Originally posted by victormeldrew It won't happen. Commercial sellers will always want the kind of 'footfall' (clickfall?) that a site the size of eBay gives. Private sellers can choose to sell locally cash-on-collection, on ebay, facebook, local sales, or wherever, and remove the risk of comebacks...but you can't beat the sort of prices you can get on ebay, especially for rare and sought-after items, partly because people know they aren't risking buying tat from a shady seller, and partly because you have an entire planet of potential buyers in front of you, instead of whoever turned up to your yard sale.
The best you can do as a private seller is either protect yourself by using tracked insured delivery and documenting the item well, or take the hit of the occasional 'lost' item. On the whole though, most people are still honest, and I personally have found at least 99/100 sales have gone smoothly, so it boils down to an extra 1% in costs for me in the end...
That is what I was going to do if I had sold anything on ebay. I was also going to go one step further by requiring a signed signature upon receipt. That way, I will know when an item has arrived and who received the item.
I know it won't happen but a person can always wish.