Here is an update on what's happening now; and I 
would like some advice on what's best to do 
next.  In particular, I would rather hear from 
people experienced with the postal service 
(particularly insurance claims) and/or the law (I 
recall that there were 1-2 attorneys or relatives-
of-attorneys in this group, if they're still 
around).

This is the direct quote I got from the seller 
regarding the issue:

"The insurance should have been for $1500.00.  
But it looks as if the postal employee took a 0 
off the insurance amount.  There is nothing I can 
do about that, however; you can still claim more 
than the insured value.  Heck, you can file a 
claim on uninsured packages too.   Whatever value 
you think the damages are worth you can claim."

He did went on to reassert again that he still 
thinks I'm filing a frivilous claim to discourage 
me from filing it at all (not true, of course, as 
the photos I sent him proved and even more so 
after the postal claims inspector made his 
physical inspection--see below).  He also 
wouldn't say what he'll do if I could not claim 
the full amount in damages from the postal 
service (but if you looked at the paragraph 
above, it kinda seems that he would like to avoid 
accepting any responsibility for the error).

I don't know what he says is true (so if you're 
very knowledgeable about postal insurance claims, 
I would appreciate your input), but at this point 
in time I'm still going to give him the benefit 
of the doubt.

So I got a friend to take the damaged package to 
the post office and obtain a claim form for me to 
fill out.  I then obtained every piece of 
documentation I could find (e-mails, invoices, 
PayPal statements, credit card bills) to add to 
the claim form.  I also got the seller to agree 
to mail the original insurance receipt along with 
his contact info to the post office claims 
department.  The claims rep who saw the package 
contents already wrote his recommendation for my 
claim (he could see the damage much more clearly 
in person than with anything I could photograph 
with a digital camera), so it's now all up to the 
St. Louis office to make a final decision.

So right now, I'm going to wait and see if the 
postal service claims department in St. Louis 
will reimburse me fully for the damaged items or 
if they're only going to let me recover $150.  I 
also only filed a claim for less than half of the 
total value of the package, because (1) I am only 
interested in recovering what I lost, no more and 
no less; (2) the seller will have no more basis 
to accuse me of being greedy; and (3) I don't 
know how much reimbursement that the postal 
service will grant me since the original 
insurance coverage was so low.  I itemized all 
the damaged items and matched them up to their 
appropriate invoices and payment receipts, so I 
hope that will be enough to do the trick.

But since this process may take around 6 weeks 
(on top of the month I already wasted waiting 
around for the seller), maybe I should be even 
more proactive?  I would prefer to wait and see 
what happens before deciding to go farther, but 
maybe I don't have that luxury of time anymore?

And thanks to the feedback from everyone on this 
board, I am now motivated to pursue stronger 
action in case the postal service rejects my 
claim or elects to repay only the $150.  I had so 
many self-doubts before this week but your input 
has convinced me that I should continue to fight.

But for now, I would like to take the high road 
and see if the post office could resolve at least 
the monetary issue.  (If you disagree with me 
waiting, feel free to pitch in your comments.)  
If things turn out for the worst, I will consider 
confronting the dealer again (maybe even 
revealing their identity publicly, if I'm left 
with no other recourse).  But I'd rather not make 
things uglier unless absolutely necessary 
(although I'm already probably justified in doing 
it sooner if I chose).

Maybe you're not as patient or forgiving as I am 
(I don't think anyone else could be humanly more 
so than I have been), but I would like to hear 
your thoughts on what I have decided to do so 
far.  Too much?  Too little?