How do you ship your valuable coins? (Insurance etc.)

I am new to this and wondering how sellers ship their valuable coins. I have heard that claims through the post office for insured shipments are slow to process which could potentially tie up needed funds. Any suggestions?

 

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Registered mail. Safest way to ship, and once you get over about $700 it is also cheaper than insured mail. Only drawback is that the maximum reimbursable amount is $25K. If your item is worth more than that you will need to carry supplimental insurance through a private company. But the private rates are very low as well if you are sending it Registered.

 

Conder, as usual, is correct -- Registered Mail from the USPS.

 

I really DISlike Fed Ex

 

And if you go to the post office you may see Certified mail forms as well as Registered mail forms. Make sure if you are not familiar with the different forms, you choose the correct one. In some post offices there are those forms on a table and not explained clearly. Ask.

 

I used to work at Christie's, no they do not auction coins, but anything over a certain dollar amount (at least 25k, but depending on what the item happens to be) was crated (in either a reusable metal or wood crate), or in a custom made crate, and sent by FedEx. I have seen some disasters with UPS and USPS, but of course coins can't break if dropped or thrown so that changes things...at least a little...

 

Anything under $500 goes insured with delivery confirmation the rest as the others have said !!

 

I send everything insured (up to $1,000) or registered insured (anything over $1000). The U.S. Post Office has a new online insurance claim form. I had to submit a claim a couple months ago and received payment in less than two weeks. It used to take 30-60 days to receive payment.

 

Well, suppose you're shipping out of the US? The USPS won't insure you. What then?

 

I recently shipped a coin to Argentina and they insured it. Perhaps they don't insure all countries, I don't know.

 

Really? Damn. I had to ship something to Canada the other day. They said, "We can't insure international" and I said, "Canada is international?"

 

It depends what you consider "valuable."

Registered is definitely the way to go for high-end, but less than $25K coins.

First-class or priority with insurance is fine for smaller amounts.

I typically insure anything over $100.

The foreign insurance does vary by country. It is available for most countries, but not all, and cost varies widely. I typically will not ship anything over $100 internationally.

 

Ardatirion: The USPS has an international mail manual on their website, where it says what can and cannot be sent to each country, along with postal rates, and insurance information.

I seem to recall that first class mail to Canada was covered up to $48.68 or something very strange like that.

 

Maybe we will get a postal window clerk on this thread who can elaborate on why insurance is so limited to Canada. I will ask a postal clerk I know and see what he says and reply back once I ask him. Many times with postal clerks they know what but not why.

 

Penny Lady, Thank you for your response! If you dont mind my asking what was the amount of your claim? I wonder if large claims are drawn out for long periods of time in hope of recovering the coin(s).

 

They may have happily accepted the insurance fees, but if something had happened would they have honored the claim? That is a different matter. And if they do honor it, for how much? Registered insured mail being sent out of the country has a maximum pay out if something happens of just under $50 no matter how much you insured it for.

Valuable coins being shipped out of the country will probably be best privately insured.

 

I think a recent article in Coin World said Registered and Insured if going the USPS route.