posted on March 19, 2009 08:49:02 AM new
I had a broken item that was shipped with UPS and I just got off the phone with their claim department.
They said that if it's determined that they will settle the claim, I will need to provide an invoice for my "original" cost. I went thought this with DHL a few months ago.
Why does it matter what I paid for an item. The customer paid for the insurance to cover what he paid for the item.
Does anyone have a way to protect yourself when shipping antiques and collectibles? I don't even have receipts for most of what I buy unless it's from an estate sale.
The only thing that UPS came up with is to have an item appraised. Now that could get very costly.
Is FedEx or USPS any better?
Of course the buyer isn't being very cooperative and has already filed a dispute with paypal for "not as described"
posted on March 19, 2009 12:09:39 PM new
Why does it matter what I paid for an item. The customer paid for the insurance to cover what he paid for the item.
////////////////////////
They can do that,lets say if I shipped you a fake diamond ring and have it insured for 10,000 dollars.
The ring is lost,the insurer wants to see the receipt just how much I paid for this ring? This is one way to determine if the ring is really worth $10,000.
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 20, 2009 04:49:35 AM new
Whenever I had a claim with stamps.com they only wanted me to show them how much the buyer paid for the item.
That should be the bottom line, the buyer paid lets say 10,000 and if that can be verified then that is the amount they should pay if the package gets lost.
Same thing for Antiques or collectibles. I had a buyer who paid 3500.00 for a banjo and if it gets damaged or lost in shipping the shipper is responsible for paying what the buyer paid because that is the amount it was insured for, it was not insured for the amount that I paid for it.
I think you should call and speak to someone else because what they are telling you does not make sense.
posted on March 20, 2009 05:47:40 AM new
I stopped using ups due to this type of issue - my customers were always asking me to use ups so they didn't have to pay the insurance for up to $100, and like I told them, you get what you pay for.
I now use stamps.com and have had 3 claims in 2-1/2 years. Each was paid within 6 days of faxing the paperwork.
Talk with someone else within ups - you establish the market value with the Ebay auction page and paypal receipt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on March 20, 2009 06:02:36 AM new
I only use UPS for larger items that would cost a bundle to ship Priority.
I thought stamp.com was just a service to print USPS postage - am I wrong?
I spoke with two different people with UPS and got the same answer.
Maybe this is something new as 7 or 8 years ago UPS lost a $500 chandelier (I mean really now how do you do that??) I filed the claim at the UPS store that I shipped from and they reimbursed the full $500 plus my shipping cost including the box I purchased from them within days.
I think this is criminal - it's like insurance fraud or something. The value field is already filled out when you print the label with paypal.
posted on March 20, 2009 06:32:01 AM new
It depends on how much is the claim.
You can cite all the past cases ,but it is up to the insurance co to decide.
One reason USPS likes to use is -look,the outside box is not damaged!
Stamps.com,DSI,UPIC and all the other parties,try submitting a large claim and see how they react!
They asked for the receipt to see how much you paid for the item-say you paid 10 dollars and sold in an auction for 100 dollars,the cost to you is 10 and your profit is 90 dollars ,a 900% profit!
They pay you say 25 dollars,you return 100 to your customer and still make 15 dollars,a decent profit!
You can argue with them or take them to court.
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
[ edited by hwahwa on Mar 20, 2009 06:41 AM ]
posted on March 20, 2009 09:58:55 AM new
UPS stuffed a large flat package inside our storm door in the rain. It was wider than the door so of course the package cracked. It contained a life-size, folded up, cardboard advertising figure that acquired several bends. When I called about an insurance payment they told me to send them the information and they would buy me another one. I told them it was long out of production and was not a item that was ever sold retail. Oh well they said, we will not pay anything since the insurance is only for currently available merchandise. There is no insurance on anything that is antique or unique. The thing had even been packed by a UPS store and I kept making calls till I got someone at UPS who agreed to pay me (just to shut me up, I think).
