USPS Insurance Reimbursement?

[EZ_E]

Must one show a receipt for the original purchase of a lost item? Or does one just show the insurance receipt and amount insured? What is the reimbursement procedures?

 

Thanks.

[jgrinz]

Must one show a receipt for the original purchase of a lost item? Or does one just show the insurance receipt and amount insured? What is the reimbursement procedures?

 

Thanks.

 

How to File a Claim

[EZ_E]

Thanks for the link, Joker.

 

With the completed claims form you will need to provide evidence of Insurance and evidence of value.

 

So, I take it that if the product is sold on ebay then that receipt will serve to verify the value?

[jgrinz]

Yes

[EZ_E]

Xie Xie - thanks. (thumbs u

[BULLY]

Thanks for the link, Joker.

 

With the completed claims form you will need to provide evidence of Insurance and evidence of value.

 

So, I take it that if the product is sold on ebay then that receipt will serve to verify the value?

 

Don't necessarily assume that if a product is sold on eBay that the receipt with serve to verify the value. The USPS is VERY funny about its insurance, and claims with them are NOT as easy as we ALL may think. Their insurance is highly overrated accordingly.

 

You may need values from outside sources, to determine "Fair Market Value" for instance, or anything. Their policy may specify (wait till you see them pull out manuals that look like they were printed decades ago!).

 

I do know this: Be prepared for at least ONE denial, and to appeal. Further, if it was a situation of damaged merchandise, and you are presenting it to a post office with your claim, GET A RECEIPT FOR YOUR MERCHANDISE. If it's a loss, well, obviously that's another story.

 

 

[EZ_E]

That was closer to my suspicions, Bully. Thanks for the input. (thumbs u

[James_OldeTowne]

Curiously, my PO would not accept a screenshot of an eBay listing. However, they accepted my photocopying a page out of the RedBook and circling the value of the coin that was lost.

[BULLY]

Curiously, my PO would not accept a screenshot of an eBay listing. However, they accepted my photocopying a page out of the RedBook and circling the value of the coin that was lost.

 

 

Ironically, I bet even the RedBook value, outdated the day it is printed, showed a higher value than the price you paid on eBay. But since it was an actual "book," it made a "reliable source" to the postal authorities.

 

The USPS is so weird. Any other insurance company in the country asks for actual receipts, but not them. Makes too much sense. Wonder if they'd pay out higher than you paid if Fair Market Value is higher, hmmmmm.

[jgrinz]

I did not have any problem with my PO with an auction page - BUT - I also did provided similar coin sale prices also from Ebay.

I guess all PO are different with their in house policies.

 

[gmarguli]

I printed out a copy of the eBay auction and that was OK for the Post Office. I also used a TPG submission form and a letter from a dealer confirming value for another one that was lost. Once I didn't have to provide anything as it was a very small claim <$25. I just said it was lost, provided the paperwork signed by the buyer, and the PO paid the claim.

[TheMightyDuke]

Cant really say the ebay invoice is what they will pay, 100% of the time. Bully, you said in another thread you picked up a 1999-D SBA 66 for a $0.99. If that gets lost, it still has a market value, and you just happened to pick it up on the sly for less than face value of the coin. You can stand your ground with them (I have had to twice due to the ineptness of my local PO) and came out a winner both times. Make enough noise, do enough homework to prove its worth WAY more than the invoice (hell, and price guide, sales on Teletrade, etc is enough to show the WORTH of the coin is more than its sale price), and you can/will win. They ARE tough, though, but can be beat.

[BULLY]

Cant really say the ebay invoice is what they will pay, 100% of the time. Bully, you said in another thread you picked up a 1999-D SBA 66 for a $0.99. If that gets lost, it still has a market value, and you just happened to pick it up on the sly for less than face value of the coin. You can stand your ground with them (I have had to twice due to the ineptness of my local PO) and came out a winner both times. Make enough noise, do enough homework to prove its worth WAY more than the invoice (hell, and price guide, sales on Teletrade, etc is enough to show the WORTH of the coin is more than its sale price), and you can/will win. They ARE tough, though, but can be beat.

