What you need to know about Shippo insurance

[thewoodguy1]

Well, Shippo started talking to me again today, they have been busy with the influx of new Ebay customers.  My overbilling problem relates to an attempt by me to purchase additional shipping insurance on Shippo.  I have learned that you do not purchase the additional insurance from Canada Post.  Shippo cuts into the loop between you and Canada Post and sends your insurance money to what I believe is a Shippo subsidiary.   Re my previous posting about being over billed, I have asked for receipt for the additional insurance I attempted to buy (but never got) or a refund.  That query has gone up the chain of command and is yet to be  answered.

If you purchase additional shipping insurance from Shippo and you have to make a claim; You have to make TWO claims.  You have to claim the first $100 to Canada Post and the reminder to Shipnurance.  Rather than re-type everything I going to do a snip of the email that I received in response to my questions.  I hope that is allowed here.

Here goes I hope this works.

Hello Fred,

Rebekah here again to help answer your questions. Answers below pertain to Shipsurance, our third-party insurance provider, assuming a package of $400 value. The terms I reference can be found here: https://goshippo.com/terms-service/insurance/

a.) Canada Post covers the first $100. When purchasing insurance from Shippo do you purchase just the additional $300? Yes, this program is additional insurance on top of the $100. After Canada Post pays up to the $100 limit, Shipsurance would cover the remaining $300. You'll only need to purchase $300 of insurance. Excerpt from the Terms below:

b.) If a claim is required, do you have to claim the first $100 from CP and the $300 from the 3rd party? Yes, see above

c.) Are you supposed to purchase the full $400 from Shippo and forget Canada Post? If you purchase $400 of additional insurance through Shipsurance, then your package will be insured for $500, which would exceed the value.

d.) Canada Post is not listed on the list of carriers that Shipsurance supports (that I could see)? Yes, Canada Post is one of the carriers covered. See excerpt below: ​​

Please let me know if there are other questions we can answer! As soon as Amanda has additional information about your billing question, we'll get back to you with that update.

Cheers, Rebekah 

Fred here again.  I hope this helps, for the packages that I ship that require additional insurance, I will purchase directly from Canada Post.  I read some of the Shipnurance web site; way too happy and too oversimplified and so easy, yeah, right, I believe that;  sounds a little scammy to me.

All the Best,

Fred

[intimewithmusic]

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@momcqueen wrote:

I'm not sure if FedEx would have helped. These sound like a prize piece, absolutely. Complicating factor also is that the Germans never overlook charging their import fees. They are adept at assessing those tariffs, not like here where many packages that owe import fees in reality are overlooked.  

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Yes, I think that certain express services somehow circumvent slow customs so Fedex and Canada Post Xpresspost may both be suitable. Oddly my customer's last inquiry was March 22. I kept him informed to the 29th. Either he's very patient or he possibly obtained the item directly from the Customs Office when paying the import taxes and no delivery notice was generated. I wasn't able to track the item through DHL (German Postal delivery) or the German Customs center. Canada Post says the path stops at Customs. Nothing to do but wait. Hopefully my customer won't file for a refund until it is resolved. That is one advantage of it being irreplaceable.

[momcqueen]

Some couriers can fastrack import/export, true. But it comes at great cost. One way is to pre-pay the duty for your customers; if you don’t, your customers will always pay more to a courier than postal carrier because of the brokerage fees.

That being said, sometimes Tracked Packets do fail in their Delivery Scan. If that’s what has transpired, open your Trace on Day 46 and Canada Post will Contact Deutsche Post and they’ll get a Confirmation from the buyer in writing, or your money back.

[intimewithmusic]

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@momcqueen wrote:
Some couriers can fastrack import/export, true. But it comes at great cost. One way is to pre-pay the duty for your customers; if you don’t, your customers will always pay more to a courier than postal carrier because of the brokerage fees.

That being said, sometimes Tracked Packets do fail in their Delivery Scan. If that’s what has transpired, open your Trace on Day 46 and Canada Post will Contact Deutsche Post and they’ll get a Confirmation from the buyer in writing, or your money back.

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That is very good to know. momcqueen. Thank you so much for taking the time to review this and offer your insight! 

[momcqueen]

You are very welcome. I've been in your place a time or two before with goods sent abroad. 

[pjcdn2005]

If the customer has not opened an inr and they haven’t indicated that they are still waiting for the package, I would not ask for a trace on the package.  It’s possible the buyer has it already and having the post office ask them for a  cnfirmation will only alert the buyer that there is no delivery scan for the package.  No news is good news in my opinion.

