InsurePost 3rd party insurance in bad faith?

[mainstreamcycle]

Was investigating Insurepost as a possible solution to the upcoming CP small packet fiasco:

Insurepost currently sells liability insurance for   CP small packet and light packet services.   However its own terms and conditions note that it will not approve claims without certain  information not generated by the services in question. 

A representative for the company wrote to me:

"Insured shipments must be scanned for acceptance by the carrier in order to have coverage. If there is no Proof of Mailing, there would be no coverage.

Acceptable proof includes:
- USPS receipt
- PayPal screen shot of the shipping label or printout
- Endicia Dazzle postage log
- Stamps.com log
- Customs Declaration page with date stamp
- USPS Click N Ship Online Label Record
- Tracking Number (but MUST state Accepted or Arrival).

Additionally, you must provide proof that the shipping carrier received your package for mailing."

Its my feeling this company is selling insurance for these Canada Post services in bad faith.   I have sent some of my discussion to the State of California Dept. of Insurance for advise.   Also thought many of you would like to know.

-msc

[pocomocomputing]

Based on what you posted, it does appear that InsurePost requirements cannot be met with PayPal shipping. All you get is an electronic "tracking" number which serves as a receipt for proof of purchase of the Light or Small Packet service.

If you use the Manual CN22 form and go to the post office and purchase in person, then you get a stamped copy of the white CN22 customs form which meets the requirements.

So PayPal shipping would not qualify.

Did you specifically bring up PayPal shipping and the lack of proof of mailing? I think you did but I thought I would specifically ask you.

If true, InsurePost and shipsurance their parent company offer services that are useless for sellers using PayPal shipping. Very interesting flaw that you discovered with their services.

[mainstreamcycle]

I did not get into specifics because the representative had very little knowledge of the CP services his company insured.   We know trying to explain CP Small Packet features to somebody in the USA is as easy as going to the moon. 

I concluded on my own that providing a postal stamp on a Paypal manifest or a manual CN22 customs form would probably not qualify  since there is no tracking #.    Anyway doing all that would be a step backwards for me in terms of efficiency and would be hours of additional work per week.

I will definitely not be going to manual CN22's,  but I will try to ask if the Paypal transaction details for the shipping label with a postal stamp on it will be enough.

In addition to this, they may ask for a Consignee (Buyer) Affidavit,  which would be very very difficult to procure from an internationally based clientele. 

I was hoping somebody had experience with a 3rd party insurer, specifically regarding CP  Small Packet services??

[pocomocomputing]

Any claim from an insurer requires some supporting document from the buyer to prove they never received the item. The seller is supposed to get a signed document stating that the buyer did not receive the item. However since this is often difficult to obtain from a buyer, then copies of the email correspondence from the buyer was usually sufficient proof of non-receipt of the item.

So the PayPal proof of postage purchased and a buyers complaints of item not received was sufficient proof of a lost shipment.

Now if a seller makes too many claims, then a third party insurer refuses to insure you anymore. I have read complaints about this happening to eBay sellers in the eBay USA forums.

So I think the InsurePost representative simply does not understand how it works. Otherwise the InsurePost service is useless to insuring Canada Post shipments using PayPal.

[reallynicestamps]

Frankly if it is a US company and you are in Canada, don't use them.

The total ignorance of our postal system should be enough to discourage you.

There is a Canadian company called shipinsurance which seems to be used successfully by many eBay sellers.

If you do a lot of mailing or if your shipments are high value, you might want to get in touch with Hugh Wood International, a British company with offices in Toronto. They issue annual policies for collectors and dealers in collectibles . (They are the insurers of record for the American Philatelic Society.) They cover not only mailings, but also show and store stocks against shoptheft, fire and water damage, and will insure show dealers in transit. Their rates are lower than most commercial insurers because they understand the special needs of collectors.

[pocomocomputing]

Frankly if it is a US company and you are in Canada, don't use them.

The total ignorance of our postal system should be enough to discourage you.

There is a Canadian company called shipinsurance which seems to be used successfully by many eBay sellers.

If you do a lot of mailing or if your shipments are high value, you might want to get in touch with Hugh Wood International, a British company with offices in Toronto. They issue annual policies for collectors and dealers in collectibles . (They are the insurers of record for the American Philatelic Society.) They cover not only mailings, but also show and store stocks against shoptheft, fire and water damage, and will insure show dealers in transit. Their rates are lower than most commercial insurers because they understand the special needs of collectors.

Who is shipinsurance?

When I key in shipinsurance in Google search nothing comes up.

If you mean shipsurance, it is a USA company and they offer insurance for most Canada Post services. Insurepost is a branch of shipsurance. As stated on the shipsurance web site, it offers the same services as shipsurance when buying one insurance per shipment. Insurepost allows setting up an account to have a profile with your address and other information so that some details do not need to be filled out each time you want to buy one time insurance per package.

I did email Insurepost to clarify their insurance for Canada Post services but it was at Christmas and I only got a reply that they would be looking into the Canada Post changes in the New Year. I will followup on this.