Hey when you guys ship from paypal… do you guys use USPS insurance or Shipcover insurance? and how will you file a claim for shipcover insurance?
I never buy insurance…only tracking unless a customer asks for it… I package so there’s no chance of damages. I’ve never had a package go missing hence I’ve save thousands not buying insurance;)
Look at it this way, if it was a good deal for the consumer the service wouldn’t offer it. Kinda like extended warrantee plans.
That’s just me though…
I always do insurance on lost orders. I don’t really want to lose money. Pokemon is business not fun!
When I ship from Japan, I always use insurance. Why? Because in December 2000, at the height of the holiday sales season, the U$ Po$tal $ervice lost 280 packages that I had shipped. Even worse, all of them were lost In a SINGLE DAY! They went missing in the San Francisco international hub. My guess is that the thieves who were employed there decided to give their families and friends some very nice Christmas presents.
Even though I had tracking numbers for all of the packages, and could prove to the customers that the packages were indeed shipped by my company, I’m certain that I lost any potential future business with them. One bad experience — even if it’s the fault of a third-party — is enough to destroy a customer-business relationship.
Although I eventually received an insurance payment for everything that was lost (and all of the customers received full refunds), I got nothing for the permanent damage the USPS’s thievery did to my company’s reputation among those customers.
No amount of money can help a business regain that trust.
I also had a package stolen from me recently. It was marked delivered but I never got it. The seller didn’t buy insurance because he was cheap and I can’t asked for a refund because it’s marked delivered. I complained to the post office and they said “we don’t know where the package is”
That’s why i get my items shipped to my work place.
Amen to this.
Though not a business formally, this applies 100% to my online sales. When I had a disgruntled owner of a shop I used to attend see that I was selling some of my Kaijudo promos online, he busted in and told a massive group that I: “Was a liar, had no integrity, was not a shop owner, that he had given me the promos, and that now I was selling them to make a profit.”
I responded with pictures of:
-A sales receipt of me having purchased the exact promos (each item individually indicated) online in a bulk deal
-Pictures of my conversations with the guy I talked to online about them
-Pictures of my online storefront that I ran at one point
-Concept art that our very own Sammy had drawn up for the shop
-Paypal transfers for everything
And even though I openly offered any piece of evidence anyone might find necessary, completely disproved publicly all that he claimed, and was kindhearted about it all throughout the process, I still had someone withdraw an offer they had made me because they felt that I was “Sketchy.”
It was rather heartbreaking. Especially for me, as I value trust and honesty above any other qualities in myself and others.
There’s too many holes in all the insurance defenders points to take the time on so ill let it go;)
I think you have a valid point for not paying insurance, too. It’s more a matter of where you’re shipping than how. For instance, if the majority of your shipments are domestic, it’s a lot easier to handle a customer’s complaint. Also, in many cases, it’s easier simply to issue a refund than to deal with the process of collecting insurance — which can sometimes take months and does not always end in the seller’s favor.
So, there are good arguments on both sides. And I know for certain that I would totally do business with a seller I trusted regardless of whether he offers insurance or not. Integrity is more important to me than insurance.
For overseas shipments, though, I really have little choice.
I was over 1000 rated in the early years on the old Yahoo Auctions English and my 5 EBay stores are nearly 11,000 rated. That is a lot of mailers and only a very few got lost, stolen, etc. NONE ever lost on whos_zelda_gilroy or professional_sports_authenticators.
If I couldn’t get reimbursed I just paid the losses off myself. Basically, I self insured and have come out many thousands ahead and my customers have saved thousands.
Again, I don’t recommend that for everyone. If you sell infrequently and for many hundreds of dollars per mailer then for your own peace of mind…insure.
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LOL want to insure my items for cheap?