Shipping insurance

[mnester01]

Hello,

I will (hopefully) soon be shipping some items that may sell for $300 -$1000. What I normally ship is books and comics. My question is about third-party shipping insurance. how has your experience been? Would you recommend Shipsaver versus ship Shipsurance? Or some other provider? Any other advice or tips would be greatly appreciated, thank you! 

[netwizz760]

Your best bet is FedEx or UPS because they at least scan things.   They also aren’t entirely reliant upon booking freight space on cancelled domestic flights.

FedEx is my preferred right now because they don’t bill until after delivery, so you know they are scanning items and pressuring their employees to get it done otherwise they don’t get paid.

USPS is the worst because if they don’t deliver they don’t even refund your postage.

[beautifulbeauty2012]

Good to know that FedEx bills after delivery. Can you schedule a free pick up with them?

[goldguy22k]

I would only ship with FedEx IF I had my own FedEx account.  Buying FedEx labels through email is a mess.  Read the forums, where sellers are screaming that they bought a FedEx label through eBay and when their monthly bill arrives here are all kinds of extra charges, that double or triple the shipping cost.  The the sellers report that they are caught up in finger pointing: eBay points to FedEx, FedEx say it's eBay's shipping account, blah, blah, blah.  So if you think FedEx billing AFTER the delivery is an advantage - LOL!

But selling anything over $750, eBay requires you to use insurance and signature confirmation or the seller protections disappear.  I'd extend that to "adult signature" required.

[netwizz760]

This I have not seen.  I just drop the item in the FedEx Dropbox, and at least they scan the item.  I shipped my first FedEx package today, and it was slightly more than double the price of USPS First Class.  That said it was $7.73 vs $3.50.

FedEx is relatively cheap up to about three (3) pounds provided the box stays reasonably small.  I would not sell anything worth $750 on eBay.   The most expensive item I have sold is around $250, and right now anything even $100 is a gamble because the shipper is NOT going to pay an insurance claim if it is lost for weeks then found and delivered very very late, yet you might end up having to refund.

[wastingtime101]

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@mnester01 wrote:

Hello,

I will (hopefully) soon be shipping some items that may sell for $300 -$1000. What I normally ship is books and comics. My question is about third-party shipping insurance. how has your experience been? Would you recommend Shipsaver versus ship Shipsurance? Or some other provider? Any other advice or tips would be greatly appreciated, thank you! 

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Pack really well so that you don't need to file an insurance claim for damage unless it's something crazy like the package was run over by a truck. They say they won't pay out damage claims for insufficient packing and they always say it was insufficient packing. They generally cover lost package claims when there's no delivery scan.

[johnrj1226]

eBay only requires signature confirmation for  items $750 and over not insurance.

[goldguy22k]

Yes, that is correct.  But shipping something over $750 without insurance is insane enough that for me it is a "requirement!"  😋  Guess I projected that.  😲  Not much for gambling....

I have seen sellers remark that they insure anything with value over the standard provided insurance.  It's all about business decisions.