If you sell an item for $249 plus the $5 shipping ($254 total) are you required to get signature confirmation?
Well, actually, if it shows as delivered but not signed for, someone *could* argue that it was stolen from the mailbox/front porch. Signature confirmation eliminates that possibility. One other angle to consider, you might want to see how much it would cost to insure the item for $249. I recently did this for an item with a $300 value and inadvertently noticed that this insurance includes signature confirmation (USPS doesn't want to be liable if someone says it was stolen from the mailbox!). It won't show up on the ebay page but when you print out the label, you'll see the "signature" statement just above the barcode. I confirmed with the Postal Employess that this, indeed, means signature confirmation (it's a slightly different phrase). So, for a comparable cost or a few cents more, it'll be fully insured and with signature confirmation.
Any insured package over $200 used to require signature. They just upped the amount, but I am not sure to what. And buying signature confirmation does not mean they will only let the one it is sent to sign for it. So really, you could have a random person sign for it, and then you are in deep trouble. I believe ebay just requires it to arrive. If they claim it was not delivered or claim it was stolen, you have proof it made it there.
It was nearly 2 years ago they upped it from $250 (I believe). It is now $750, but they recommend it for $250+. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/money-back-guarantee.html
If I'm not mistaken, the post office requires a signiture for anything insured for over $250. I haven't shipped anything in quite a while that required that much insurance but have received several.
The way I read it, signature is not required even for $5000 insurance. Insurance http://postcalc.usps.com/PopUps/Insurance.htm
Keep reading... An item insured for $500.00 or less receives a delivery scan. An item insured for more than $500.00 receives a delivery scan (includes returns products meeting the applicable standards in 505) and the USPS obtains and provides the recipient’s signature as the delivery record to the mailer electronically (excludes returns products).
Delivery confirmation indicates that it was delivered somewhere ie: left in a mailbox. Signature confirmation means it was delivered to a person (who signed for it, and it could be anybody) and not just left. If you want it to be only delivered to a specific person, that is restricted delivery. You pay even more for that.