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OT: At what price do I ship with insurance on Ebay?

I tried looking it up on Ebay's website, can't really find a solid answer.

Comments

  • ugaskidawgugaskidawg Posts: 882 ✭✭✭

    Whatever you feel comfortable with. I'm of the camp that insurance is probably a good idea if the card is above a few hundred dollars. Some people don't believe in insurance in fear that their package will get messed with.

  • ndleondleo Posts: 4,064 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I don't think insurance is required but you need to have signature confirmation for seller protection at $750.

    Mike
  • epatmythesepatmythes Posts: 1,514 ✭✭✭
    edited December 5, 2016 1:06PM

    There is no insurance requirement, but as already stated, you have to send with signature confirmation on orders of $750 or more.

    Postal Insurance is a scam and I rarely, if ever, use it anymore. Google about it, read on other forums, heck, you might be able to find a few horror stories here. With a postal insurance claim, like most insurance claims, they are working to give you the least amount of money possible. Just because you put, let's say, $1200 of insurance on something... absolutely does not mean you will just easily get $1200 if there is a problem. They put the burden of proof of value on you once you start a claim. They want to give you replacement cost, not sales price.

    For example: You sell a card for $1179 and put that $1200 worth of insurance on the shipment. For starters, the USPS is not in the card business. They don't care what you sold it for, they are only concerned with how much it "should" cost them to give you a comparable replacement. Let's say it's a pop 1, that you subbed yourself. There is no true replacement... and guess what, they don't care. The question will be, what did you pay for the item? You bought it raw for $100 and were just lucky enough to get that elusive PSA 10 Pop 1. That's right, all you can produce is the proof that you paid $100 for it... that's all they are going to offer you... regardless of the fact you paid for $1200 worth of insurance. Can't prove what you paid for it, well okay, what does the most common pricing guide value it at. Again, remember, they don't know about the card business and couldn't care less about 3rd party grading... means nothing to them. They find in Beckett that the hi book value on the card is $150... that's all you're getting because it's the best they could find for a value and you couldn't prove what you paid for it.

    It will cost you more for a lawyer, then you'll get from the claim, to fight an unjust insurance settlement offer... and they know that.

    As a seller, package well... as a buyer, buy from people that package well. Over the years I've had 1000's of transactions... i've received exactly 2 shipments damaged by the PO and have had exactly one, as a seller, returned for damage by the PO. Damage does happen, but it is rare.

    You are simply much better off packaging well and sending by an appropriate service level to lessen the probability of damage occurring. For me, that means bubble wrapping graded cards and sending in a bubble mailer for standard orders. For orders that require signature confirmation (i.e., those $750 or more), I send by boxed priority mail. Anything really valuable, say a couple grand or more, I'd send well packaged in a box and by registered mail.

    Those methods each come with added shipping costs... but they're still usually cheaper then placing insurance on an item that if damaged... still guarantees no success at getting what you might think you're due!

  • jay0791jay0791 Posts: 3,508 ✭✭✭✭

    Can't agree more
    When u deal with the PO you will always lose.

    Any conflict will be like peeing into the fan.........air in your direction.

    Collecting PSA... FB,BK,HK,and BB HOF RC sets
    1948-76 Topps FB Sets
    FB & BB HOF Player sets
    1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
  • MrNearMintMrNearMint Posts: 1,209 ✭✭✭

    @ndleo said:
    I don't think insurance is required but you need to have signature confirmation for seller protection at $750.

    This is what I meant.

    Thanks for the help guys!

    On another topic, I just received some payments via ebay/paypal and went to paypal to confirm payment and look up the address of the buyer, and it looks like paypal changed their website format and now I can't even find any information about payments received, buyers address etc... I looked for about 20 minutes and couldn't find anything, I even called paypal and got nothing but a busy signal. WTF??

    Anyone know how I can look up my payments received?

  • mlbfan2mlbfan2 Posts: 3,115 ✭✭✭

    @MrNearMint said:

    On another topic, I just received some payments via ebay/paypal and went to paypal to confirm payment and look up the address of the buyer, and it looks like paypal changed their website format and now I can't even find any information about payments received, buyers address etc... I looked for about 20 minutes and couldn't find anything, I even called paypal and got nothing but a busy signal. WTF??

    Anyone know how I can look up my payments received?

    They're having technical issues with their website right now.

  • GrimsterGrimster Posts: 286 ✭✭✭

    When selling things on ebay I do insurance for anything over $200 and Signature Confirmation at $750.

