declared value versus real insurance coverage

[antiqbrokr]

Through a very painful learning experience I found out that there is a huge difference between declared value coverage and actual insurance protection when sending items with a value higher than $100.00 to your customers. When you use FedEx or UPS and you add your declared value coverage to your label you may think as I did that if your item arrives damaged you will file a claim and be reimbursed the amount you declared as value. Unfortunately this is not the case. This is where the difference was discovered through my experience. I filed a claim through one of the above carriers (makes no difference which one, both have the same fine print) and over the course of three weeks I finally was told my claim was being denied because I did not prove negligence on the part of the carrier. In other words, it wasn't their fault so they did not have to pay. This is not the same as the type of insurance you purchase through USPS where you are not trying to prove it was their fault, you just need the insurance to cover your loss, either from theft or breakage or whatever the reason. I don't know when the change happened but eBay used to offer their shipcover insurance as an option when shipping through any carrier but now it is only available when using USPS and is limited to $1000.00 maximum coverage.  I am now trying to research which private insurance carrier I will be paying to cover my shipments that exceed that $1000.00 limit and it is confusing. Please help me with my search for a solution. We sell high end antiques, art and collectibles on a regular basis and have had to resort to self insuring these items. I appreciate any help or advice on the subject. Thank you, Andy

[janet9988]

As far as I have ever known the carrier is only liable if the item is not delivered or damaged during shipping if the item was adequately packaged correctly by you.

You also need to purchase insurance to cover the carriers standard insurance coverage. If you never paid to insure 1000.00 then you are not covered for 1000.00

If the item was not packaged well by you then the shipper does not cover it.

If the item was stolen AFTER delivery then the carrier does not cover it. .