Tips for shipping more expensive coins.

Anyone want to share their experience with shipping more expensive coins, especially in relation to eBay or online sales? How do you pack them, do you pay for extra insurance and what shipping services do you prefer?

I'm not talking any super valuable coins here, more like the $100-$500 range.

 

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Don't do what the guy did who sent me my first AGE - plain envelope, no tracking, no insurance. It was legit, and protected in a capsule, but I pointed out to him that an unscrupulous buyer could've claimed "not received" or "empty package" and he would've had no chance to contest it.

On the few occasions where I shipped higher-value coins, I went with Registered Mail. It's expensive and slow, but insurance is so much cheaper that the crossover point for insured value was in the low hundreds. Not sure where it lands now.

 

I am with Jeff. I rather think that insured packages are a tip off to nefarious mail sorters that may have bad intentions. I did ship three rolls of ASE's to my brother a week back and struggled with that. But in the end I did insure them.

 

Normal USPS Ground Advantage and USPS Priority Mail include up to $100 of insurance (one will need to look up any exclusions). Both come with tracking and are relatively affordable (compared to some other options). eBay might recommend additional insurance but from what I recall, the one they suggest does not cover coins (or bullion). Over a certain dollar amount, a signature is recommended (eBay tends to require it for anything over $750 to be covered).

As already mentioned, registered mail is another option but in the $100-$500 range it probably is not worth the expense. It also takes longer and if you do use it, inform the buyer ahead of time as some will get impatient and complain why the package is taking so long.