USPS Insurance, yay or nay?

[biggies]

Just had a chat with another member about this.

Have you ever had an experience with the USPS on an insurance claim and if so how did it go?
Understanding that they are supposed to cover up to $100 what is the next threshold where as a buyer you would want additional insurance?

[jimq16415]

They lost a card I had sold for 1200 and insured for 1200. I had sold it on myslabs. Originally they denied my claim even though I used a sale from myslabs as proof of value. After I gave them a copy of paypal transaction I had a check in less than a week.

If you have a recent paid transaction it's probably OK but without that I wouldn't spend the money.

I'm not sure if the current 100 coverage include3s proof of value.

[CardPadre]

"As a buyer"? I would always expect (unless otherwise agreed) whoever I bought it from to get it to me safely and be responsible for any loss/insurance issues.

[raulus]

Luckily, I have zero experience with claims.

My experience with registered mail and insurance is that it's actually rather affordable. For like $100, you can buy $20k worth of insurance.

My rule of thumb is if it would really hurt for me to be out the cash, then I'm going to insure it. So usually just about anything over $2k.

[Apple_Robert]

If you are buying cards $1k+ and have the shipping option, I would use UPS as they have a very detailed and strict chain of command logging, not to mention the driver sorting and delivery is different than standard packages.

If USPS is the only option, I would definitely buy more insurance for cards above $250.

[nwobhm]

USPS Express NY to LA w/$5000 insure is $129. If not delivered on time you should receive a full refund. My experience is it will not be delivered on time. When I was using them they had many failures and refunded every singe time. IIRC it was around a 75% failure rate.

[Exhibitman]

I recently sold an expensive card and had to ship it to PSA for authentication. I opted for registered mail insured to full value. If something goes wrong with that, people get fired, even if the item turns up. I once had a T206 Cy Young go missing for a few days. It had been shipped to me registered. The carrier did not knock on my door to deliver it the first time and left a note that it would be at the PO that handles registered mail. I got there and no package. The postmaster was really concerned. Turned out that the carrier didn't check it back in that night but instead just left it in the truck for redelivery. The postmasters at two offices (the registered one and the main Burbank PO) were on it immediately and the carrier got fired for breaching registered mail policy. So when I had to get a really expensive card to Santa Ana, I went with registered, even though it cost me 3x the shipping I collected on the sale; worth every dime for my peace of mind. Deal went without a snag.

Oh, and the thread needs a card, so heres the T206 in question: