Cheap, so I expect the process would be different on a more expensive order (total was under $12, and postage made up more than half that). It's probably cheaper for eBay not to even dispute claims of this value, and just provide protection where the seller is eligible; and I know others have had to fight to get eBay to acknowledge they qualified for seller protection, so I was somewhat pleasantly surprised the outcome was favourable as soon as I confirmed the tracking). 

Side-note, the buyer's name was familiar to me so I looked for past orders and couldn't find any on any of my platforms. Then realised it's because they're a member of a Facebook seller support group I admin. 😕 I can't really do anything with this information, but I'm feeling very 😑 right now, lol.