UPS Declared Value coverage capped at $999

[newlifece]

In the latest attempt for Ebay to run off more sellers, they have now capped UPS Declared Value coverage at $999. God forbid, you have a popup that informs sellers that this cap even exists and I'm only finding out now because I have a really heavy/oversized order that I'm trying to ship out. So now as a seller, I am left with several solutions - none of which are favorable to me:

(1) Go directly thru UPS and pay double the rate for the same package with full coverage, eating $200 in additional costs.

(2) Go third party and have to deal with Shipsurance's crap - like getting denied coverage because I didn't cover the manufacturer's packaging up and make it "discreet" among all the other loophole's they implement to not pay out.

(3) Ship it under-insured and have to deal with the fall out if the item were to have an issue in transit. This means I'm on the hook for almost 1/2 the cost of the item which when you add in Ebay's fees means I made a very generous donation to a buyer (seeing as shipping the item back is only going to dig this hole deeper and deeper).

(4) Ship thru FedEx and I eat the almost $150 price difference but the item ships fully insured. 

Ironically, I chatted with Ebay support and she was quick to say oh just ship it with FedEx and when asked about why I should absorb the difference in price she claimed that's what UPS's Ebay team decided like I was part of the meeting and should've somehow been aware of this when it's clearly not disclosed anywhere.  

[newlifece]

Other options:

(5) Cancel the order and deal with the negative feedback/fallout from the customer.

(6) Use an alternative shipping service with direct insurance options which most of them use Shipsurance or Insureship which at this point is seeming unlikely to find. 

[niftyfindsinphoenix]

This is a suggestion when it comes to heavy items or large items. I would charge shipping to the customer if the item were not heavy you could save a couple of dollars on shipping (as an Ebay seller). try explaining the customer about the shipping and discuss the shipping terms and negotiate it. You and your customer can be comfortable with it. if things go different and the customer wants to cancel the order that is totally normal, and you can adjust the shipping again and correct your mistake.

[newlifece]

Hello @niftyfindsinphoenix I ended up just eating the cost. It just sucks because there's zero transparency from Ebay about this policy. It was cheaper to use FedEx to ship the order by $50 but their system for pickups is a train wreck (I got thru scheduling and got a confirmation and the whole thing just fell off their system somehow) and this isn't fitting in my car but needs to go out today so I ended up going thru UPS.  It's literally double the rate I'd had paid if this restriction wasn't in place or I could have charged for shipping (I have two of these and on the second item I did add shipping) but the lack of transparency is what angered me more than anything. 

After researching I did find other times this has happened and it's crazy that 3 years later we still don't have transparency around this - I only found these because I went digging to see if it's happened to anyone else after posting this:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-a-Mentor/Shipping-Insurance-Declared-Value-Problem-amp-UPS/m-p/334...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/UPS-Declared-Value-Glitch-on-eBay-Shipping-Label/m-p/31383135

[redlinear]

No way any shipping company is going to pay a $999+ claim.   

[niftyfindsinphoenix]

Hello newlifece. I'm sorry to hear that you have to eat the cost for your item. As for now I would double check on your shipping from now on and just pre-ship an item first to know what's the cost going to be to any state around the U.S. I would use the Shipping Calculator | eBay

to get an exact quote for you and the buyer as well. Also you can ask the buyer as well for the zip code as well to be precise as well.

[porkbucket]

I just sold an item for approx. $1400. When it came time to print the label & select the additional shipping options to PROTECT both the buyer & seller (tracking, signature, insurance), I discovered that "The maximum coverage amount for UPS Declared Value coverage is $999.00".  Therefore, if I commit by using eBay's shipping label & that delivery is involved in an insurance claim, I lost $400 ($1400 - $999.00 = $401).  To make matters worse, you can no longer adjust an invoice. As I was told by eBay, if my item requires additional shipping fees, I now need to contact the buyer & collect the additional amount via paypal. So as it stands, I have to contact the buyer asking for the balance or cancel the transaction. **W  T  F**? "SELLERS BEWARE!" NEXT TIME I sell an item that retails over $1000, I'll either charge the buyer a fix shipping cost or raise the sale price & offer free shipping - WHICH IS A WHOLE LOT SAFER!

[robertscloset1]

Now FedEx is capped as well at 1000.00.  

[robertscloset1]

They will pay but they will make you jump through hoops to get that payment.  I have had experience with both UPS and FedEx paying out high dollar claims.  Believe me they do not want to but when you have pictures of packaging and the box with all sides there is not much they can do besides stall.  We take the pictures at the UPS and FedEx drop off points making sure the pictures shows product being handled by their employees and in pristine condition.  if product shows up differently we are quick to make note of that difference.   

[tobaccocardyahoo]

UPS required additional documentation to be held by the seller for all shipments over $1,000. A high value shipment summary signed by the driver.

I do not think Ebay is capable of creating the documents required for the process.

https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/webcontent/en_US/daily_rates.pdf

Page 121 of the above document.

Seems like both Ebay and UPS chose not to identify this change.

[nikonian]

I no longer print my shipping labels on eBay for items valued at over $1000. I do it through PayPal / Shipstation.

[newlifece]

Agreed. My wildest Ebay story was a buyer somehow called UPS and diverted a shipment to their local UPS.  They were able to do all of this and pickup the item successfully and UPS somehow still showed the item at their DC. You would think with all the security and surveillance they SHOULD have in place, things like this should never be able to happen. Nonetheless they gave me the runaround for weeks and the kicker was the buyer had the nerve to open an item not received case against me since it was stuck in transit according to tracking, so this really became a royal PITA. Ebay did what they do best and screwed me over by siding with the buyer so I was that much more determined to get my payout from UPS since at that point the buyer had both the laptop and their money back. TBF this was BEFORE this new change where they now cap you at $1000 or I would've been screwed every way possible in that transaction. 

[newlifece]

How is Shipstation versus say Pirateship or Shippo (in regards to cost and  warranty/claims process)? Do they have their own insurance or is it the new UPS claims service everyone seems to be switching to?

[simba6]

Wonder if that is just purchased through eBay?  Many years ago I shipped a 230 year old violin and was able to insure for well over that.   Had I had to collect on it, well, that's an another matter.  It made it ok.

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.