selling and shipping a very expensive item

I am considering offering something on eBay since I can list it for free, but it will have a very expensive starting price. I am not interested in selling unless my price is met or bettered at auction. But I don't know how to protect myself for the payment, nor am quite sure how to ship and insure the coin. I believe USPS limits insurance at $5,000 which will not nearly cover it if it were to sell.

I have read a little about on-line escrow, but am not sure how to offer it. And I don't want to refund the initial shipping and insurance fees if the buyer decides to return it.

I appreciate any thoughts, help, or experience that anyone can share on this.

Thanks,

gary

 

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Never use USPS insurance for coins or currency. It does not cover it. Use registered mail, that is the safest way to mail anything of value with the USPS. If you still want to insure it I would try a commercial insurance company or try DHL. You do not have to refund shipping or insurance fees if your item is returned and you can state that in your auction.
Joseph

 

I have viewed some supplemental insurance carriers on-line and it seems that a person must register before a quote is given and they appear to be for businesses. I am looking for a one shot thing. And don't know who to use.

 

I think you can ship regiestered through USPS insured for $20k... it might be $25k even im not sure.

 

Thanks. I tried the DHL and couldn't find out if they would even insure the item because I don't have destination yet. lol I am trying to get all this worked out ahead of time, just in case. I hate going in blind.

 

If the item is of such a value as you describe, why use a venue as EBAY ? Even with consignment fee's at one of the major auction house's , I think you would fair better from a few perspectives. I hope it's not some movie stars undies . LOL

 

I sold hundreds of items on eBay, some of it electronics going in the low to mid-four figures. I stopped a few years ago. Here's why I wouldn't think of trying it again.

The last large item I tried to sell was a nice Nikon DSLR (for a friend). Closing price was around $1.6K. We got PayPal payment immediately, then -- within about an hour -- an "item was not shipped" complaint, with the PayPal money frozen. Then, a couple of hours later, an apology from the buyer, and confirmation from PayPal that the payment was clear and we should go ahead and ship. We did, to the confirmed address listed in the PayPal payment, with tracking.

We watched the tracking as the camera went to the Texas address, then raised an exception -- "recipient has moved; package being rerouted to new address."

Suspicious because of the early silliness, I called PayPal to verify the terms of their Seller Protection Policy. It was as I feared -- if the package doesn't get DELIVERED to the confirmed address, you get no protection, even if you SENT it to the confirmed address. They recommended that we recall the package, and we did, eating nearly $60 in packaging and shipping costs. (My friend had insisted on using a third-party UPS store, which socked him on both packaging and shipping.)

Here's what I learned:

PayPal's seller protection is next to worthless. I followed their policy to the letter, but if I hadn't recalled the package, the "buyer" could have said "I never received it", PayPal would say "prove that it went to the confirmed address", and I would've been out $1.6K.

With eBay's new feedback policies, there is no way to tell who's going to pull this sort of thing. Sellers can ONLY leave positive feedback -- had I fallen for this scam, I wouldn't even have had the option of leaving negative or even neutral feedback!

There's no way I would consider trying to sell a high-ticket item on eBay any more. It's just too scammer-friendly.

 

We ship our orders to NGC registered and if our shipping girl was in today I could get you an exact answer... I know it is at least 20k tho.

 

I hear you loud and clear . There are far better venues that have far better " Seller " insurance coverage's for these types of sales.

 

That alone is THE number one reason I know I, you, and thousands of others will never deal with EBay again.

It's an arbitrary constraint on trade with no purpose other than artificially inflating the reputation of scammers.

 

But don't expect the postal service to just hand out the insurance if it is lost. A friend sent a registered, insured for $7,000, tracking, the whole works, and it disappeared out of the package along the way. The package was resealed with the USPS tape, but reported before acceptance by the addresses. Slam Dunk ~ right ?? After 6 months of sending receipts of original purchase by the friend and 2 appraisals of current value by recognized numismatic appraisers, they are questioning whether the coin was actually originally in the package, as they did not see it, and anyway, they would only consider the original purchase price. He has found a lawyer with experience in federal suits and is considering such when other options run out.

I would be interested in how many shippers are made whole from USPS registered/insured losses.
Jim

 

Thanks, that made me look at the "restricted delivery" by USPS where only the adressee can sign for the receipt of the delivery. I am still researching though. I have seen that some sellers do offer gold coins worth tens of thousand of dollars on eBay. They surely have a way to protect themselves from a theft ?

 

I've wondered about that myself. It may be that my experience really was unusual. It may be that they do enough volume or make enough profit that they can absorb occasional losses. It would be interesting to talk to one of the high-value dealers and compare experiences.

 

USPS info.
"Items you send with Registered Mail are placed under tight security from the point of mailing to the point of delivery, and insured up to $25,000 against loss or damage. And you can verify the date and time of delivery and the delivery attempts online."

 

BTW, What is the item you are considering selling ?

 

That is all true. However had you ever had to work with the USPS on an insurance claim ? It isn't as 1,2,3, as you might think. One could easily be tied up with formalities for six months or even longer.

 

Stab in the dark - His 1988 RDV-006 lincoln.

 

Matt, I'm sure you can buy up to $25K of postal insurance if you physically go to the Post Office. Not sure if this is only for Registered or not because that's all I ever use anyway. But I'm sure it's $25K.

 

This applies to under $5,000 shipment so it doesn't address your issue but I thought it was worth sharing. I had sent in >$10,000 worth of coins to PCGS for grading via registered mail, insured. When they returned them to me, they came back USPS Express Mail. I am not 1000% sure, but I think PCGS has a private company insuring their shipments. It did make me look closely at USPS though. What I found is that if I have to ship a package that is $5,000 or less and it can fit in an express mail flat rate envelope, USPS Express Mail is very similar cost-wise to USPS Registered mail. I have sent several packages since then using this method and never had a problem. With registered mail taking so long, it seems to me to be a cost and time effective solution. Like they say in car ads: your mileage may vary. Note: once a couple of years ago, I bought something large that wasn't expensive (<$500) that was insured through USPS and it arrived damaged. It did take a lot of time and hassle to resolve the insurance issue.

 

I can get someone to drive me to the Post Office.