Be aware of possible Canada Post shipping insurance glitch

[liusy641]

Triple check if you have successfully bought additional insurance before proceeding to print shipping label because there might be some glitches.

my story:

Printed my shipping label through ebay this morning as I usually did. Chose Canada Post expedited parcel option and filled the insurance coverage value and custom declare value. paid successfully online without problem. 

but when dropped the parcel at my local post office, I was told the parcel was not insured and I could not pay extra few bucks on site because the label was already paid and printed.

so I went back home and checked my paypal records, yeh... no notes for insurance as it should be. I am not a new seller, and am sure I typed additional insurance coverage when proceeded to print label. but I cannot investigate now. have to wait until next transaction to see if this glitch persists. 

now I end up shipping something expensive without insurance. finger crossed it will get safe delivery. 

[vintagenorth]

Thanks for posting about this. If you find that it really is a glitch, you might want to bring this to Raphael's attention at Wednesday's Weekly Chat session.

[liusy641]

yes, I will check again when next sale. 

[i.am.vivian]

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@liusy641 wrote:

Triple check if you have successfully bought additional insurance before proceeding to print shipping label because there might be some glitches.

my story:

Printed my shipping label through ebay this morning as I usually did. Chose Canada Post expedited parcel option and filled the insurance coverage value and custom declare value. paid successfully online without problem. 

but when dropped the parcel at my local post office, I was told the parcel was not insured and I could not pay extra few bucks on site because the label was already paid and printed.

so I went back home and checked my paypal records, yeh... no notes for insurance as it should be. I am not a new seller, and am sure I typed additional insurance coverage when proceeded to print label. but I cannot investigate now. have to wait until next transaction to see if this glitch persists. 

now I end up shipping something expensive without insurance. finger crossed it will get safe delivery. 

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Never done this myself but would it be possible to go back home and UNDO  the label? As if the buyer cancelled right after you printed.  Then with your money back you take it to the PO and manually pay to ship plus buy ins. there.  

The item would then be insured, tracked, but different number is all.

[reallynicestamps]

Why are you buying insurance?

It doesn't make the parcel move faster. Would upgrading to a faster service cost more or less than insurance?

It doesn't protect the parcel in transit. Would upgrading your packaging help make the contents arrive in better shape?

Since the buyer pays for the insurance in any case, why not move to Cookie Jar (self-)insurance.

Add a few pennies to every asking or shipping price as a sort of insurance premium.

Put those virtual pennies (or dimes) into a virtual cookie jar.

If you have an unhappy customer, use those accumulated pennies to settle the problem BEFORE the customer goes to eBay or Paypal which effects your seller account.

This is faster than trying to make an insurance claim from Canada Post and your 'premiums' are lower.

Most sellers using Cookie Jar Insurance find that it is actually profitable. Just as 'real' insurance companies are profitable.

[i.am.vivian]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

Why are you buying insurance?

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I do sometimes. Mostly I sell handicrafts so it is not nec. because all I would lose really is my time but if I sold a $360 Macro lens then I would or any of those expensive breakable camera pieces.  It is not about making the parcel move faster and all that  but if something goes wrong depending what  there is a better chance of getting PO help than having them say  Sorry You didn't buy the insurance.  On a $360 lens a few pennies accumulated ins. won't cover a loss but it will pay for the PO ins.  Different strokes, I guess.  

[dutchman48]

Get 3rd party insurance through Insure Post as it is cheaper as well.

[liusy641]

they already scanned so I just let it go.

[liusy641]

how did you know I haven't use cookie jar or even crates? insurance isn't only for damage, but also for lost/theft

[ypdc_dennis]

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@liusy641 wrote:

but when dropped the parcel at my local post office, I was told the parcel was not insured and I could not pay extra few bucks on site because the label was already paid and printed.

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Expedited parcel comes with $100 of insurance included so why were they saying it was not insured?

Or did they mean it did not have the full insurance?

[liusy641]

not fully insured to the value

[Anonymous]

"Why are you buying insurance?"  Is there something wrong that you are against it?  It would be wise to have insurance if the value is over $100.00.  Don't give bad advice about not need to buy insurance to anyone.  If the seller wants to buy insurance, so be it.  They need to protect themselves. 

"Jar insurance" is not efficient as you advised.  Why should we eat up our profits from "jar insurance"?

[pocomocomputing · Accepted solution]

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@dutchman48 wrote:

Get 3rd party insurance through Insure Post as it is cheaper as well.

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I would suggest Insurepost as well. You can buy insurance from them after the item is shipped for up to a couple of days.

http://www.insurepost.com/default.asp?

rates

http://www.insurepost.com/rates.asp

[liusy641]

Great, I didn't know such service exists. Thank you. 

[momcqueen]

Did you at any point browse back to check something after you'd entered the additional insurance amount? 

I have found that if I enter information in some fields during the purchase of a postage label, they will reset to no-informaiton if I backtrack to check something. This might be one of those times. 

Just a thought. 

[rose-dee]

Are you using a listing management site?  I use Auctiva, and they offer 3rd party insurance to Canadian sellers that can be purchased up to 72 hours after shipping.  Other similar sites likely offer insurance as well.  The rates are generally better than Canada Post. 

[liusy641]

no I didn't click back in this case. anyway, bought from insurepost instead

[tobyshitzu]

""Jar insurance" is not efficient as you advised. Why should we eat up our profits from "jar insurance"?
"

"jar insurance" doesn't eat profits, it adds to them by keeping the profit and administration costs the insurance company gets from the huge margin they include in their premiurms