[pjcdn2005]

4. If you ship direct through CP (no 3rd party) your discount increases with your volume (Levels 1 to 4). Shippo shipments using CP aren't counted to your credit nor influence the Canada Post discount if you also deal direct.

I could be wrong but I don’t believe that is true.  When we use Shippo or PayPal we do so using our Canada Post small business number...the same number we would use if the label was printed on the CP site. Regardless of where we print the label, I think that the total volume does accumulate.

[momcqueen]

“It’s possible the buyer has it already and having the post office ask them for a cnfirmation will only alert the buyer that there is no delivery scan for the package.”

It does no harm to confirm delivery with the postal carrier. Alerting the buyer in this case that you’re confirming delivery does not entitle him to open or win any Item Not Received case. It achieves the opposite. A seller is entitled to know their item arrived safely. They’ve paid a premium and the buyer has paid a premium for that accurate tracing and confirmation of delivery.

I follow this procedure every time my tracking does not confirm delivery; I open a trace and the carrier confirms delivery after-the-fact. Asking the carrier to do the job they were paid to do does not expose the seller to gratuitous INR claims. It achieves the opposite, it prevents them.

I have extensive experience with using Tracked Packet International; I make this recommendation from that real-world experience.

[intimewithmusic]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

4. If you ship direct through CP (no 3rd party) your discount increases with your volume (Levels 1 to 4). Shippo shipments using CP aren't counted to your credit nor influence the Canada Post discount if you also deal direct.

I could be wrong but I don’t believe that is true.  When we use Shippo or PayPal we do so using our Canada Post small business number...the same number we would use if the label was printed on the CP site. Regardless of where we print the label, I think that the total volume does accumulate.

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Thank you for your comment. I think I can offer some insight. The reason that Sellers get discounts from Shippo and PayPal is because of Shippo's volume not the shipper's. The CP Customer Service rep unequivoccaly said "NO purchases through ANY 3rd party brokers effect your Canada Post discount level". Considering I seem to get different info from different CSRs I checked it out. It's easy. You can too.

1. Go to canadapost.ca

2. Login to your CP account

3. Click on your Business Name at the top.

4. Click on "My Profile".

5 Click on "Your Savings Level".

It will tell you your savings level, the dollar amount of your shipments in the last 12 months that influenced your level and the dollar volume you need to spend to get to the next level.

   In my case NONE of any Shippo or PayPal shipments were included. Only the purchases I made through the Canada Post website were registered.

   I signed up with Shippo back near the time they replaced PayPal. At that time I already had a CP account but Shippo automatically opened a new account anyway for me and CP sent me another card. Both accounts showed up in my Shippo dashboard. A few days ago I tried to process a manual (non Ebay) shipment which was a 1st time thing. It failed and I sent in an inquiry.  Shippo automatically deactived the account THEY opened in the beginning. Then they sent me a long list of detailed and complicated instructions on how to reactivate it if I want to process a manual (non EBay) shipment. I just used Snap Ship instead.  I'm not sure if this has to do with anything but I am sure my purchases through Shippo were never registered  to my regular CP account for level discounts.  Maybe I missed a check box when I registered with Shippo  but I don't think so. I never had a problem with shipments except this manual one. Before shippo I used PayPal. NONE of those purchases showed up either and with PayPal you do use your existing CP Business account.

It would be very helpful for sellers if you check your canadapost.ca account as I did above and post your own findings to this thread. Thanks!

[intimewithmusic]

[pjcdn2005]

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@momcqueen wrote:

It does no harm to confirm delivery with the postal carrier. Alerting the buyer in this case that you’re confirming delivery does not entitle him to open or win any Item Not Received case. It achieves the opposite. A seller is entitled to know their item arrived safely. They’ve paid a premium and the buyer has paid a premium for that accurate tracing and confirmation of delivery.



It would only achieve the opposite if the buyer replied that yes, they had received the package...most buyers would be honest and say yes, they received the package.  But if the post office contacts the buyer to see if the item was delivered they are likely going to figure out that there is no delivery confirmation. It would be easy enough for a dishonest buyer to say that no, they hadn't received the package.   There would be nothing to stop them from opening and winning an inr case as there would be no proof that it was delivered.  I suppose you could then claim insurance and then be made whole, but I would rather not open that door unless I have to.