Since then I have never shipped or agreed to have anything that is vintage shipped by UPS. -----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on March 20, 2009 10:03:41 AM new
If you pay to insure a package for the value that a customer pays for the item then that shipping co should pay you for the amount you insured it for.
If they need prof then you can show them the payment you received from the buyer.
I sold a collectible for 350.00 and I insured it for that amount, and I can prove that the buyer paid that amount. Then that would mean the shipping co has to honor the claim because they let me insure it for that amount.
What does it matter what I paid for this item? It has nothing to do with the purchase price. The purchase price is the value of the damaged item.
Plus what if you sold something for 100.00 and the real value for that item is 500.00 after you get it appriased , will the shipping co pay you 500.00??
posted on March 20, 2009 10:21:44 AM new
Years ago someone told me UPS no longer handle antiques and musical instruments!
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 20, 2009 10:28:57 AM new
One way to protect ourselves against loss is to make enough profit so we can absorb some losses whether it is chargeback or merchandise shrinkage or insurer not honoring our claims.
This is a piece of advice my banker told me when I looked into getting a merchant account to accept credit cards and learned how costly it could get if someone uses a fraudulent card or when I lose a chargeback!
Unfortunately profit margin on Ebay is so slim,it would take many good transactiions to offset one bad one!
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 20, 2009 03:03:52 PM new
I heard the same thing about UPS not taking musical instruments or antiques, I just searched their site and didn't see anything on it though. Stamps.com offers insurance when you use them to ship, as well as a few other sites - much better than the usps insurance nightmare.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on March 21, 2009 09:17:34 AM new
I refuse to ship UPS. I've yet to get a package that doesn't look like it was tossed around, stomped on and then run over. It's crazy. I've only had one thing break using USPS and have only had two (knocking on wood) packages go missing. My mail carrier picks my packages up. It's made my shipping duties so much less stressful!
posted on March 21, 2009 02:02:52 PM new
I think I have one answer - you don't ship UPS!!
He had UPS pick up the item for the claim and UPS returned it to me. It showed this on the original tracking and as he had opened a dispute with paypal for "Not as described" as soon as I saw it showed on the tracking - I gave him his money back. Why wait for them to give it back??
I don't think I will ever see a dime back from UPS. Oh well I have a $250 write off for taxes.
posted on March 21, 2009 04:49:37 PM new
One of my vendors in California ship UPS and a 11 lb package from Ca to TX is only 28 dollars and thats second day AIR.
My vendor advises me to pay a little more on shipping as second day air packages are treated better than the regular ones!
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 21, 2009 08:22:49 PM new
Glassgrl,
thanks for finding this thread.
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 21, 2009 08:31:41 PM new
From the thread-
For the record: below is in part the section of the Tarriff which they used to marginalize the worth of my item. Its under the heading: Declared Value and Limits of Liability,section number (4). Some of the points are not included as I only make reference to the stuff that would likely apply to those on Ebay and my case in particular.
4. Packages (Including Freight shipments) containing all or part of the following items are limited to a maximum declared value of $100.00
a. Artwork, including any work created created or developed by the application of skill,taste,or creative talent for sale,display or collection. This includes, but is not limited to, items (and their parts) such as paintings,drawings,vases,tapestries,limited edition prints, fine art, statuary,sculpture,collector's items, customized or personalized musical instruments
b. Film, photographic images..and so on
c.Any commodity that by its inherrent nature is particularly susceptible to damage, or the market value of which is particularly variable or difficult to ascertain
d.Antiques, any commodity which exhibits the style or fashion of a past era and whose history, age or rarity contributes to it's value. These items include, but are not limited to furniture,tableware,glassware, and collectors items such as coins,stamps,sports cards,souvenirs, and memorabilia ...
e.Glassware, including but not limited to signs,mirrors, ceramics,porcelain,china,crystal,glass,framed glass, and any other commodity with similarly fragile qualities.
f. Jewelry...basically anything you could imagine
j. Guitars or musical instruments over 20 years old.
