Shipping Insurance
 

I sell on ebay and use USPS for shipping, but insurance costs are proving to be a problem. I've had a number of customers complain about shipping costs, but I explain that I typically lose money on shipping due to insurance (and that's not even including the costs of materials, my time, etc). The alternative is to bake that shipping cost into my listed price, but I like to keep my listings as lean as possible.

I know there are 3rd party insurance services out there. Does anyone have any recommendations or experience with them? Any pitfalls to avoid?

Thanks,
Mike

I use Collectibles Insurance as do a lot of other board members. I am not a dealer so I don't know the dealer rates, but for a collector it seems reasonable for the coverage - and covers everything at home, away, and during shipping. Before signing up with them I read all of the various insurance threads on Net54 and people only had positive things to say about them, including a few who actually had claims paid out.

^ This. I typically only add signature confirmation on bigger cards (which I usually roll into the cost of the card), and am insured through Collectibles Insurance for the rest.

I am just a buyer on ebay. If a seller charges for insurance or includes it in the shipping charge, and the item in lost or damaged in shipping, how does a claim get made ? The seller bought the insurance and owned the card so it would seem they have to file the claim. But if the card was damaged the buyer has the "evidence" of that. If the card was lost, I suppose the buyer must in some way affirm it was never received for the claim (I realize tracking proof may come into play in the case of a lost card).

Has anyone had experience with filing such claims and how long it takes and how easy or difficult it is the pursue such a claim ?

Do you guys have a link? I googled around briefly, but the place I found mentioned nothing about shipping.

Al, I don't know about the claim process. Someone did describe it in an old thread here and it seemed smooth. For the collector-grade insurance they only make you schedule things that you value at $5 k or more. I would assume a claim could be filed by demonstrating the loss and showing the sale price of the item, but I am not sure what they require in the way of proof. Depending on the value of the item you ship, you have to ship it using certain carriers or service levels to be covered, so you can end up having to pay for signature confirmation. There is a chart in the policy that clearly says how they cover different shippers.

The website: https://collectinsure.com/

They'll only require proof of ownership when filing a claim (credit card or Paypal receipt, a scan of the card, etc).

The amount that they pay out won't depend on what you paid, as they will determine fair market value at the time of the loss based on recent comps. This is a HUGE PLUS if your cards have increased in value, or you bought for under market.

This is what sets CollectInsure apart from having, say, a rider on your homeowner's policy for your card collection - which will only pay out what you spent on the card(s).

Al, it is my understanding that for eBay sales, the seller is responsible for getting the item sold to the purchaser without loss or damage, whether or not the seller has insured the shipment. My wife and I sell a variety of relatively low-value items (mostly non-sports stuff) on eBay, and we purchase USPS insurance for shipments valued at roughly $75 or more (USPS provides $100 of free insurance for eBay sales shipped via Priority Mail). Over the years, we have had a few insured shipmentss damaged in transit, and our purchasers have always been very cooperative in sending us pics of the damage to attach to the ins. claims we filed online with the USPS (this is an easy process). And, the USPS has always paid our claims promptly. Unfortunately, the USPS ins. does not cover the shipping cost we paid to the USPS, so we end up having to eat this when we give a full refund to the purchaser. Knock on wood, we have never had a shipment disappear in transit, but it is my understanding that if the USPS Tracking System shows the shipment was delivered, the eBay seller is off the hook and the eBay purchaser is usually out of luck, even if it wasn't actually delivered. Hope this helps.
Val

Thanks for the post Val