Selling Silver Coins

[m_cyclops]

I sell silver coins in eBay,. Often the buyer does not want to pay an extra $10 for registered shipping so I send the coin by regular post (USA and Canada only).

the problem is that there is no way to prove that I sent the coin and that the buyer received it. I recently had a complain that someone did not received the coin and I have to return the money. I suspect the person received the coin and he just said he did not, because the coin was sent from Canada to Canada and Canada post is great.

Do you have any advise to prevent this situation? I barely make any money on the coins so one case like this can set me back for the profit of 10 or 12 coins

[femmefan1946]

In the first place, don't use Registered Mail.

Paypal does not recognize Registered as being 'electronically visible' for purposes of confirmation of delivery.

I don't know why.

Do you have any advise to prevent this situation?

Yep.

Don't sell to anyone who will not pay for tracking (ExpressPost, Expedited, or Priority Post are all acceptable).

Some sales are not worth having.

If losing even one item in one hundred knocks out all your profit from the other 99..... well, you do the math.

You have to set your price (including secure shipping costs) to be fair to you -- and to the buyer. There is an old saying in retail that you make your money when you buy not when you sell.

Apparently in the metals market, now with falling prices is the time to be buying. Leave selling for another decade when prices rise again.

[femmefan1946]

For domestic shipping , Regular Parcel also included Confirmation of Delivery.

http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s2

You get discounts on rates with VentureOne, but even better ones with Paypal shipping labels. (5% to 18% off PO counter rates)

And of course, if you are buying discount mint postage you may do even better than that.

[pjcdn2005]

There is no discount for regular domestic parcel but there is for expedited parcel which is actually less expensive.

As far as not selling without using delivery confirmation....many low cost items will not sell with expensive postage so you may want to self insure your packages which means that for each item you add on a small amount to put in a virtual cookie jar. Then, if an item is not received, you pay for the loss from your 'cookie jar'.

[reallynicestamps]

PJ makes good points.

However, there are some categories, and coins are one, where not using obvious tracking will lead to many many spurious INR claims.

The insurance company may or may not cover you if you are making a lot of claims. And of course, there are limitations on postal insurance on some items, like coins, jewellry and china.