Home World & Ancient Coins Forum

Who uses a third party shipping insurance for overseas (to them) sales?

Kind of off topic--but I know the answer is here...

I was reading a post on an Amazon forum and someone from Nigeria was upset because Amazon would not ship them a book. The book in question was actually being sold by a third party, not Amazon, and would not mail to them (how UNFAIR and DISCRIMINATORY). This was my response:




<< <i>The sellers (who are not Amazon by the way) may very well opt not to send internationally. I don't necessarily like this business practice but it may have to do more with unfamiliarity with customs forms etc than 'discrimination'.

Or costs. Amazon does appear to set some kind of limit or standardized amount on shipping costs and this may not cover their expenses. It is not discrimination to choose not to lose money. Fedex, UPS international costs are prohibitive.

Another problem is criminal activity and/or reliability of a given postal service. Once an item leaves the USPS and it enters the local postal service then the vendor is at the mercy of the local services. Many ebay vendors for example use a third party insurance company and I happened to notice that Nigeria is on the list of countries and won't be served.

Again, this is not discrimination, it is business practice. There are countries from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America on their list.

Personally, I would not ship somewhere my insurance company declines to cover due to non-delivery risk, thus exposing me to non-delivery claims.

EDITED TO ADD: If you are talking the Kindle versions, then your problem is with the copyright holder (NOT AMAZON) who has not yet made an arrangement for an e-book version to be made available to your area OR your country's policies (like China) which may impose their own restrictions.

JTG

PS in case anyone is wondering I looked at the Auctiva site and the countries listed are Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzevogina, Bulgaria, Burma, Congo (Democratic Republic and Republic), Croatia, Cuba, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, North Korea, Lebanon, Liberia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Nigeria, Paraguay, Siberia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Zimbabwe.

I've seen another company's list (the name is escaping me right now) and that list included Italy and Libya among others as well. >>



For the life of me I can't remember the name of the company some people here use, and even I have too in the long distant (> 2years) past. The Auctiva list mimicked the company I remember, but I do also remember that Italy was on the list at some point, plus a lot of the 'stans.

Can anyone supply me with some third party shipping insurers? I might actually start selling some stuff once I get back to the US and it would be nice to know some names for future reference.

Cathy (aka JTG --the initials of my Amazon review-writing/forum posting alter ego)

Comments

  • wybritwybrit Posts: 6,952 ✭✭✭
    Shipsurance is one of them. You can insure up to $250, but the country list is pretty limited. You can actually insure up to $500, but a signature is required, and that means spending $30 on postage alone (which also has insurance, so insuring over $250 through SS doesn't make sense to me).
    Former owner, Cambridge Gate collection.
  • I had a policy with U-PIC which provided for up to $500 coverage. All shipments were logged online as they were made and the premium payment was made monthly. There was a $20 minimum payment, even if no packages were shipped. For shipments over $500, I was able to purchase coverage on shipments individually. Here is the restricted country list from their website:

    Afghanistan
    Angola
    Balkans
    Belarus
    Bolivia
    Burma
    Congo, Democratic Republic of the
    Congo, Republic of the
    Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
    Cuba
    Iran
    Iraq
    Lebanon
    Liberia
    Nigeria
    North Korea
    Paraguay
    Somalia
    Sudan
    Syria
    Zimbabwe
  • JCMhoustonJCMhouston Posts: 5,306 ✭✭✭
    If they would just fix their country no one would have to discriminate against them.
Sign In or Register to comment.