E-commerce website, using USPS, shipping suggestions

any suggestions would be appreciated

[snair]

I am in the process of setting up an E-commerce website which will sell limited edition prints of a reknown, up-and-coming artist's paintings. We will be shipping these prints via USPS using tubes. My question is, as far as selecting the amount to insure each print up to, is it recommeded to always insure for the exact amount that the print is worth, or is it better to just insure a certain percentage of the worth since it would save money? I cannot seem to find any information regarding the percentage of mishandled mail per year that USPS has, and I do not want to play a guessing game as to how much to insure the prints up to. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[AmericanBulldog]

I would insure for the full amount and pass this on to the purchaser.

No guessing and no risk.

[graywolf]

I would insure it for only th amount it costs you to replace the item. I don't see the need to insure it for the purchase price.

[grifter]

I do not want to play a guessing game

Hey, that's part of thethe fun in running your own business! ;)

I have no experience in this but would also like to know. How does the claim process work, specifically does the money go back to the merchant or the customer?

[Mike McKnight]

Hi All,
For what it's worth.. we have been in ecom since '95
and with a few high dollar value exceptions we have
just self insured. Our lost or damaged postal packages
have been about 12 pieces with a value of between
200 and 300 dollars total. This thousands includes of
packages sent to all 50 states and most western
European countries.

We have had a few broken packages we sent via UPS
that were insured and paid. Seems like they love
to shove heavy polystone Buddha statues out the back of
their trucks prior to putting them on their hand truck
and rolling them up to the customers' door.

The postal insurance is OK if the dollar amount of
the package is fairly high, we used to regularly send
10's of thousands of $ worth of gems via postal mail
with their registered mail option, but our regular
40 to 50 dollar packages, no.

Buyers already have a case of the a** about S&H charges
and this insurance thing is a little more salt in the wound.

Until last November we sent all of our Canadian packages
via postal airmail not insured, them we lost? 4 packages
in a 3 week period, and quit shipping to Canada at all.

The USPS Priority Mail method with Delivery Confirmation
seems to be very reliable. I'm not too sure that the tubes
that they supply free are that strong, never used them.
And I might consider a stronger tube if the free one don't
prove to be good enough.

All this IMHO anyway. Good luck.
mike

[lgn]

Until last November we sent all of our Canadian packages
via postal airmail not insured, them we lost? 4 packages
in a 3 week period, and quit shipping to Canada at all.

Thats strange. We lose about 1 in a 1000 packages in Canada. The lost rate is much higher with USPS.

[msr986]

> How does the claim process work, specifically does the money go back to the merchant or the customer

After a 30 days waiting period, the CUSTOMER must sign and date a claim form in order for the insurance claim to be proccessed. The insurance is paid to the shipper. AFAIK, they do not refund the postage!

[snair]

A big thanks to everyone for their input!

[chuladi]

which will sell limited edition prints of a reknown, up-and-coming artist's paintings. We will be shipping these prints via USPS using tubes.

Those tubes alone aren't strong enough. They can get crushed in the middle. We sell collectible posters and have found that Ox Paper Tubes carries some of the thicker tubes we could find. We usually roll the poster with paper, then inside the tube, then inside the USPS triangular box for the most protection.

I'm at a loss about the insurance. Mainly because this is limited edition stuff and valuable and slight damage can often damage the item. You might want to try third party insurance like upic.com or pipinsure.com. Rates are lower, claims are handled better and faster.

[4crests]

We have been sending art in tubes since 1994. We have found that for us, it isn't worth insuring at all. The cost of insurance outweighs the value of what we actually lose. Of course, we don't sell anything as expensive as you are talking about, so it's hard for me to speak for you.

As far as tubes are concerned, we find YAZOO MILLS Tubes to be excellent (very strong). You can find them by searching Google.

Chuladi.... I haven't tried the OX tubes, I would be interested to see their prices, but their website doesn't seem to be working correctly. I pay .46 cents for a
2" x 12" plain tube from Yazoo(includes shipping). Do you know what the OX tubes price would be for the same size?

[Rugles]

We are in Canada and do a lot of shipping to the USA.
For some strange reason, more than half the packages that were lost or damaged were going to Texas. We never did figure out why.

I do agree with an earlier post, only insure a package for the replacement cost. I beleive that is what most companies do.

[chuladi]

Chuladi.... I haven't tried the OX tubes, I would be interested to see their prices, but their website doesn't seem to be working correctly. I pay .46 cents for a
2" x 12" plain tube from Yazoo(includes shipping). Do you know what the OX tubes price would be for the same size?

$0.43 per tube, including shipping. But you use short tubes, so thickness might not be that big of an issue for you. we use 3 x 30 and 3 x 36, and Ox was just slightly thicker than Yazoo.

[wingslevel]

There are other providers for your parcel insurance - one is pipinsure .com search parcel ins. - they tend to charge less than UPS or USPS.

[petertdavis]

I would recommend that you self-insure, or use one of the private insurance companies that insures mail.