Atticques
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 22, 2009 04:37:43 AM new
Yeah I've always heard that FedEx isn't going to pay anything over $100 for antiques and collectibles. They sure don't mind charging for insurance over that amount - they just don't intent to cover it.
I just checked and if you print labels from Paypal for UPS - the declared value is automatically filled for the auction price. If they know they will only pay what you paid for an items but yet they are charging you for what the buyer paid - isn't that fraud?
Does anyone use U-PIC? Is there any safety there for sellers?
What is the answer - private insurance?
We as sellers are increasing being forced to offer lower or free shipping so it is getting harder and harder to just cover our cost.
The only thing I can think to do is to crate anything breakable from here on out. I'm going to have to raise my shipping cost to do that but I simply don't know what else to do.
posted on March 22, 2009 07:20:40 AM new
I have used U-PIC and DSI and submitted claims,they all get paid.
BUT,it does not mean all claims in the future will be paid.
Insurance is all about pooling of risk,take in one dollar each from a large number of customers and hope that only a few will submit claims.mostly small claims.
Did anyone ever ask what if these insurers run out of money?
It is tempting to accept a premium say a few hundred dollars for a piece of expensive artwork sold for a few hundred thousand and pray nothing will ever happen.But if it does,are these insurers going to cut a check for a few hundred thousand dollars without putting up a fight?It could mean the end of their business or they just simply dont have a few hundred thousand dollars lying around just to meet claims!
Look at AIG with its CDS contracts,unfortunately our insurers are not going to be bailed out by Uncle Sam!
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
posted on March 25, 2009 07:59:56 AM new
UPS is the worst! I haven't used them for years. Expect an denial immediately. UPS is fraud.
Isn't it ironic that UPS (a company that sells their service to make a profit by charging more than their cost of shipping) wants you to provide information on your cost of your item that you expect to make a profit on.
If they continue to request this information, I would refuse to give it to them and then file a complaint with the DOT or ICC. They are committing fraud if they try to pay you for your cost of the item.
I would immediately file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau against UPS about their request for documenation of your cost. They will respond within a few days and that will likely resolve this request. I just did that with our Merchant Processing company and they refunded the fee they charged our business that wasn't part of our contract.
posted on March 26, 2009 04:31:19 AM new
Be careful of what rustydumbo states. He clearly doesn't know how it works.
Why does it matter what I paid for an item. The customer paid for the insurance to cover what he paid for the item.
Here is your problem. Insurance covers YOU. Not your customer. How insurance works is it covers the cost of the item when you purchased it. What you need to do is to start the claim process with UPS. It is very easy and can be done online. Also be sure to tell your customer that they need to hang onto the item and all packaging including packing material. UPS in most cases will want that (as a side note. Most of the time when UPS rejects a claim is because the SHIPPER doesn't pack the item properly)
Anyway, once you file online, they will be sending you a claim form to fill in asking for information including a receipt for the cost of the item. You fax in the claim form along with the receipt and then they pay YOU, not the buyer. You are responsible to refund the buyer. You are also responsible to refund the full purchase price of the item, not just what UPS pays you. That is the law, not what UPS has in policy. I probably do one-two claims a year and have yet to have one rejected.
posted on March 26, 2009 10:39:26 AM new
shagmidmod - who do you use for shipping larger items?
Stone said:
"You are also responsible to refund the full purchase price of the item, not just what UPS pays you. That is the law, not what UPS has in policy"
posted on March 26, 2009 10:45:50 AM new
I think this is Federal law governing consumer sales,could be FTC?
It makes sense,if the customer did not receive his goods,then he should have his money back in full.
*
Economic Reform act of Chairman Obama of the socialist States of America :
10 ounces of meat per month,half a yard of cotton per year per adult.
Hellilujah!
Caroline