Big Ticket Items - Shipping and Insurance
Summary: d.kendall is expanding their business of selling custom electric guitars to eBay and seeks advice on shipping and insurance options, finding eBay's shipping calculator lacking for insurance above $100. ilikehockeyjerseys advises the necessity of signature confirmation for shipments over a certain value and warns about high insurance rates with major carriers, suggesting alternatives like Chit Chats or Stallion, despite their limitations. lotzofuniquegoodies notes that eBay's insurance should theoretically match sale value if above $100 but suggests adding the cost to handling. reallynicestamps emphasizes the importance of signature confirmation against fraud for high-value items, while lotzofuniquegoodies points out cost differences between carriers like UPS and Canpar for this service.
I've been selling custom and upgraded electric guitars from my own web site. When someone is interested in buying, I find them a couple of shipping quotes (which include tracking, signature confirmation, and full insurance), and they pick one.
I'm looking to sell on eBay, and I've set up some draft listings for guitars and accessories. eBay seems pretty good when it comes to calculated shipping, but I can't seem to find options for insurance above $100.
The alternatives appear to be free shipping and flat-rate. Both would mean finding a maximum price for the region (Canada, US, UK, and maybe EU) and building it in or adding it on. I've found discount shippers (e.g., ClickShip, SecureShip) that "integrate" with eBay and will download orders and facilitate shipping (including insurance).
Another alternative appears to be eBay calculated shipping plus 3rd party eCommerce insurance (e.g., Shipsurance/Shipsaver, U-pic, Securesus), and building the insurance cost in.
I'm sure others have encounted and solved this issue. What's the best approach? If it's maximum flat rate, does that put peope off? Do you refund the difference to the buyer? Mention that in the listing?
reallynicestamps
·1 year agoSignature Confirmation is worth the $1.75 for any item that is high value /high fraud, even if the "High Value" is $100.
An adult has to sign for the parcel on delivery, or at the PO counter after presenting iD.
Makes fraudulent claims of Not Recieved all the harder to make.
For some reason when I mention this on dotCOM, many seller have fantods and hissy fits, because the buyer has to get into his jacked pickup and roll coal all the way to the PO to pick up* his parcel. And the PO is only open six days a week 8am to 6pm.
*Because all buyers are at home all the time but no carrier ever rings the doorbell.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year ago@d.kendall
@reallynicestamps
Only as an FYI if you use UPS it's a bit higher.
UPS: Note: Starting from
Fedex:
Note: Those amounts may vary if you use a depot directly.
Canpar is 11.00 per pc.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year ago@d.kendall
As far as I know with ebay labels the insurance is based on whatever your whatzit sells for. If it sells for 8.50 you're covered for 8.50. The option was never added to the calculator tool. If you go over the 100.00 it "should" in theory turn on. The only way you can protect yourself for items over the 100 would be to build into your handling. Not optimal but what we have. Or you can ship with CP with a small business account and level 1 discount.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoOne note, you need signature confirmation for anything above 750 CAD total. Meaning, it could sell for less than $750, but if taxes and shipping bring it to $750+, it is required.
eBay does not require insurance, but if you don't get it and the package is lost they will require you to refund the buyer. So the way to look at insurance is that it is for the seller, not for the buyer.
There are no cheap insurance rates with the major carriers, as far as I know. For example, it cost about $130 for me to send five collectible hockey jerseys between two major Ontario cities because the total value was $2500. I had to split them between two packages because the max insurance was $1000, which means I had to pay two shipping rates and two signature confirmation rates. I left the outstanding $500 uninsured because it wasn't worth it to pay another $50 for a third parcel. Shipping with most carriers is between $3-$5 per $100 insured. I don't believe Canada Post has the same insurance limits, but they aren't currently running.
With Canada Post, if you print the label using their online Snap Ship platform, you can do things like mark the item as card for pickup. This might make you feel more secure with under insuring a package because you know it won't be delivered to the wrong house, or left alone on a porch. Technically, I think once it is marked delivered you are in the clear, but this would at least give you some added piece of mind.
You can look into both Chit Chats and Stallion. For orders to the USA, Chit Chats will allow you to insure up to $300 USD (about $400 CAD) for only a few dollars. Their insurance goes through a third party broker. I cannot comment on how likely you are to receive a settlement. Stallion offers very cheap insurance rates. I don't know off hand what their limitations are. The only hitch with Stallion is that the insurance is only useful if you ship with them on a regular basis, because the payout comes in the form of Stallion credit, not cash. Meaning, if you lost a $1000 guitar, they would give you $1000 worth of shipping credit. This won't be an issue for a high volume shipper, but it would be an issue for just about everybody else.
I am unfamiliar with third party insurance rates, but these might be your best option if they are reliable and can insure items for less than what UPS, Fedex, or Canada Post charge.
If you are shipping larger items like guitars during the Canada Post strike, you may want to stick with UPS and Fedex because they have shipping calculators integrated with eBay. If you use flat rates, you risk getting hit with an order from a rural or far out area that would have an excessive shipping charge beyond your flat rate. If you use calculated rates, you can add a flat rate handling fee to cover what you expect the insurance and shipping confirmation to cost.
byto253
·1 year agoJust to note Chitchats does not handle over $800US without shipping to the US and $2,500 CDN to Canada.