merchandise now, although I do ship a lot of equipment of other companies. (Network and POS equipment removed from service and being returned for repair) The other companies choose the shipper and provide the shipping labels, and they seem to use mostly UPS. For my own items I only use USPS for values under $100. I never buy the insurance when shipping USPS as it is generally worthless when trying to make a claim. For higher priced stuff I use FedEx and almost always insure.
Using the USPS Registered Mail service is also an excellent idea. Many years ago when I was a FFL dealer I shipped a lot of handguns that way and never had any losses. That was the only way USPS would carry firearms, and even then I believe you had to be an FFL holder to ship with them.