Invoice and value copy inside shipping box

[fairmargo]

Greetings all,

i just sold an item and was asked to omit any price information in the shipping box. Turns out the item is being shipped to a forwarding company in Miami  that forwards to a country in the Caribbean.  I do use shipsaver for insurance.

I am assuming the buyer want to minimize duties.

is there any liability/downside to not including an invoice?

if this item was being directly shipped overseas, I assume the full price would,have to be declared?  I only ship USA, so don’t know.

thank you.

[missjen831]

Yes if you were shipping overseas, you would declare the full value. Sounds like the buyer is trying to avoid customs duty. I would honor the request. If the package gets help up in customs because he doesn’t have the paperwork, you won’t be responsible.

[rfmtm]

Since you are only shipping to the USA address, there is no requirement to put anything in the box but the item.  However, I would at least enclose a packing slip, which doesn't need to have any $ amounts on it.

[sam9876]

What's the insurance for?

[fairmargo]

What insurance is always for - item getting lost or damaged.

[kensgiftshop]

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@fairmargo

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Just ship like you do your other packages.

[myboardid]

You responsibility is to get the package to the forwarding service - after that, you have no further obligation. 

Insurance on mailed packages is useful if the package is lost, but not for breakage, because the insurer will simply declare that it wasn't packaged well enough and they will deny any damage claim. 

In 20 years,  I have had maybe 3 packages lost out of 70,000 shipped.  Insurance is a waste of money. 

[sam9876]

 "In 20 years,  I have had maybe 3 packages lost out of 70,000 shipped.  Insurance is a waste of money."

Bingo!

[buyselljack2016]

I would do as requested.

I see no downside in doing that.

Not doing as requested could have repercussions.(for you)

[7606dennis]

I would merely include a packing slip sans pricing.

[buyselljack2016]

...

[fairmargo]

Thank you all for the good advice.  Shipsaver is 79 cents for $100 and I usually just do that for under $200.  I don’t sell very much.  I can certainly see skipping it if selling high volumes.

[lightlily_arts]

I buy insurance for my packages which is included in my shipping charge to the buyer.  I purchase it because packages do get lost and the carriers do break things.  I ship collectible ceramics, glass, and high ticket items. If you are shipping a $400 pair of shoes and they get lost you don't want that expense coming out of your pocket.  Some people think insurance is a waste of money, but I'm charging it to the buyer as it's included with my shipping charge.  I buy insurance through Shipsaver so it's not really that expensive.  Shipsaver covers the shipping expenses as well.  I just sold a pair of $70 shoes and with shipping it was $83.50.  The insurance charge was $0.57 because I auto insure my Fedex packages.  That very cheap for peace of mind.

[penguins_dont_fly]

The other reason for the request is ...

The forwarding company charges the customer for international postage plus a fee for their services.

So the declared value of the package will be higher than your invoice value. Which may cause customs issues 🙂

[sam9876]

What percentage of your packages are lost or damaged?