Quote:
Originally Posted by autograf
You get ZERO insurance with Priority Mail. You get up to $100 free with EXPRESS mail (used to be $500). A one pound Priority Mail pkg is about $6, a one pound EXPRESS mail pkg is about $17-$20. A large difference.......above a certain price to insure, it makes more sense to go registered mail. That used to be about $1200-$1400 or so in declared value. It crosses over there. Then you have more security but it takes quite a bit longer.
NONE of the Priority services on the USPS site offer insurance......
https://www.usps.com/ship/service-chart.htm
From UPS.Com.....a package with declared value [x] you pay [y] for additional insurance....
500.....4.50
1000...9.00
2000...18.00
From FedEx.com....a package with declared value [x] you pay [y] for additional insurance....
500.....4.25
1000...8.50
2000...17.00
Those are retail prices. I'm sure contract accounts get a negotiated rate. Point is, Legendary, REA, et al, don't pay these rates as they have insurance riders that cover loss/theft/fire/etc probably. They charge you these rates to help pay for those insurance riders. Do they make a profit on shipping.....maybe. But I don't think a lot. I know they both do a HIGHLY professional job in packing the goods that they ship and have to pay employees to do that and use first rate packing materials which are not cheap. They're not scrounging up a reused box from an inbound ebay shipment or putting a second label over a bubble envelope and re-sending it. |
Well said. I never like seeing the shipping charges after the auction (I sort of feel like they should be built into the BP), but I know they are coming outside of REA, and given the values of the things I won, they have struck me a reasonable across AHs. I've never negotiated the price down, but I have gotten several to send to me 2-day delivery instead. I get pretty excited about receiving the items.