Is there overseas shipping insurance?

[+RangerG]

I don't mind shipping internationally in that I have found with classic computer stuff it really increases the number of bidders. However, I am still not sure about the best ways to ship overseas. For example, I have been asked about insurance and as far as I can tell unless you buy the really expensiv air mail there is no international insurance. Even if you do buy this expensive insurance the post office guy told me that to be honest in the end it also depends on the individual country if and when you had to deal with trying to get your money back. My conclusion: there really isn't insurance for overseas items! Also, Paypal does not cover overseas items, is this true? Basically, shipping overseas is the buyer and I trusting the postal service and the buyer and I trusting each other. I don't mind this in that I have never had a problem, but I will put no overseas insurance available in my auctions. Any other hints for better overseas shipping. I know that lowering the value and checking gift helps the buyer - another debate.

 

Take care,

RG

[dojosky]

I just mailed a package to URUGUAY using EMS (Express Mail Service) it costed me $60 to ship that thing but it came with $100 insurance automatically and tracking numbers included ...and i am sure u can add some more insurance coverage but I am not in the best position to explain this but ...

[Albert]

I don't think there are any inexpensive insurance options for shipping packages internationally. So most of the time it is a gamble that your package will arrive and that the person on the receiving end won't say the package didn't arrive when in fact it did. And yes, as a seller using PayPal you can easily get burned by dishonest buyers. It's a tradeoff between the increased business from international buyers and the risk of lost packages and dishonest buyers. I've only had two people claim packages never arrived. One was to Germany (I believe) and the seller paid with PayPal and filed a dispute and there wasn't a damn thing I could do (over $100, as well). This cooled me a bit to using PayPal to accept purchases from people overseas. The second time was to someone in South America, and since it was an inexpensive item I just sent out another (which did arrive).

 

Lately I've noticed that packages to Canada are taking an abnormally long time to arrive (a month in most cases). I just discovered yesterday that Canadian customs officials have been on strike since September, and that is why things are moving more slowly at the border.

 

..Al

[holygrailvideogames.com]

It is really expensive to insure International packages. I have done it before but at times the buyers have paid more for shipping and insurance than the actual item. I personally won't accept PayPal from international buyers because of the risk.

 

I haven't tried UPS for sending international packages but I did have a woman send me a package from Canada using UPS and it arrived in about 3-4 days.

[+RangerG]

I will check UPS, but I bet it is really expensive for international. If you don't accept Paypal, what do you accept for overseas buyers? I got a money order once for a $40 purchase and my bank charged me $25 and a week wait to cash it because it was an international money order.

[deathtrappomegranate]

UPS is stupidly expensive for transatlantic deals.

 

I recently bought a disk game for $2 on ebay, and the seller quoted me the UPS shipping cost. It would have been cheaper for me to have bought a return air ticket to the US and picked it up myself!

[holygrailvideogames.com]

I accept Bidpay.com. It is operated by Western Union.