While it's usually been a hassle, all the insurance claims I've tried to collect on have eventually come through.
You're lucky with the USPS - they allow the recipient to file the paperwork and collect directly, though as I recall there's a few procedures that have to be followed in that case.
Virtually *all* the other carriers require the seller/shipper to provide all the supporting documents, and the check also gets written to the seller, and you have to hope he comes clean with you. The only exception I know to this is if the buyer pays for shipping via an account with the shipping company. I've never heard of an eBay seller doing it this way, though.
The simple solution, (I don't know why shipping companies don't do this ), would be to just have a checkbox the seller/shipper could mark when shipping that simply agrees to allow the buyer/receiver do the insurance paperwork and receive the check. The receiver is usually the owner by this time, having paid for the item and shipping to the seller in advance - *why* should the seller get the refund?
The shipping companies have all told me they can't do this because they need to see the shipping receipts and insurance papers. Bull!! The minute anything ships, *all* the info is in their computer and tracking systems. Allowing the buyer/receiver to to do all the insurance claim work in the event of damage would make things vastly easier!
That said, I've also on occasion asked the seller if I can send him a pre-configured shipping box at my expense, just so I know it will be packed properly, (I've actually got such a proposal to another seller right now on an amp I just bought). One time, the seller refused, saying they knew full well how to pack a pair of speakers. You guessed it - they arrived totally trashed! It took me almost 3 months to collect on that one, because the seller kept insisting it was up to me to file all the insurance papers. After literally about 10 calls back and forth, they finally realized that was just the way it was...
And while FedEx *will* let the receiver file the initial claim papers, that only gets it rolling. The seller still has to provide all the receipts, etc., and the check still goes to them. Fortunately, the threat of negative feedback usually gets them motivated to come through...
John