A hard lesson learnt in trust and posting. : eBay Guides

I was a happy e bayer for a while and sold nice things I had owned for years to nice people, then one day I  put some old cigarette cards up for sale not realising they were quite valuable, anyway I was delighted when they reached over £400. I packed them carefully and once the money was in my Pay Pal account left them out to take to the post office.Here comes MISTAKE 1 my darling husband not realising the value of the package, it was very small ,helpfully posted it for me.First class but not recorded.....  The chap must have been delighted when they arrived and he realised I had no proof......anyway yes he said they never arrived and soft old me MISTAKE 2 not realising I could have asked PayPal  for help refunded his money in full as I still trusted that people are basically honest and true and if the package turned up he would send me the money again. No way, at first he was nice and said what a shame etc then he did not want to know and he said he could not believe I COULD HAVE BEEN SO STUPID AS TO POST CARDS WORTH OVER £2000 WITHOUT REGISTERING THEM ! How did he know they were worth so much if he never received them ?????? So, a hard lesson, I feel sure MR LEE GRAVES of BURNLEY,a reputable dealer in cigarette cards received my cards, and  after speaking to people that have posted hundreds of items unrecorded without one going missing, I resent his remarks. Please BEWARE do not send items unrecorded and do not refund money too graciously put up a bit of a fight PAYPAL is there to help you. I now understand I could have softened my loss by perhaps coming to an agreement with the said gentleman ,if he really genuinely did not receive them perhaps he might have helped me and made enquiries at his local post office etc. but why would he help when he had NOTHING to lose. Anyway since then it has put me off e bay  and I no longer sell it will take me a while to regain my confidence about 6 months so far.