I personally don't feel a need as a buyer to look at tracking...I'll know when I receive an item and it doesn't matter to me if there was tracking on it or if it was scanned as delivered.  Once a buyer has an item, they know it has been delivered so unless the item does not arrive....I don't think that most of them care whether or not there is a delivery scan.     As a seller, I also don't feel a need to check to see if an item has been received as the buyer always lets me know if it hasn't arrived and those times are rare. 

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[pjcdn2005]

There are a few things in your post that I disagree with but to answer your question, yes the amount I've spent on labels does show up on my small business account on the CP site.  If it was only showing what I had printed through the CP site, my totals would be well under $100 and they are much higher than that.  I thought that someone else mentioned that they could actually see a list of the labels that were credited to that account but I can't find that area so its possible that I misunderstood.

We do receive a higher discount for some services on Shippo vs PP or Snapship and it's my understanding that those extra discounts are only for ebay transactions so my "guess" is that they were negotiated by ebay, not because of Shippo volume.

I don't know why your Shippo labels are not showing up on your CP info.   It sounds as if you were using 2 different small business numbers for a while so perhaps that's why?  Did you print Shippo labels for any ebay transactions? I also don't know why CP customer service told you what they did.  Perhaps they didn't realize that we are using our small business numbers on third party accounts?   

There is one ebay seller who is really familiar with how everything is set up so perhaps he can help explain why CP would tell you that.  @ypdc_dennis would you please confirm that labels printed on Shippo do count as towards our CP smb levels? 

[ypdc_dennis]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

... I don't know why your Shippo labels are not showing up on your CP info.   It sounds as if you were using 2 different small business numbers for a while so perhaps that's why?  Did you print Shippo labels for any ebay transactions? I also don't know why CP customer service told you what they did.  Perhaps they didn't realize that we are using our small business numbers on third party accounts?   

There is one ebay seller who is really familiar with how everything is set up so perhaps he can help explain why CP would tell you that.  @ypdc_dennis would you please confirm that labels printed on Shippo do count as towards our CP smb levels? 

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The labels I purchase though Shippo (I've only used the ebay rates), and through PayPal all have shown up on my Solutions for Small Business account page (sales tax is excluded and I would expect any extra paid for additional insurance through Shippo would also be excluded). To the best of my knowledge everything that shows there is counting towards the discount level. Canada Post automatically evaluates the discount level at the start of every quarter (April, July, October, January) -- although it supposedly can be done more often.

...

I'd check, but the Canada Post website is sputtering along at the moment and not very useful.

[intimewithmusic]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

There are a few things in your post that I disagree with but to answer your question, yes the amount I've spent on labels does show up on my small business account on the CP site.  If it was only showing what I had printed through the CP site, my totals would be well under $100 and they are much higher than that.  I thought that someone else mentioned that they could actually see a list of the labels that were credited to that account but I can't find that area so its possible that I misunderstood.

We do receive a higher discount for some services on Shippo vs PP or Snapship and it's my understanding that those extra discounts are only for ebay transactions so my "guess" is that they were negotiated by ebay, not because of Shippo volume.

I don't know why your Shippo labels are not showing up on your CP info.   It sounds as if you were using 2 different small business numbers for a while so perhaps that's why?  Did you print Shippo labels for any ebay transactions? I also don't know why CP customer service told you what they did.  Perhaps they didn't realize that we are using our small business numbers on third party accounts?   

There is one ebay seller who is really familiar with how everything is set up so perhaps he can help explain why CP would tell you that.  @ypdc_dennis would you please confirm that labels printed on Shippo do count as towards our CP smb levels? 

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Thank's for your input. At this point I'm focusing on Fred the woodguy's  thread subject which is  Shipsurance. I'm not a high volume seller.  CP credits aren't a priority for me. There does seem to be confusion when it comes to Seller's  individual accounts and 3 rd party accounts maintained by CP but that should be addressed in another thread. Interested eBay sellers can follow my easy steps above to see for themselves the exact accounting CP attaches to their shipments .  At day 46 I'll update this thread.

[intimewithmusic]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

... I don't know why your Shippo labels are not showing up on your CP info.   It sounds as if you were using 2 different small business numbers for a while so perhaps that's why?  Did you print Shippo labels for any ebay transactions? I also don't know why CP customer service told you what they did.  Perhaps they didn't realize that we are using our small business numbers on third party accounts?   

There is one ebay seller who is really familiar with how everything is set up so perhaps he can help explain why CP would tell you that.  @ypdc_dennis would you please confirm that labels printed on Shippo do count as towards our CP smb levels? 

