I was going to ship some coins today and my wife was dropping them off. These were going to be insured, but the post office told my wife that since they are coins, they need to be certified and that each one will cost $11 bucks or so. This doesn't make sense. I see ebayers all of the time offering optional insurance for $1.70. Any advice? Has anyone else run into this? Was this just a stupid postal worker? (I told my wife to leave and that I'll go tomorrow.) THANKS.
Go to a different post office/clerk. FYI, they will insure them, but will not pay if you do not use ample insulation/packing.
Do yourself a favor, when the post office clerk asks "what is in the package?", tell them "something I am insuring for $50." Don't ever tell post office employees that you are shipping and receiving coins.
Bingo! They have a lot of them too. I like to do everything with the USPS online through paypal, IMO it's much eaiser. I agree with Lehigh too, if you have to go to the Post Office don't tell them you're shipping coins, just you want to insure the package.
Thanks. I'll go back tomorrow. Sorry for the stupid question, I'm still kind of new at all this Ebay stuff.
Definitely not a stupid question, especially after they incorrectly told you're wife she had to ship it certified mail. P.S- I just got my Numismatic News, it's only a week late and oh yeah the front covers ripped off. :thumb: Good old USPS.
I've shipped many coins out over the years and have never encountered this problem. What I do is go to the form supply table that most post offices have that have the various forms to fill out. Fill out everything and take it to the counter and state, "I'd like to ship this (priority/1st class/express) with insurance". Hand them the filled out paper work. They will usually ask you if it's fragile, perishable, or liquid. Just say no. And they will ring you up. Done. I think I remember that the only form in which you have to state the contents is an international customs form. I guess you could just write "collectible". To make a short post longer... The ONLY time, a long time ago, before I started filling out the forms ahead of time, I have EVER been asked was one time when I sold a 1 gram gold nugget to someone and had to put insurance on it. The bubble mailer was so light I guess it raised some suspicion. I even told him it was a gold nugget, but we ended up getting into a conversation with him asking me if the gold was found in our area. It wasn't from our area I told him, because I had bought it from someone else before hand. Which is true but I wish it hadn't been and I had found a gold mine. But we can all dream.