  • jfkheatjfkheat Posts: 2,721 ✭✭✭✭✭

    If you do the shipping on the USPS site signature confirmation is automatically added at $500 value and higher. When I sell on Ebay I always compare shipping cost using eBay and using the post office site.
    james

  • grote15grote15 Posts: 29,480 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @epatmythes said:
    There is no insurance requirement, but as already stated, you have to send with signature confirmation on orders of $750 or more.

    Postal Insurance is a scam and I rarely, if ever, use it anymore. Google about it, read on other forums, heck, you might be able to find a few horror stories here. With a postal insurance claim, like most insurance claims, they are working to give you the least amount of money possible. Just because you put, let's say, $1200 of insurance on something... absolutely does not mean you will just easily get $1200 if there is a problem. They put the burden of proof of value on you once you start a claim. They want to give you replacement cost, not sales price.

    For example: You sell a card for $1179 and put that $1200 worth of insurance on the shipment. For starters, the USPS is not in the card business. They don't care what you sold it for, they are only concerned with how much it "should" cost them to give you a comparable replacement. Let's say it's a pop 1, that you subbed yourself. There is no true replacement... and guess what, they don't care. The question will be, what did you pay for the item? You bought it raw for $100 and were just lucky enough to get that elusive PSA 10 Pop 1. That's right, all you can produce is the proof that you paid $100 for it... that's all they are going to offer you... regardless of the fact you paid for $1200 worth of insurance. Can't prove what you paid for it, well okay, what does the most common pricing guide value it at. Again, remember, they don't know about the card business and couldn't care less about 3rd party grading... means nothing to them. They find in Beckett that the hi book value on the card is $150... that's all you're getting because it's the best they could find for a value and you couldn't prove what you paid for it.

    It will cost you more for a lawyer, then you'll get from the claim, to fight an unjust insurance settlement offer... and they know that.

    As a seller, package well... as a buyer, buy from people that package well. Over the years I've had 1000's of transactions... i've received exactly 2 shipments damaged by the PO and have had exactly one, as a seller, returned for damage by the PO. Damage does happen, but it is rare.

    You are simply much better off packaging well and sending by an appropriate service level to lessen the probability of damage occurring. For me, that means bubble wrapping graded cards and sending in a bubble mailer for standard orders. For orders that require signature confirmation (i.e., those $750 or more), I send by boxed priority mail. Anything really valuable, say a couple grand or more, I'd send well packaged in a box and by registered mail.

    Those methods each come with added shipping costs... but they're still usually cheaper then placing insurance on an item that if damaged... still guarantees no success at getting what you might think you're due!

    This is not accurate. USPS accepts an electronic receipt or proof of purchase to demonstrate value. They will pay out a claim based on the purchase price. If you cannot furnish proof of value through an electronic receipt, that will be a problem.



    Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
  • KbKardsKbKards Posts: 1,782 ✭✭✭

    If you do the shipping on the USPS site signature confirmation is automatically added at $500 value and higher.

    This is incorrect. At $500.01 declared value, the type of insurance you're purchasing changes from the black tag to the blue tag. The black tag is for $500 and under, and does not require a signature for delivery. You can add the PayPal accepted Signature Confirmation tag to the black tag insurance for an additional charge. At $500.01 you go to the blue tag level, which requires a signature for delivery. While the blue tag requires a signature for delivery, it is not the type of signature service that PayPal advises when attempting to meet the requirements for PayPal's seller protection.

  • baz518baz518 Posts: 1,231 ✭✭✭✭

    I have to agree with Tim here. I've only had to file one claim with USPS and it wasn't an issue at all, they took my sales receipt from eBay and paid the full cost of the sale plus postage. I guess I actually made more on the item than I would have, because they didn't deduct the 10% that eBay would have charged me for the sale.

  • jfkheatjfkheat Posts: 2,721 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @KbKards said:
    If you do the shipping on the USPS site signature confirmation is automatically added at $500 value and higher.

    This is incorrect. At $500.01 declared value, the type of insurance you're purchasing changes from the black tag to the blue tag. The black tag is for $500 and under, and does not require a signature for delivery. You can add the PayPal accepted Signature Confirmation tag to the black tag insurance for an additional charge. At $500.01 you go to the blue tag level, which requires a signature for delivery. While the blue tag requires a signature for delivery, it is not the type of signature service that PayPal advises when attempting to meet the requirements for PayPal's seller protection.

    Crap, I was off by a penny. Shoot me.
    James

  • grote15grote15 Posts: 29,480 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Kbcards is correct. Although a signature is required for delivery of packages valued over $500 that is not the same as signature confirmation which is available at additional cost. For PayPal, you need a signature confirmation that is viewable on line. Signature confirmation provides that but the signature required for packages with insured value over $500 does not. The post office will be able see the latter but it is not viewable on line like signature confirmation is.



    Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
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