Third Party Shipping Insurance (1 Viewer)

davislane

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Hi PCF,

Being an "International" chipper the choice of whether or not to insure my parcels is always is a constant one. Because I usually purchase from mulitple members and have them all sent to a US address to consolidate my parcels before reshipping home the value of a single parcel can well exceed my country's limits of when customs duties and sales tax are applicable, which becomes an extra expense for us internationals. Are options currently are to under-declare and under insure and take the risk, Ship and insure according to value to be under the threshold and pay the extra shipping or declare and insure for the actual value and pay hope customs miss it.

All three options aren't without their risks. So I got thinking, what if there was another way to have you cake and eat it to? From quickly browsing the internet there is a whole host of companies that offering shipping insurance. Effectively this will allow you to "declare" whatever value you want to the shipping provider to mitigate the risk of customs duties and sales tax in the receiving country but also insure the parcel with the 3rd party insurer for "replacement" cost in the event there is damage or loss.

Has anyone ever done this before or had similar thoughts or can see any pitfalls with what I'm suggesting?

Here is an example third-party provider.

https://u-pic.com/ .

(I'm currently waiting to hear back if poker chips are insurable under their policy as coins and currency are excluded)


There are more is one cares to look. Maybe we can "Group Buy" a policy discount for the forum. Anyone work in insurance and have some insight into this? A cheaper and more reliable insurance policy would also benefit local chippers in the event something got lost in the US.

Thank for taking the time to read through this and I look forward to hearing your respective thoughts.
 
I'm curious about this too. The shipping software I use offers insurance for an extra cost. For international shipment, it costs $1.35 per $100 declared value, which is a little bit cheaper than purchasing directly from USPS. I've never had to file a claim so I have no clue how the claim process is like.
 
Insurance for International will never work...because you will pay VAT & custom charges based on the insured amount.
If I should state real value on every shipment...then I would have to pay insane charges on top (+35%).

It's cheaper not to and use that insurance fee to recoup from a lost or damaged package should it occur.
 
Insurance for International will never work...because you will pay VAT & custom charges based on the insured amount.
If I should state real value on every shipment...then I would have to pay insane charges on top (+35%).

It's cheaper not to and use that insurance fee to recoup from a lost or damaged package should it occur.
I think you missed my point.The insurer and the shipper are separate entities.They are unrelated. VAT and customs is calculated and collected based on the declared amount on the parcel. The insurance taken out is effectively a seperate transaction between you and the insurance company that the government body wont be privy to.
 
https://www.shipsurance.com/questions

another third party insurance provider. I find this part particularly useful.

Screenshot_20210113-202711_Chrome.jpg
 
Well, I'm super interested in these developments and it's a potential gamechanger! Is it the sender or the recipient that has to take this type of insurance out? It'd be easier if the onus was on the recipient to make it easier for (re)shippers.
 
Personally I would never pay extra for insurance and am happy to take the gamble.
 
Thankfully, I have not had to make a claim but I have used them numerus times. Cost is reasonable and I have heard good things about them. I believe Amazon uses them as well
 
Thats great to hear. Its only when things go wrong that we find out if they are any good or not.
Yes but it has to be better than the USPS insurance. Not sure I have heard very many claims that were ever paid.
I have had to run a check with USPS and they didn’t get back to me with other than we could jog find your package almost 3 weeks after I submitted the claim. Funny thing is they delivered it 1 week after my claim.
 
Yes but it has to be better than the USPS insurance. Not sure I have heard very many claims that were ever paid.
I have had to run a check with USPS and they didn’t get back to me with other than we could jog find your package almost 3 weeks after I submitted the claim. Funny thing is they delivered it 1 week after my claim.
Like magic. The claims team must be in on the whole racket.
 

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