A question I thought up after reading the shipping fee thread

jbsteven

here is a question:

Who is responsible for a coin that has been shipped USPS with insurance paid for by the buyer then the coin gets lost in the mail? Should the seller pay the buyer the full amount of the insured coin and wait for the post office to pay the shipper back or does the buyer have to deal with the USPS insurance claim?

joeyuk

I would say the seller . He purchased the ins. and has the receit. Besides you met your obligation in paying him. It should be his responcibility to get the item to you or a refund.

Neptune

When I had this happen, as a Seller, I handled the paperwork to insure I didn't acquire a negative feedback because of the situation. However, I had to depend upon the Buyer to ship me photos of broken objects, which in turn, I printed, and attached to paperwork that I had to get from the post office. They are 'generally' easy to work with - a lot easier than UPS. The main thing you want to do is keep the Buyer happy. If they are willing to wait for payment, then OK - if not, then pay them, and be done with it.

paigowjohnny

<< <i>does the buyer have to deal with the USPS insurance claim? >>


My experience...the person who ACTUALLY buys the insurance...i.e. the seller who goes to the post office and fills out the insurance form...has to deal with the paperwork to file the claim. The buyer, who doesn't receive or receives damaged goods, has responsibilities in that he/she has to sign a form or fill out an affadavit attesting to the loss/damage when received. I, as the coin buyer, am giving you, the seller, the funds to buy the insurance.
habeas corpus, corpus delectum, collateral estoppel....I'm sounding like Frattlaw

relayer

The post office doesn't care who files the claim.

But to keep the buyer interested in participating in the claim process, I think the seller should have the buyer file the claim.

joeyuk

The buyer will participate to get their refund. How could the buyer even prove it was mailed without the sellers paperwork? I have seen sellers send the buyer forms which state item never arrived. Then buyer sends paperwork to seller so they can continue the process. Joe

Neptune

on another note, but related . . . I bought an antique basket for an old time Enterprise wine press on eBay. Shipping stated: $6.50/Insurance not offered. So I won the item - and emailed Seller to let him know I wanted insurance, and he said OK, to include with payment. Then I tried to check out with eBay/Paypal, and it would not allow me to input additional funds for insurance. So I emailed Buyer to confirm his Paypal email, and now he writes this:

I think you aer wasting your money on insurance. I'll put a tracking number
on it instead. Do you think it is nessessary? If you can't get it to go
through just mail me a money order.

Then I emailed him back: I am willing to waste my money on insurance. Please let me know if the ***BlahBlah*email.com** email is a good one to make Paypal payment. I do not want to send a money order.

I feel a hassle coming on. What would you do?

Conder101

Don't do the Paypal payment through ebay. Get the sellers email address, go to the paypal website and pay him from there as an other goods payment. That way you can put in the extra amount andput in the additional comments section exactly whatthe payment is for, that you paid $XX for insurance etc. It will send you a copy of that as well for your own records too in case he later claims you idn't pay for insurance.

Wisconsin

I think the seller or shipper has the ability to specify on the claim form to whom you want the insurance check sent to. If you check send to receiver of package, you are off the hook, and the buyer has to wait for the claim to be processed.

Now I realize that you may want to keep customers happy and may want to just have it sent to yourself and pay the buyer immediately. I personally feel more like paying immediately if it was broken as a result of my poor packing. If the package was just lost, I think the customer will wait for the money and the post office will take all the heat.

Jay

BAJJERFAN

Seller should initiate filing the claim. Buyer shud expect to wait at least 30 days as PO does not consider it lost or undelivered before then. Refund is at seller's discretion as there is no set time that refund has to be made by. Depends on how much you value buyer's business and feedback.

route66

I would pay the buyer then work it out with the post office. It keeps a customer happy. JMHO Steve

Dog97

It clearly states in postal regs that the sender is the only one that can file for a lost item. However the receiver must provide a statement saying he didn't get it for the sender to send with the claim.
Either party can file for damage.
Since the sender will get paid by the post office he should go ahead & pay the buyer.
That is unless he's one of the wannabe dealers from sleazeBay that is on so tight of a profit margain he don't have the money to cover it.

stman

<< <i>That is unless he's one of the wannabe dealers from sleazeBay that is on so tight of a profit margain he don't have the money to cover it. >>



LOL, but remember Dog, they are "self insured" insurance agents as well. Remember? They take it upon themselves to take our money we pay for clearly stated insurance shipping, then play as our agent too.