 

Oh trust me, when it happened to me, I appealed, with documents galore,

 

The 99 cent SBA is a perfect example. I mean never mind Fair Market Value, even just replacing the $1 face value and a grading fee of say $12.50 is more than what the eBay invoice would have shown, and of course that doesn't guarantee you the MS66, so there you are back at determining FMV.

 

I worked in insurance for 17 years, so I'm not one to back down from appeals, and just because it's a pseudo government entity, I am anything but intimidated. I worked with regulators on a daily basis, and considering I knew laws and policy language better than they did, they don't intimidate me a bit.

 

My only point was that the USPS doesn't really like to readily fork over the money on claim for their insurance, even when the claims are as valid as valid can be. I'd love to see the statistics, like how many are initially denied, and must then be appealed. Sort of like how many Social Security Disability claims are automatically denied at the first level (over 85%), fewer at the second level of appeal, and then the lucky ones get overturned at the hearing. The good old USPS probably has a better payout rate than Social Security, but probably not by a whole lot.

 

 

[NPCoin]

As stated already, the USPS is more than a hassle to deal with regarding insurance. But the Domestic Mail Manual is VERY specific regarding numismatic items. A more proper link would probably be here.

 

You will most definitely need to stand your ground on the matter, and talk with the Post Master if need be. For raw coins, I would use the Red Book dated in the annum of the transaction (ie a 2007 Red Book for items purchased prior to 01/01/2008), but do not submit a copy of the Red Book pricing until asked for a FMV statement by the post office if you purchased the coin for more than Red Book value. If it was graded by a TPG, then you should also get a "quote" from the TPG with an estimate of total costs for grading, including the (required) registered mail with insurance both ways, and the (low tier) grading fee. Also, remember to always insure for the highest FMV you can to maximize any claim you may have:

 

Domestic Mail Manual:

 

609 Filing Indemnity Claims for Loss or Damage

 

4.0 Claims

 

4.1 Payable Claim

 

Insurance for loss or damage to insured, registered, or COD mail within the amount covered by the fee paid or within the indemnity limits for Express Mail as explained in 4.2 is payable for the following:

 

a. Actual value of lost articles at the time and place of mailing (see 4.1n for bulk insured articles).

 

f. Cost of outer container, if designed and constructed for the article sent.

 

g. Fair market value of stamps and coins of philatelic or numismatic value, as determined by a recognized stamp or coin dealer or current coin and stamp collectors newsletters and trade papers.

 

5.0 Compensation

 

5.1 Payment Limit

 

The USPS does not make payment for more than the actual value of the article or, for bulk insurance, for more than the wholesale cost of the contents to the sender if a lesser amount. The USPS does not make payment for more than the maximum amount covered by the fee paid.

 

6.0 Adjudication of Claims

 

6.3 Final USPS Decision of Claims

 

If the manager of Claims Appeals at the St. Louis ASC sustains the denial of a claim, the customer may submit an additional appeal within 60 days for final review and decision to the Consumer Advocate, USPS Headquarters (see 608.8.0 for address), who may waive standards in 609 in favor of the customer.

 

If you have the unfortunate happenstance of progressing to section 6.3 in your claim, and the coin(s) are of high value, have your congressional delegate handle it through case work on your behalf. Your delegate's regional office should have the forms for you to have notarized and let them look into the situation and act on your behalf (a limited power of attorney) since the Post Office is still technically a government agency under 39 U.S.C. § 201.

[World Colonial]

On the domestic claim I just reimbursed for, it was the same for me. We will see about the two internaitonal claims I have pending.

 

If this turns out not to be the case, then it will be a problem. The market price discussion I see here seems to assume that the claim is for a US coin which is usually fairly easy to determine unless the buyer paid a premium for eye appela or something like that. But this is not true for most non-US material because a particular coin does not sell that often. And as for the Krause price, well, anyone who collects any series listed in it knows how accurate that is.