So they won't cover your coins in transit from dealer to customer? That just doesn't sound right to me unless that is one of the key differences between collector and dealer policies. On the rare occasions that I buy a $1,000+ coin on E-Bay, almost all have been shipped via USPS Registered Mail. I forget the dollar amount, but somewhere between $700-$900, the cost to send a coin USPS First Class with insurance becomes more expensive than sending the same coin Registered Mail. If I bought an expensive coin on E-Bay, I would insist that the seller ship the coin via Registered Mail. FWIW, all of my coins that I sell over $1,000 are shipped via Registered Mail.
I think my most expensive coin was $300 so far, so I have not come across that. That's good to know, as hopefully one day I will get to the $1,000 mark and happy to hear registered mail is more commonplace. If you have bought the coin from a dealer, say DLRC, and it is shipped USPS registered, you're all set (covered). But I only asked about eBay, I guess I could clarify the question to ask about buying coins from dealers on the direct dealer site, but I would hazard a guess the answer would be the same. Meaning, first-class and priority mail shipments from dealer to collector would NOT be covered. I did ask about the dealer policy, but the policy premium jump would be from <$100 a year to >$500 a year. Still well worth it if you are a dealer, but I am still some punk kid. Well, punk 30-something.
Paul, I think I read a post by you talking about self-insuring, which makes sense for the low money stuff. Also, I am curious why people pay $$ for USPS insurance when shipping through eBay when the first thing (literally) that they EXCLUDE are coins. I mean, has anyone ever actually got money for lost coins when insured through first-class or priority mail shipped via eBay / Paypal? http://pages.ebay.com/insurance/shipping/coverage.html Anyone know if I walked up to a USPS counter and added insurance to a package, are the exclusions different?
If you buy from a dealer then you do not need to worry about you own insurance since their insurance would cover the shipment to you.
According to the link you posted you aren't buying USPS insurance Yes because then you ARE buying USPS insurance and their insurance does cover collectible coins for their numismatic value.
I basically discovered this little bait and switch the day I made that post. If you surveyed people who sell on eBay and buy insurance for items when shipping USPS first class mail / USPS Priority mail through eBay / Paypal, I think 90%+ would say they were buying USPS insurance as it is build right in to the process, but as you point out, THAT IS NOT TRUE. Or maybe I'm the only dummy.... Since Ebay knows the item you are shipping, and the category it is listed under, they could simply disallow a person to enter a insured value when shipping coins, or any of the other excluded categories. I am a big fan of eBay, but this is not cool!
I just want to say thanks to all in this thread. I was all set to add my coins to my homeowners policy when I stumbled on here. I got a quote from HW and it's about $300 cheaper per year than the policy I was going to get. And it sounds like they will be a lot more knowledgeable, collector-friendly, and less hassle than what I was preparing for.
