Postage Insurance

[Gordy]

Do any members on here pay for postage insurance as extra when sending PM's sold on here, or ebay or other platforms, i lost (or had Royal Mail 'misplace it') one last month and as it was sent by signed for i'll probably only get 6 x 1st class stamps off them as only SD is insured for coins or PM's.

If so what service do you use?

I could only find SECURSUS that looks reasonable and for a coin under £100.00 its £1.50 to insure it so obviously any ebay buyers would have that cost passed on to them and as most buyers wouldn't appreciate £6.85 for SD on a £35.00 coin they may be receptive to £4.19 insured delivery

Any thoughts appreciated

Cheers

Edited October 16, 2021 by Gordy
spelling

[BackyardBullion]

So, its really about the volume of sales you want to make and why you are making them.

If you are flipping coins regularly some might argue you are retailing as a business/sole trader. In which case the end responsibility comes to you as the dispatcher for insurance and covering any losses, not the customer. 

I look at it like this:

Send 100 parcels with special delivery = £700 for postage

Let's say each parcel is valued at £50

Send 100 parcels signed for = £300 postage 

This means that you would have to have 8 parcels go missing to actually end up being the same cost as sending all through SD. 

From my experience I would say less than 1% of signed for parcels have an issue and even less than that go missing entirely. 

It is basically acting as your own insurance provider and I would always prefer this because it is the job of an insurance company not to pay out. There are so many loopholes that they can/do use not to pay. 

Hope that makes sense!

[Pete]

Signed For provides up to £50 insurance whereas regular first only 6 stamps.
The issue you will have is the terms of what they exclude.
A silver coin is not a spending coin so it might fall under precious metals ( although I can think of a lot of metals that would cost per gram considerably more but aren't classed as such ) giving them another reason not to compensate. Call your coin a token, commemorative medallion or something and find a picture on Google then try claiming for loss.
The Royal Mail lost a silver coin of mine once - Kookaburra I think - and I was honest about the description with photo etc and they paid me without any problem but I had quite a long wait as they allow a couple of months before declaring a package lost.
 

[pricha]

Bit of a gray area . Old coins which are no longer tender and are for collectible purpose only are allowed . So modern coins could all depend on the interpretation of whoever is dealing with the claim on the day. ( Bank notes in birthday card won't be covered)  I am surprised they have increased the value to £50 . In my experience i would say the signed for is a total waste of time. It's basically advertising to a unscrupulous person that something value is inside. And because people don't read the small print, that something could be worth far more than £50 . It's not actually signed for by the person now, but the post person and is usually just posted . Special Delivery is totally different . It's kept apart from all other mail , has it's own securer sorting station , the postman on the round must sign to say he has got the item.  And of course it's insured and supposed (not always) next day delivery . For an extra £4 over signed it's a no-brainer  ,  but it's astonishing how many people take risks. The buyer is the one who pays postage and probably wants cheaper mail, but its the sender who takes all the risks and the hassle of making a claim. 

[pricha]

2 hours ago, BackyardBullion said:

So, its really about the volume of sales you want to make and why you are making them.

If you are flipping coins regularly some might argue you are retailing as a business/sole trader. In which case the end responsibility comes to you as the dispatcher for insurance and covering any losses, not the customer. 

I look at it like this:

Send 100 parcels with special delivery = £700 for postage

Let's say each parcel is valued at £50

Send 100 parcels signed for = £300 postage 

This means that you would have to have 8 parcels go missing to actually end up being the same cost as sending all through SD. 

From my experience I would say less than 1% of signed for parcels have an issue and even less than that go missing entirely. 

It is basically acting as your own insurance provider and I would always prefer this because it is the job of an insurance company not to pay out. There are so many loopholes that they can/do use not to pay. 

Hope that makes sense!

As a business seller i would say you're correct . As an individual selling the odd coin then the risk is all yours . I posted a coin worth £60 the other day Special Delivery , the buyer paid the cost.  Another thing to keep in mind is SD should arrive next day , even if you've had no mail for weeks as has happened in some parts of the country .   

[CollectorNo1]

Anything under the value of £50 I always send 1st Class signed unless the buyer states different.

I have had items go missing (No coins) fortunately but I have found the process of getting a refund from the Royal mail very easy.

As long as you have proof of postage and photos of the items filling out the claim form is straightforward and I've received a cheque in around 10 days.

 

Anything of a higher value I send SD.

Regards.

[pricha]

I bought a Sovereign the other day from ebay  and I just assumed the seller would send SD  . People don't always list the correct postage but they nearly always come SD. This one was normal post.  I'm still waiting. I know they have problems at the local office . But if it hasn't arrived by Wednesday i shall be putting in a claim . As far as i'm concerned , i paid immediately  , how it was posted and will it arrive  is not my problem .  

[Bigmarc]

Earlier in the year I was delivered a damaged package. A few coins were missing, I could only claim up to the value of £20, no mention of the fact they were coins. I managed to get some cost back from the eBay seller as I didn't ask for combined postage but charged me anyhow. 

 

[pricha]

2 hours ago, Bigmarc said:

Earlier in the year I was delivered a damaged package. A few coins were missing, I could only claim up to the value of £20, no mention of the fact they were coins. I managed to get some cost back from the eBay seller as I didn't ask for combined postage but charged me anyhow. 

 

you wouldn't believe the contents we found ripped up in machines. Totally the senders fault .

[Bigmarc]

1 hour ago, pricha said:

you wouldn't believe the contents we found ripped up in machines. Totally the senders fault .

I won 3 lots, should have been 80 coins in total. I paid the postage on all three but this guy packaged them up individually and put them in the same giffy bag. I think I got just over half my money back in the end. 

[paulmerton]

10 hours ago, pricha said:

In my experience i would say the signed for is a total waste of time. It's basically advertising to a unscrupulous person that something value is inside.

It could be worse - MyHermes couriers can actually see exactly how much a parcel is worth! They shouldn't have any need for that, and I bet it helps fine tune which ones go missing...

[Skyfiller]

Amazon van got stolen in the village next to me today and parked up on my land to transfer the parcels to another vehicle. They were disturbed by a DPD van delivering to me and hurried away with their back door open spreading parcels over the field and down the Lane. (Called it in and they were caught the next village over). Anyway 4 of them held the Amazon driver at knifepoint for his keys and this could of been any courier. All parcels are now tagged as evidence and obviously won’t be delivered. I wouldn’t and don’t post/courier anything without the correct insurance and today was one of many reasons why.

 

(scum)