---

The labels I purchase though Shippo (I've only used the ebay rates), and through PayPal all have shown up on my Solutions for Small Business account page (sales tax is excluded and I would expect any extra paid for additional insurance through Shippo would also be excluded). To the best of my knowledge everything that shows there is counting towards the discount level. Canada Post automatically evaluates the discount level at the start of every quarter (April, July, October, January) -- although it supposedly can be done more often.

...

I'd check, but the Canada Post website is sputtering along at the moment and not very useful.

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[intimewithmusic]

That's great that you aren't affected. I think if this is happening to me it's likely it's happening to others too. Everyone should follow the info in this thread. Check your Canada Post account! Now that Shippo has deactivated the account they opened for me when I signed up it will be interesting to see if my shipments start to appear.  According to CP your online CP account will reflect all of your gross purchases up to the beginning of the current month. If you have a gliche contact Shippo support. they have been helping me and are very communicative.

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@intimewithmusic wrote:

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

... I don't know why your Shippo labels are not showing up on your CP info.   It sounds as if you were using 2 different small business numbers for a while so perhaps that's why?  Did you print Shippo labels for any ebay transactions? I also don't know why CP customer service told you what they did.  Perhaps they didn't realize that we are using our small business numbers on third party accounts?   

There is one ebay seller who is really familiar with how everything is set up so perhaps he can help explain why CP would tell you that.  @ypdc_dennis would you please confirm that labels printed on Shippo do count as towards our CP smb levels? 

---

The labels I purchase though Shippo (I've only used the ebay rates), and through PayPal all have shown up on my Solutions for Small Business account page (sales tax is excluded and I would expect any extra paid for additional insurance through Shippo would also be excluded). To the best of my knowledge everything that shows there is counting towards the discount level. Canada Post automatically evaluates the discount level at the start of every quarter (April, July, October, January) -- although it supposedly can be done more often.

...

I'd check, but the Canada Post website is sputtering along at the moment and not very useful.

---

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[intimewithmusic]

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@momcqueen wrote:
Some couriers can fastrack import/export, true. But it comes at great cost. One way is to pre-pay the duty for your customers; if you don’t, your customers will always pay more to a courier than postal carrier because of the brokerage fees.

That being said, sometimes Tracked Packets do fail in their Delivery Scan. If that’s what has transpired, open your Trace on Day 46 and Canada Post will Contact Deutsche Post and they’ll get a Confirmation from the buyer in writing, or your money back.

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As promised here is an update to the German Customs delay/Canada Post Day 46/ Multiple Insurance Issue. 

Brief Summary for those who haven't read the previous conversation. :My buyer from Germany paid for the item March 8.  I shipped it via Canada Post Tracket Packet March 9. It arrived in German Customs (Frankfurt) on March 16. It's been sitting there ever since. The package contains one pair of wooden drumsticks properly packed and addressed with external manifests.  The expected delivery date was March 23. The buyer contacted me March 22 asking why customs was holding it. I followed up with Canada Post and relayed the info to my buyer. I sent him a photograph of the packed item with the mailing label & external mainfests in full view. I photograph all my shipments after packing. The Canada Post CSR told me I had to wait 30 days from the date of shipping before they could help. I never heard from my buyer again and still haven't. At the end of the 30 days I called CP again. The second CSR told me I had to wait 45 days from the date of shipping before they could follow up.

  All of you have been helpful! Thank you. As there were differing opinions as to what I should do I decided to call eBay  and explain the situation hoping to gain insight. I got a CSR with such a strong accent I couldn't even understand her name. I tried very hard to get through the diction. I turned up my phone and politely asked her to be patient with me as I was having difficulty understand her English. Nothing helped. I pretended to understand a few things but it was a waste of time.  When I got the eBAy survey I found out it was actually a man named Ivan not a woman named Van. It was an embarrassing gong show. 

 That was yesterday. Today is DAY 46 from the date of shipping. The tracking hasn't changed. The item is apparently still sitting in German Customs making it 5 weeks 4 days there. So the 3rd Canada Post Rep (Chris) told me there is nothing they can do. The previous 2 CSR's were wrong. (If you read back in this thread you will see a pattern.) Chris said the truth is I  have to wait not 45 regular days from the date accepted by the post office  but 45 BUSINESS DAYS and not from the date of shipping but from the ESTIMATED DELIVERY DATE  which was March 23rd. In a nutshell another CSR said I have to wait until MAY 25th before Canada Post will follow up on my Tracked Packet now stuck in German customs for 39 days.  That is the update on the courier. 

