eBay USPS shipping insurance calculator should correct for existing coverage
I guess this issue could be posted as a complaint about eBay or USPS gouging on USPS shipping insurance, but I will give eBay the benefit of the doubt and say it is a technical oversight.
I shipped an item with a value of $192 via USPS Ground Advantage, purchasing the shipping label using the (very convenient) eBay shipping utility. Ground Advantage includes $100 of coverage, so I wanted to buy $92 of additional insurance. The pull-down specifies "insured value" but that does not fit the usual case. What one wants is "additional coverage."
I left $192 in the insured value field and it came back costing $4.40. The USPS table (attached) says that the cost for $50-100 of insurance is $3.30. The $4.40 cost is for $100-200 in coverage. So what to do? Leave it as $192 (i. e., paying a dollar more than necessary for the additional coverage) or change the "insured value" to $92 and trust that the USPS will pay $192 if the package is lost?
I think the calculator on the eBay shipping page should address this explicitly rather than asking the user to infer what will happen, and part of that would include making the default cost be for the required additional coverage, not the full value of the item.
Also, has anybody specified only the additonal coverage they needed and then been compensated by USPS for the full value?
Mike
kensgiftshop
·8 months agoI never worry about insurance, since it rarely pays out.
I make sure to package items so they arrive in good condition.
loose_goose_garage
·8 months agoThis table is likely intended for Services that didn't/ don't include insurance, such as Media Mail and the discontinued Parcel Select, that's why it starts at $0.00 and not $100.01
The way I've understood it over the years is that USPS is 'generous' enough to cover the first $100 of coverage for Ground Advantage and Priority (it's likely a percentage is built into the price on their end) however anything more than that you pay the full value shown in the above chart. It is the same way through USPS site as well last time I checked.
You can get slightly cheaper insurance by using PirateShip, they charge $1.00 for every $100 of coverage. So in your case, it would be $2.00 for $192 in coverage. Same as the eBay shipping page, if you didn't purchase any additional, you still have the $100 in coverage as shown just under Ground Advantage. Just how the system works. UPS is the same as well.
and UPS