Question For eBay Sellers

[glchen]

This has happened to me before, but as others have said, as long as the tracking shows Delivered (and the declared value is under $250 due to Paypal), then you are good to go, and will win the case. For the buyer's side, I believe ebay will allow one exemption per account, where ebay will still refund the buyer even if the package tracking shows delivered (and this will not come out of the seller's account).

Regarding putting signature confirmation and insurance on every package or over $100, this has been debated among sellers. There's a school of thought where if you don't put insurance (or signature confirm under $250) on packages and instead use the money saved and put it into an "insurance" bank, then you will come out ahead in the long run where you pay out any claims you need out of your "bank." For myself, I usually just put everything in a Priority Mail small flat rate box with signature confirm if it is $250 or over, and only add additional insurance if it is $400 or over.

[ramram]

I've heard that getting compensation for "collectibles" can be very difficult to obtain from USPS unless you were to have some legitimate appraisal information, regardless of how much insurance you purchased from them.

Rob M

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I hear this all the time, but the one claim I filed was simple, I showed what the item was purchased for, that was it's value, they reimbursed me no sweat. I was the seller

[glchen]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I hear this all the time, but the one claim I filed was simple, I showed what the item was purchased for, that was it's value, they reimbursed me no sweat. I was the seller

Out of curiosity, did the USPS let you keep the damaged card, or did they take it as part of the insurance claim? For example, you might have a card in a PSA 3 holder. Even though it was packaged well, the package gets crushed, and now the card is in a broken holder and will only grade PSA 1. However, even in a PSA 1 holder, it might still be worth $100.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by glchen

Out of curiosity, did the USPS let you keep the damaged card, or did they take it as part of the insurance claim? For example, you might have a card in a PSA 3 holder. Even though it was packaged well, the package gets crushed, and now the card is in a broken holder and will only grade PSA 1. However, even in a PSA 1 holder, it might still be worth $100.

was a lost card, so if they ever found it I imagine they took possession and it was sold in some government auction of some sort.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

was a lost card, so if they ever found it I imagine they took possession and it was sold in some government auction of some sort.

Thanks for the info. I wanted to know because a few years back, I won a T200 Fatima Pittsburgh Pirates team card with Honus Wagner in poor condition. However, when I received the card, it was even more damaged and ripped. The seller asked me to send the card back so that he could initiate a postal claim, so I always thought it was unfortunate that it was possible that card could be "lost" forever once it was given to the postal service. In addition, I won a W560 uncut sheet in pretty nice condition from an auction house. Similar situation where it was damaged on arrival and the AH stated that they would send it in for a postal claim. The sheet was only creased a few times, so it was still very collectible, just not worth what I bid for it.