Just want to let all the people who ebay watch out for their new shipping calculators. A seller may advertise that insurance is "included" with shipping and handling, but buyer beware, it is not:hammer: !! The "calculator" will also have a note that insurance is calculated on final price, etc. The price of insurance will be left out. If this is a new ebay policy, then they should change their insurance statement to clarify that it will be calculated based on final fee, NOT included with S&H. I wrote them a customer service letter, and informed the buyer to check to see if its their new policy, if it is, I wont be buying from a seller that does this.
Wouldn't postal insurance vary with the final value of an item anyway? Although I'd prefer that it's my choice, I would want insurance for the full value of the item I am buying. My guess is that we'll get some explanation that the previous method of calculation was "too confusing"-- you know, like not charging everyone 2.9% of Paypal intake was "too confusing" also... :desk: One of my pet peeves is "independent insurance"-- an uplift on S+H that goes to some unspecified "private insurance" that a seller mandates. Those, I definitely stay away from.
I am a seller that uses "independent insurance" and I'm not sure why this should bother you. I use it based on cost and convenience. You - the buyer - benefit from this. The insurance rates I pay are significantly less than the Post Office charges. The PO charges $1.35 for $50 insurance and $2.30 for $100. The "independent insurance" costs about 1/3 as much. Savings are passed along to you. I used to charge actual PO rates to the buyers who wanted insurance. Now I bundle the much lower cost of it into the S&H. You benefit from every package being insured and not indirectly paying for "vanishing packages". I also do not need to stand in line at the PO or fill out a bunch of insurance forms. This allows me to get the packages shipped much faster. Therefore, less cost of handling t the buyer. If someone advertises using a private insurance carrier, I suggest you ask them which one. I'm happy to provide my buyers with the name of my company and my policy number.
Greg, the listings I've run into also raise other red flags with me: lots of different color fonts, paragraphs and paragraphs of terms and conditions (often accompanied by very little description of the actual item), and a disproportionate number of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also note that I said "mandated" and "unspecified" in my note. I'm not trying to paint everyone with the same brush here, but I am pretty suspicious-- it just seemed to me that I was paying additional uplift and getting nothing back. And while the USPS process for claiming loss is labrynthine at times, at least it's documented. No such assurance with the private insurance in listings I've seen. Perhaps we'll have a chance to do business sometime. You lay out a good case for the concept, certainly the first one I've seen that doesn't make the buyer feel like he's not the customer.
