As you know I'm thinning my toenail collection and have been researching/learning some of the ins & outs of the different carriers (USPS/UPS/FedEx) insurance rules.

First, allow me to establish what I've learned so far so you can help-

1) to collect on a claim once an item is lost the sender most prove it's value (via an appraisal, in most cases). Simply "declaring" an items value won't cut it. And just because I insured it for $5000 doesn't mean UPS/USPS/FedEx will pay that amount cause they won't. Actually from what I've learned added insurance is a racket.

In fact, rare and collectible items (knives/stamps/coins/etc) are also in many cases excluded from being covered, even if the sender bought the added insurance (each carriers basic insurance varies but it isn't much anyway). But the point is just because the sender bought the necessary insurance, that in and of itself, does't insure the sender will receive any compensation because of the nature of the item that was sent.

Case in point take a gander at this-

USPS Proof of Value includes a receipt, invoice, or bill of sale

I admit I'm not as familiar with USPS because like with Priority Mail it doesn't provide true point-by-point tracking; in fact, all that tracking does is tell me if the item arrived and if not, can't tell me where it is. Where UPS/FedEx tracking does.

So the question remains- How do I prevent my added insurance claim from being denied if the item is lost by a carrier when shipping rare collectible knives?