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 Replies: 18 / Views: 2,486 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
931 Posts |
I bought a very expensive coin on ebay this week and the shipping cost was $5.00. I assumed that the seller was just absorbing part of the shipping cost, but I was in for a surprise. The seller, who sold five or six $2000 coins in individual auctions, really has a lot of faith in the USPS. He put the coin in bubble wrap, put it in a flat rate Postal box about the size of a VHS tape, and shipped it uninsured. When I went to the Post Office the box was just stuck inside my PO box. One end of the box was crushed partially and you could actually see inside the box with no problem, as he didn't bother to even tape the box end shut. The coin in slab was in immaculate condition, so I have absolutely no complaint there, but I was stunned at the shipping method. If the coin had not arrived, would I have been responsible for the loss, or would Buyer Protection have put the loss on the shipper? All in all it was a happy ending to a potentially nightmarish situation. If I had known this for the four days that it was in transit I would have chewed off the end of my fingers. Edited by junior e
09/14/2011 7:08 pm
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1502 Posts |
Yikes... with my sales on ebay I at the very very least put a tracking number on package on anything over $200. |
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Valued Member
United States
460 Posts |
I think that the buyer has to prove he shipped it and it was delivered else ebay automatically sides with the seller. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts |
Don't feel bad. I have had some people send me a coin loose in a regular letter envelope, no holder or anything.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
570 Posts |
If he is a dealer he probably has his own insurance that covers losses for shipments. That is the only reason I can see him/her shipping it like that.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Quote:
If the coin had not arrived, would I have been responsible for the loss, or would Buyer Protection have put the loss on the shipper? PayPal requires Signature Confirmation for anything over $250, the seller could have been out some serious money without proper tracking. Another possibility is that the seller uses Third Party shipping insurance which would be essentially invisible to the buyer. Personally, I use Delivery Confirmation for anything over $50 and SC for $250+. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
If you were looking for something to steal, would it be a package with an insurance sticker, or a box that looks like it contains a a VHS tape?
Possibility 2: Some third-party insurers specify you place no indication of insurance on the box.
Part 3: The seller has to get the item or refund to you, even if the buyer turned down insurance.
Just 4 fun: Insurance is really a matter of markup and testicle size. If it costs $50 to make a $500 item, and you lose one in 1000, you'd be foolish to spend $1500 coverage for a claim that will cost you $50 to replace.
OTOH, if you get $600 for a $500 bill, and that $600 is your next mortgage payment, CYA would be a good idea.
When we were selling toys, we often had $100+ postage days. Quite a few of those were $100+ items, they all went priority with free DC. Had one or two losses in thousands of shipments.
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Part 4 was demonstrated at a Radio Shack. Someone returned an item as defective. They did the paperwork and customer left.
Wanna see how we recondition stuff? Follow me.
We walk into the repair room, where he dumped it in the nearest trash can.
"That's what we do for anything under $50. It's cheaper to buy new than pay a tech to figure out what's wrong."
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Valued Member
United States
265 Posts |
Just recently , I had bought an expensive Morgan through e-bay and when I received the envelope it appears to have been sliced into and the coin missing. I had assumed that the bubble mailer had been tampered with. I sent a claim to ebay as well as the post office. The post office supervisor at my local post office stated that that the most likely event was that the seller just dropped the coin into the bubble mailer and the auomatic high speed sorting equipment sliced into the envelope and the coin fell out.I would not expect that the PO would take fault for theft or fraud. Ultimately e-bay buyer protection awarded me a full refund from the the seller. The seller was upset , but I politely let him know what he could possibly have doen to have avoided this possibility The lessons learned from that event is when using a bubble mailer, always endorse the front with "handle with care" or " do not bend" or "fragile" so it is sorted manually. |
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
I see why people don't use insurance through USPS. I shipped 2 silver bars insured for $80 and it cost an extra $2.80
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
fragile is often misread as football.
Do not bend my favorite. Burly clerk strongarms package over knee, "Do too bend!"
Keep in mind, if you package something so it can't be machine read, the PO will charge a higher rate.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
931 Posts |
I see your point, Fredd. He probably had private insurance and thus no marking on the box. The guy had a lot of expensive gold selling all at once so he was probably a dealer.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts |
So when Paypal refunds your money they just take it away from the seller?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1502 Posts |
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So when Paypal refunds your money they just take it away from the seller? they definitely don't dig into their profits for that |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
 , ns2a! There are private companies that insure USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc. Insurance policies for businesses can cover shipping, based on volume. Such a policy might cost $5,000 per million dollars shipped, making your $80 shipment cost 40ยข. |
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Valued Member
United States
460 Posts |
Correct me if I am wrong but many of the 3rd party insurances don't cover coins correct?
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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,486 |
Posted 09/14/2011 9:48 pm
