Need some help with an insurance question before I post my auction. I would like to purchase insurance thru Auctiva and include the charge as part of the S&H.

Should the insurance preferences be "require", or "optional". eBay is the default checkout.

It's up to your, if you want to require insurance (buyers MUST purchase insurance), choose that. If you want it to be optional (buyers can decide whether they want insurance), choose optional. Make sure you specify to use Auctiva insurance in the My Account tab> Auctiva Shipping Insurance Settings.
And since you're not using Auctiva Checkout, if a buyer purchases insurance, you must do these steps:
1. Click the "Sales" tab
2. Click the "Transactions" link
3. Click the "Add Insurance" link to the right of the item you would like to insure
4. Finally, click the blue "Purchase Insurance" button