usps claim?

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 4:52AM

anyone ever have to make a claim on a lost registered package via the post office. do you have to prove the value or do they just pay whatever amount of insurance you bought?

thanks

storm888 · February 16, 2007 4:59AM

Never claimed on a Registered item, but on the few First-Class/Priority
that I have claimed on - during the past 40-years - they asked for a
receipt on only one; it was $415.00, and I had the sales receipt, so it
was no problem. (The package was insured for $400.00, and I got a
check in a couple of weeks.)

I have found, in my few experiences, that they did not act like I was
trying to cheat them. They seemed eager to solve the problem.

colebear · February 16, 2007 5:02AM

It depends on the postal clerk. In the rules it says you must produce a receipt, but they do not always require one.

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 5:06AM

what receipt are you talking about? i have the postal receipt. i dont want to get into a argument as to the value of the card. i paid the money for the insurance and dont want to have to justify how i came to the value.

storm888 · February 16, 2007 5:14AM

"what receipt are you talking about?"

///////////////////////////////////

They wanted a copy of the receipt that showed what
the buyer had paid me for the insured item that I mailed.

I printed-out the PayPal ticket. It had the name/addy of the
customer/buyer, which matched that on the blue insurance receipt.

I suspect that if you show them a receipt for less than the
amount the item was insured for, they will only pay the
lower amount; that would be the proper decision for them
to make.

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 5:15AM

ok. what if it was a card you had for a long time, for example 10 years thus not having proof of purchase.

gameusedhoop · February 16, 2007 5:36AM

They will need the receipt showing the purchase price paid by the buyer that you are sending the card to. They won't pay a $400 claim, on a card that sold on ebay for $150, even if it was overinsured. Chances are though that the registered package will show up upon them begining an investigation. It has to be signed for by everyone that takes posession of it, they will know exactly who had it last, they will get to the bottom of it given a chance.

5STAT · February 16, 2007 5:37AM

cohocorp.....

if you sold the card....you will have to prove to them what it was sold for. If it was through email...you will have to print all emails detialing the sale....if it was for auction or online sale...you will have to show the end of the item.

You will ONLY be able to get what you sold it for.....no matter how much you insured it for. (ie..you sell a $500 card for $250...but insure it for $500......in the Post Offices eyes...you only got $250 for it..and therefore established a new selling price).

The insurance is in place to recoup your actual loss. Otherwise, scammers would sell $3 cards all day long and insure them for $100s....and then make them disappear....then clean up.

It's a whole checks and balance act.

Now if you had a card for 10 years and say gave it to a friend for free...and it was lost. GOOD LUCK......they'll want book price..a scan of the card to determine condition.....how you packed it....and keep you running around for months!!

I've posted it here before...but I had bought my wife a canister set (Sorrento designs)....3 canisters as a matching set...was $75 delivered and insured. When it came in, I could clearly hear glass in the package and had the clerk note it as "damaged upon receipt."
Well, one canister was shattered..the other 2 were fine.
Try to collect on the insurance....yah right!! 1st, they blamed the sender as faulty packaging. Until I took the box and contents back to show them. It was packed incredibley well....more bubble wrap and packing peanuts than Carter had Liver pills!!

Then it was..."well...we can give you back 1/3 as the other 2 canisters are fine"
WTF is that..it's a MATCHING set.....

In the end, I took the 33% and now have a matching set of TWO canisters!!

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 5:40AM

ok. let me clear this up alittle. it was not a sale at all. it was a submission.

gameusedhoop · February 16, 2007 5:49AM

Who told you it was lost? When did you ship it and where are you? Registered mail is usually sent via truck and is signed for at each transfer. It can take 10+ business days to get to its destination, maybe more if the weather is bad along the way. Don't wait for it to show up on the PSA site as received, do the online tracking thing at the PO site USPS.com. If it shows it as delivered then it is a hold up on entering by PSA. Either way it has to be released by signature to whoever has it. Don't sweat it, registereds hardly ever get lost. It is the safest way to ship ANYTHING.

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 5:59AM

its still too early to be considered lost, but a second package i sent registered 5 days later going to the same destination actually passed the first apparently when i track it on their website. i just didnt know if it becomes a problem of value when it comes to a claim. this isnt taking into acct a potentially big diff in price the higher it grades. when i insure it for a certain amount i believe it to be worth once slabbed or even raw for that matter, and sent it registered, i expect no problems. but afterall this is the post office.

colebear · February 16, 2007 6:05AM

I had the same problem with a submission to PSA. I sent one in November then two weeks later I sent one and the second one was logged in immediately. I called PSA and explained the problem and I called the post office and came them my insurance # and delivery conf. # number and they took care of my problem. Just make sure you get names and extensions of who you talked to at the USPA As long as you are pleasant they will help you out. They know not everybody has receipts fro everything, they have a form for you to sign that you are not commiting mail fraud.

Overall it is a pretty easy procedure.

jimq112 · February 16, 2007 6:28AM

The last few days we have had lots of planes grounded that carry mail. Both Wednesday and Thursday I had almost no mail to deliver and about 1/4 of the normal amount of packages to deliver. Finally today we got a little more mail and we're thinking we'll get pounded with mail on Tuesday (USPS has no delivery for monday presidents' day but still is open processing mail).

If you PM me the tracking # I can see what I can find out tomorrow. I have more access to tracking #s than you can get online or by calling the 800 number.

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 6:31AM

i pm'd you the info. thanks

jimq112 · February 16, 2007 6:33AM

Also it is very very very rare that a registered comes up missing. I sign for every one I get, and before it leaves my hand somebody else signs for it. It never leaves my sight until I get rid of it. There is a paper trail and we're $$ responsible if we lose one. I think you'll be ok.

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 6:39AM

yea. a friend of mine is a carrier and he said that if one gets lost, someone gets fired usually.

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 12:05PM

order logged in tonight at psa. nice. i am still curious as to how the claim would have went. glad i dont have to find out.

RipublicaninMass · February 16, 2007 12:28PM

It really is a great question, since you sent the registered mail, and probbaly insured it for the "graded" value. I dont know how the PO would react. You could send out 400$ worth of cards insured for 4000 since once they are graded the value is much higher. Who has scans of their cards before submitting?

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 12:33PM

my friend who is a carrier said if they lose a registered package they will just pay the amount of insurance bought. but i dont know if he is correct or not. he is a carrier, its not his department. they take registered pkgs real serious though.

Gonblott · February 16, 2007 12:35PM

Once i purchased a card on eBay and the package was all banged up and sure enough the PSA case cracked. I contacted the seller and he filed a claim, UPS had to come and INSPECT the package and BOX it came in for them to make a decision.

storm888 · February 16, 2007 12:57PM

"I dont know how the PO would react. You could send out 400$ worth of cards insured for 4000 since once they are graded the value is much higher. Who has scans of their cards before submitting?"

/////////////////////

I know how they would react.

The insurance is not sold/bought based on a prospective value.
The insurance covers ONLY "value at time of loss." That value
must be proven by the owner of the item, to the satisfaction
of the insurer.

Submitters are most at risk when the card is on its trip TO PSA;
on its trip back home, the card's value is MUCH easier to establish.

cohocorp · February 16, 2007 1:13PM

yes. it seems to be a pickle. especially if it wasnt a recent purchase and you do not have a purchase order.

usps claim?

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