USPS Insurance How To

[cebanak]

So I brought this up on the podcast comment section and it got a little interest so I wanted to explain it here so maybe it will help some people out.

So in January I had three items get damaged in shipping. Two customers got with me when the item arrived, provided photo evidence and I refunded them and took the proof to USPS’s website and got two checks in the mail a week later, not bad, made me feel very confident in USPS for being so quick and taking care of me.

The last item however was a little different, shipped out the same day so it also got damaged (day after a Monday holiday so must have been a heavy shipping day), the buyer waited almost 30 days to tell me the item was damaged upon receipt and left me negative feedback saying he told me when it arrived that it was damaged but I had no messages to confirm this, so after a few messages later he realized he never contacted me, send me pictures of damage, revised his feedback and I gave him a refund. So I submit proof of damage and value to USPS, but the next day DENIED. Said they would send me a letter, so I thought, oh silly me I must have forgot to provide pictures of the damage so I send them in an appeal, next day DENIED, said I would get a letter. So I wait a week and no letter, I submit another appeal and ask why was it denied, I provided the same proof and evidence of value in two previous claims why was this one different.

That appeal is still under review atm. BUT I now have two letters from the post office that finally made their way here. They both say that my evidence of value is not valid. Thats weird I though cause all I did was take a picture of the eBay page showing the cost of the listing, I did this last time so it’s the same right? What they want is a receipt or something, they did say that they would take a online transaction receipt so I took a picture of my paypal transaction to send them but I have to wait for this appeal to get denied before I can send that.

Also the letter said they want the buyer to bring them the damaged item, plus all shipping supplies to prove damage and that he will get a letter as well. So I feel like I have a really low chance of that happening cause I don’t think the guy kept the item and unless you’re a seller you’re not keeping shipping boxes around to long.

The letter also said they never got proof of damage but I did send pictures…

So If your using USPS insurance make sure you use a picture screen grab of your paypal receipt to show value. Not saying don’t use them for insurance but make sure you follow their guide lines cause you might get someone who reviews your claim and is more of a stickler for the rules. They also might be upset I had 3 claims in one month but I also shipped 50 things last month with no problem including 3 paintings.

[Jay]

Here’s a couple pieces of info.

When we first started on eBay, we got kicked off one of the private insurers because we made three claims in a short period of time. They just said they no longer wanted our business. We were costing them too much. Nothing we could do.

Auto insurance will do the same thing. If you get too many speeding tickets in too short of a time, they drop you. This happened to me a couple years ago. (I had a lead foot I guess)

USPS covered your first two packages. I agree they probably think its fishy that three of your packages in one month. Thats a big red flag.

That being said, this Fall we had five customers complain that their poly mailers arrived empty. Our hunch is that our batch got caught in the USPS warehouse machine that sorts packages. Nothing we could do. We just refunded and apologized to everyone.

[cebanak]

Yeah the three claims in a month thing might be the problem but I wish they would say that, to say “oh this evidence is not right” when it was fine before is annoying. What I don’t like is that the items that got broke where clearly mishandled. First was a very old CD player that the door got broken on, I had it double wrapped in bubble wrap and floated it. The outside box was smashed from the pictures I got from the buyer. Second item was a framed print. It showed up with broken glass. The box had a huge gouge in it. I had triple wrapped it in 1″ bubble wrap so I think you’d have to drop it out of a moving vehicle to do that kinda damage. Last item was a bobble head that was new in box, arrived broken at the ankle, item was in styrofoam in box then bubble wrapped in another box… and got broken.

I mostly just wanted to let other people know about my experience so they can learn from my mistakes. Regardless of how you pack something the post office could always lose it but it’s just so uncommon, and I have to say that I have been shipping for years and this is the first time I have had a broken item so I think my odds are good.

I remember you guys talking about that on the podcast a few months ago, it would be frustrating for have $200 in merch get destroyed by the post office and they just shrug at you. CODB, we just gotta learn from it and move on and cover our behind for when it happens.

[Jay]

Yeah, what are you going to do. Take it as far as feels healthy. Then its just a business loss.

[Twisted Thrifter]

That’s crappy! You’d think they’d make it a ratio rather than a flat number. I wonder if you submit paypal records for how much you paid them in the last 3 months if they might reconsider. Prolly not.

Good to know!

[Author]

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