I just mailed a package to Canada, and:

- It's not possible to print postage for first class from the USPS site
- Insurance is not available for first class shipping overseas (I didn't ask about within the US)

I paid in person and confirmed both.

When i'm buying from an online store, i only use USPS. If the store uses Fedex or UPS i go someplace else. They are expensive, and you always get hit for a big fat Customs fee if you use Fedex and UPS. If i'm buying privately, i ask the seller to use the cheapest USPS. I don't think it's ever been more than about $20. If the buyer wants expensive tracking and insurance, that's up to them.

Another vote in favour of using national postal services.

The courier companies are also uniformly useless for rural deliveries - for example, the UPS hub for Scotland is in Dundee, so you can imagine how keen they are on a 200 mile round trip to deliver a small packet.

I need to check whether my shipment was sent by priority or first class. It was probably priority mail. Will report back when I get home from work ; )

It was priority mail...sorry for any confusion.

Edited by jshann on 01/16/2009 13:27:06 MST.

Some of my thoughts on insurance:

When the Buyer pays, it’s a common courtesy that: “Sellers cannot fail to deliver an item for which payment was accepted”. This is actually an eBay* rule/quote but should apply all the time. Another tip from eBay “Ship with a tracking number and insurance. This can help resolve disputes in cases where a buyer claims to have never received an item or received a broken item.
”

I try to sucker the Buyer to pay for insurance by saying something like “Not responsible for lost packages. Buyer encouraged buying insurance”. In actuality, I am responsible for lost packages so I protect myself accordingly. But the smart Buyer won’t buy insurance because he knows I HAVE to deliver, and thus/then I will cover the insurance. Now if insurance is free, I still buy a ‘confirmation of delivery’. That way, in a court of law, the Seller can prove that ‘this particular package was delivered to this particular address’.

I would buy from Art since he guaranties delivery or money back. :)

-Barry

* http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/seller-rules-overview.html
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fraud-seller-tips.html

Barry wrote, "In actuality, I am responsible for lost packages so I protect myself accordingly. But the smart Buyer won’t buy insurance because he knows I HAVE to deliver, and thus/then I will cover the insurance'.

My understanding is that seller's legal responsibility ends when the package is in the hands of a common carrier (e.g. FedEx, UPS, USPS, etc.) . Unless specifically contracted differently, seller is not responsible for the common carrier's safe delivery of package. If buyer wants to protect himself or herself, then buyer is the one who should consider buying insurance.

As an occasional forum / Ebay seller, I always buy package tracking (and factor it into the shipping cost) -- to prove that I have shipped -- but I do not buy insurance on my own.

Edited by ben2world on 01/16/2009 12:36:34 MST.

it might just be an Israeli thing...but whats wrong with piggybacking on friends relatives and distant acquaintances??

Obviously if you ship things for a living that is something else...but as a private person doing intermittent shipping?? I hate to pay 10~20% sometimes of the value for shipping.

So i just have a few friends that i know do the routes (CAL - Israel, London- israel, Boston - israel) and i piggy back on them!! (now that i have changed jobs and i fly alot i can send to myself!)

I believe that you can always find someone in your social network that flies regularly to any place in the world you want (six degrees of seperation!)

Its cheap AND reliable, and of course you never pay customs cause they bring it along as their own stuff...

Mike

“As an occasional forum / Ebay seller, I always buy package tracking (and factor it into the shipping cost) -- but not insurance.”

Ben,
Then how do you protect yourself from a claim of a broken item?
Thanx,
-Barry

Barry:

Legally, buyer will have to make his claim against the carrier -- and hopefully he has purchased insurance. He has no claim against me, the seller.

But of course, there is legal -- and then there is emotional. I suppose some buyers will make a stink no matter what. Two mitigating factors:

1. I don't sell anything truly fragile or expensive.
2. secure (but not necessarily heavy) packaging.

Nothing's ever happened (yet). On the outside chance of damage -- I might decide to meet the buyer halfway -- or maybe even give a full refund -- esp. if small dollar value. After all, having sold dozens of items to date, I've already "saved" on all the insurance not purchased.

If I ever sell a truly fragile/expensive item -- I think I would either factor the insurance into the shipping cost -- or strong arm the buyer into buying his own.

No one has a crystal ball, of course, but given that we have a lot of control over how we package and all -- buying insurance as a matter of course very likely works to the economic disadvantage to the seller -- and the more we ship, the bigger that accumulated disadvantage.

Edited by ben2world on 01/16/2009 14:02:20 MST.

I have edited the original post to include what we think we know thus far.

Let me know about errors and omissions and I'll make the changes.

Anyone have an idea where this might go in the Wiki?

Thanks all for your input.