While it is important to remember that tracking and insurance are for the benefit of the seller (although paid by the buyer, usually) in your unfortunate instance, neither would have helped.
These services only cover spurious claims of non-delivery. In your case, the package was delivered and the buyer admitted it. Postal insurance may cover damage caused by the shipper, but will not cover damage due to poor packing.
That's not a slam at your packaging, btw, it's just that the postal system (and other shippers) try to mark any packages caught in machinery, or shot by a disgruntled worker or surviving a fire*.
I believe he cheated me and broke the machine because he sells them.
My one question is why you accepted the pictures rather than demanding return of the damaged item? Hindsight is 20/20, but I wonder if the pictures were of the item you sent or of a similar already damaged item.
Otherwise, there is no good or even criminal reason for the claim. Buying an item cheap for resale at a higher price is not unusual on eBay. Buying and breaking items on purpose? Cui bono? Who benefits? His money is tied up for weeks and at the end he has enraged a potential supplier and has a broken item that needs disposal.
I often talk about self-insurance. This is the practice of adding a few pennies to each asking price to cover the occasional loss or damage, real or imaginary , of a sold item. These virtual pennies are tossed into a virtual Cookie Jar (yes! this is the Cookie Jar Insurance you hear mentioned from time to time) and when a claim comes in, you shrug, take enough pennies out of the jar to cover the actual cost (you didn't pay $700 for the item after all, you sold it for $700) and move on. Leave the crooks to karma.
*And incidentally, such 'disaster mail' is actually a sub-set of stamp collecting!