With respect to insurance (if I live long enough to make a claim) contrary to CP CSR #2 CP CSR # 3 says Canada Post WILL reimburse me for shipping and the first $100 on the item. I will have to also file a claim with Shipsurance for the balance on the item not to mention Ebay fees and Paypal fees.  Still no inquiry from the buyer and frankly until this is resolved I don't think I should contact him. Canada Post advised me to "Be Patient". Unless I eventually find out what happened I feel it prudent to put Germany on the list of countries I don't ship to.

[pjcdn2005]

The buyer contacted me March 22 asking why customs was holding it. I followed up with Canada Post and relayed the info to my buyer. I sent him a photograph of the packed item with the mailing label & external mainfests in full view. I photograph all my shipments after packing. The Canada Post CSR told me I had to wait 30 days from the date of shipping before they could help. I never heard from my buyer again and still haven't.

This isn't the first time that I've heard of German customs being slow but since you haven't heard from the buyer, chances are good that they already have the item and that tracking wasn't updated.  

[intimewithmusic]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

... I don't know why your Shippo labels are not showing up on your CP info.   It sounds as if you were using 2 different small business numbers for a while so perhaps that's why?  Did you print Shippo labels for any ebay transactions? I also don't know why CP customer service told you what they did.  Perhaps they didn't realize that we are using our small business numbers on third party accounts?   

There is one ebay seller who is really familiar with how everything is set up so perhaps he can help explain why CP would tell you that.  @ypdc_dennis would you please confirm that labels printed on Shippo do count as towards our CP smb levels? 

---

The labels I purchase though Shippo (I've only used the ebay rates), and through PayPal all have shown up on my Solutions for Small Business account page (sales tax is excluded and I would expect any extra paid for additional insurance through Shippo would also be excluded). To the best of my knowledge everything that shows there is counting towards the discount level. Canada Post automatically evaluates the discount level at the start of every quarter (April, July, October, January) -- although it supposedly can be done more often.

...

I'd check, but the Canada Post website is sputtering along at the moment and not very useful.

---

Hi Folks. Here is a definitive answer to the Canada Post discount level distinction when using Shippo. As I explained previously in this thread I have 2 Canada Post Business accounts. One was my original "Pre-Shippo". When I signed on with Shippo they asked for the username & password. Then Shippo set up a second account and assigned their own username & password. Sellers should look at their list of couriers in their Shippo Dashboard to see if this applies to them.

   ALL EBAY transactions using Shippo and only Ebay shipments go through the account Shippo set up for you when you signed on. None of those transactions show up on your direct (non Ebay) Canada Post account. None of them influence your sales volume discount level with Canada Post which also substantiates what I passed on in the thread from the Canada Post CSR.

   The reason Shippo has both accounts in your list of Couriers is so that you can use your direct Canada Post business account to expedite NON Ebay shipments. You will be charged a small fee for Non Ebay stuff.  Those shipments WILL be added to your Canada Post discount evaluation. (To get from the first CP discount level to the 2nd you have to spend $2500/year on shipping directly with Canada Post and not through Shippo. 

   Shippo was very helpful and very quick to respond. I hope that this clears it up for you and to those of you that seem to be getting brownie points with CP from your Shippo account I won't say anything if you don't... 🙂

Here is how it was explained to me by Shippo.

Nick Brunner (Shippo)
May 23, 2:22 PM PDT
Hey Wayne,

Thanks for reaching back out. Happy to help with your questions.

The credentials that you received were used to set up your discounted account. This is the account that is currently set as "Active" within your account and that I have labeled "eBay only," as this account can only be used to fulfill eBay store orders. Other store orders, and also custom orders that you create within your account, need to be fulfilled using your own, personal Canada Post account. Using this latter account linked to your online Canada Post profile to fulfill orders would count towards building your savings level with Canada Post, while shipping using our discounted sub account (the eBay only one) would not.

[momcqueen]

“ALL EBAY transactions using Shippo and only Ebay shipments go through the account Shippo set up for you when you signed on. None of those transactions show up on your direct (non Ebay) Canada Post account. None of them influence your sales volume discount level with Canada Post which also substantiates what I passed on in the thread from the Canada Post CSR.”

I’m logged into my Solutions For Small Business Account right now and viewing 50+ labels printed through Shippo this quarter.

[momcqueen]

Also, it’s only since switching from
PayPal Shipping to Shippo that my SFSB Account is now set to Tier 2. This increase in discount is due to 98.7 per cent of my Canada Post postage labels being printed via Shippo since last summer. So. Something does not compute between the answer that you were given and what I can see for myself. Hmmm.