Postage/Insurance fees on ebay items...

[Keigwin]

I generally ship Priority Mail, flat rate ($4.70). Never internationally. I package the coin properly and ship it within 12 hours through PayPal or usps.com (includes tracking & DC). I make insurance optional for anything likely to sell for less than a few $hundred. Above that, I charge the actual cost of PO insurance (no, it is not free with Priority Mail). I never charge for material or my time.

 

Above $500 I usually ship registered which IS insured. You can't insure for more than $500 online so I have to make a special trip to the PO anyway. But I dislike registered because it can take two weeks to receive (lots of controls, PO signatures, lockboxes, etc. slow things to a crawl). If it's a very expensive coin I try to make sure the buyer understands the delay is not on end and we're doing this for safety.

 

Priority Mail usually arrives in 2 days. I have had zero problems with hundreds of shipments. (Now I've jinxed things.) I try to be straight in my auctions and right now I have 100% feedback and five stars at 4.7+. So I feel good about the practice. But I really wonder if I should force insurance on all buyers. Fewer than half buy the optional insurance.

 

If a product is mailed with insurance and the buyer doesn't receive it isn't that the seller's problem? If it's not insured and lost? Forgive my ignorance...I haven't had to face this. I'm wondering if I should change the way I am doing things.

 

Lance.

[CHABSENTIA]

Yes, I use Pay pal. The one instance where the Seller accepted my check and notified me of my receipt and then filed an unpaid claim the Seller did not accept Pay Pal.

 

 

I wanted the coin and I did get a good deal on the raw 1892 Morgan. What I objected to most was:

1. The unpaid item filed against me because of his so called poor records.

2. His attitude that I was not "permanently" damaged by it.

3. His Lie when I gave feedback that " Seller accepted payment and filed an unpaid item" and his response that I lied and He shipped the Coin immediately.

 

I did use Pay Pal with the other. I don't care if I paid $6.00 for shipping and he only paid $1.47. I agreed to the $6.00 when I bid.

 

 

After paying the Insurance for the Coin the next day and having not received the item after nine or ten days I Emailed the Seller and asked for a tracking number which he calimed was available on request his "terms".I had paid extra for Insurance to guard against any loss. After nine days hwo do I know if it has been lost etc. The Seller then informs me that " He goofed and mixed it in with a later batch and it will go out today". What kind of batch can it be mixed in with If I had paid 10 days earlier?

 

His last message is that if I "leave negative feedback as to his handling of the issue that he will retaliate " makes me wonder about how he will handle a situation in which the Item is lost and he hasn't purchased the insurance.

 

 

I saw this instance on T.V. where a Buyer purchased a necklace and returned it within 3 days for a refund and was ignored by the Seller and when he complained to Pay Pal as he had used it Pay Pal hassled him because they wanted to see the Necklace which he could not produce because he had to return it for the 3 day return Policy of the Seller.

 

One does not need to jump through all these hoops if the Seller would act in a Professional way.

 

While these type are a small percentage they do have an effect. If only 1% of the 132 Million Sellers on EBAy are unscrupolus that is still 1.32 million that can do damage.

 

[CHABSENTIA]

This was my point. If you pay $4.70 and ask $6.00 for it in your "terms" I have no problem with it.

 

 

If you say that you are not responsible for items that are lost and the Buyer did not purchase Insurance I also do not have any problem.

 

If you say that you do not offer Insurance and accept Pay Pal then there are other ways and it is up to the Buyer whether to bid etc.

 

If you say that you are not responsible for items that are lost if the Buyer does not purchase Insurance and Insurance is "x" amount and the Buyer pays it and the Seller does not purchase it is the problem.

 

 

In the case where it is offered and the Buyer refuses it then the Buyer is roling the dice. If the Buyer purchases it for Peace of Mind and the Seller does not purchase it then the Seller is not only rolling the dice but is Un Ethical.

 

If the Seller states in his "terms" that he will not be responsible etc if the Buyer does not purchase Insurance but he is "self insured" then I have no problem.

 

 

Why should the Buyer when he has purchased Insurance have to worry about a possible existence of False Security if he has purchased Insurance and roll the dice and then if the coin is not received have to jump through all sorts of hoops to recover his costs?Either by contacting the Buyer who was unethical in the first place or trying to get satisfaction through Pay Pal?

 

Meanwhile the Buyer has lost the opportunity to purchase the coin elsewhere in the interim.

 

 

Congratulations to Sellers such as yourself.