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Shipping and Insurance Claims

22 posts in this topic

I filed a claim with CIA in 2007. My store suffered a flood; $13,000 in Modern comic book damage. CIA contacted another insurance agent to do the leg work. That agent wanted a detailed loss of each and every comic book, requiring us to the store the moldy books. Also, the agent depreciated the comics at current 15%, which was a cheap shot since -year old comics don't physically depreciate, only market and replacement value impact prices.

 

I complained to CIA that I was being stonewalled and a check for most of the loss was issued. I cancelled my policy after.

 

One aspect of CIA coverage that wasn't clear was shipping protection. The original policy was from 2007. It might not be the same now. The problem was there were gaps in coverage that were almost vague in description, limiting of CIA's responsibility.

 

I want to trust the shipping companies out there.

 

We shipped a $300 book to CGC with insurance. It was damaged in transit. USPS wanted proof of purchase, a specific purchase receipt. This comic came from a collection held by the owner for years. No such receipt could possibly exist. We could mock one up, how would they know? But it's not that easy. We've tried repeatedly to authenticate the value to gain coverage from USPS, but to no avail.

 

I contacted a USPS supervisor responsible for claims. She was posed this question: If I own a $300 comic I've had for years and USPS loses it will you cover me without a bonafide purchase receipt? She said we would need the receipt. I responded that never existed. The comic book increased in value over time.

 

I attach values to comics for a living and do formal comics appraisals. Still not good enough. She literally said these forms of collectibles may not be covered. She had no answer that provided uncontested coverage from USPS.

 

The USPS supervisor could not guarantee me protection if I mailed a collectible.

 

All this time I dutifully purchased insurance for outgoing packages through USPS. I filed a claim once before when you could submit at a branch office. It was a small amount that was judged at the window.The claim was quickly validated and I was compensated.

 

Everything is now online.

 

One comment that was made is that I had little prior activity so they didn't suspect me of cheating or abusing their system. They obviously track us.

 

Now I have a collection worth sending to get graded. No conventions are scheduled for San Diego with CGC/CBCS as vendors until February in L.A.

 

Who has the penultimate solution to guaranteed shipping coverage without hassle?

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I think many of us have CIA coverage, and honestly I have only really ever heard good things about them. Maybe they were different back in 2007 when you had your problems with them. I have never filed a claim with them, but I have a dealer & collector policy with them, and they have always been more than helpful whenever I've had a question, so I tend to trust them. But I'd go with Registered Mail through the post office; near zero chance of a lost package, and you can purchase insurance up to $25k/package for not very much more.

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I can vouch that if your making a high dollar claim via registered mail they will ask for an itemized purchased receipt in order to process a claim. The safest alternative is to take a vacation and fly there to personally deliver the books.

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CIA has two types of coverage for books lost or damaged in transit, limited and full. Limited covers only 10% of the amount of the coverage. So, if you're policy is for $50,000 you can only recover up to $5000 on books lost in transit. Full coverage costs more, but as you'd suspect, covers items up to the full amount of the policy.

 

If you rarely ship books above 10% of your policy amount, you can choose limited and call them when you're shipping a book above that amount and they can attach a temporary rider to your policy for an additional fee. If you ship expensive books often, full coverage is the better deal.

 

 

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I think many of us have CIA coverage, and honestly I have only really ever heard good things about them. Maybe they were different back in 2007 when you had your problems with them. I have never filed a claim with them, but I have a dealer & collector policy with them, and they have always been more than helpful whenever I've had a question, so I tend to trust them. But I'd go with Registered Mail through the post office; near zero chance of a lost package, and you can purchase insurance up to $25k/package for not very much more.

 

CIA will drop you after 2 claims (I believe). That's what I've heard from several people.

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Yeah, Reg. Mail increases the odds in your favor but I still can't get a guarantee from the post office that they would confidently cover the full amount of a collectible. In this case, I have a package containing 50K in comics, their max.

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Sounds reasonable, although I don't know the comparable prices for the two tiers. Getting full coverage, without hassle, is the desired option. Getting dropped after filing claims means going with CIA has a "time bomb" effect. The clock starts ticking down the minute a shipper "triggers" the claim.

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I think many of us have CIA coverage, and honestly I have only really ever heard good things about them. Maybe they were different back in 2007 when you had your problems with them. I have never filed a claim with them, but I have a dealer & collector policy with them, and they have always been more than helpful whenever I've had a question, so I tend to trust them. But I'd go with Registered Mail through the post office; near zero chance of a lost package, and you can purchase insurance up to $25k/package for not very much more.

 

CIA will drop you after 2 claims (I believe). That's what I've heard from several people.

 

I haven't yet had to file a claim with them, but as with any insurance, it's best to avoid making any small claims -- self-insure for those. Save the insurance for true disasters.

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I have no solution as my experiences in the last year have all been awful.

 

Purchase insurance and require signature for the parcel to be delivered. The parcel gets delivered and signed for: but not by the buyer. Insurance won't cover the "lost" parcel because they consider it delivered.

 

It has happened three times in the last year.

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Registered mail insurance as someone mentioned is a fuzzy area. I recently had a big scare shipping ungraded high dollar comics to CGC. The tracking stopped for 2 weeks (apparently this is common with Registered mail, doh!) and I was thinking next steps. Problem was I had the books since childhood and no receipt to speak of. I had photos that maybe could have gotten me a value declaration from a "reputable dealer" - something the USPS says can be a proof of value.

 

Luckily, after I initiated a claim and trace with the Post Office, the package mysteriously reappeared and was delivered intact.

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Jamie, you like Vegas? CGC will be accepting submissions at the Torpedo Comics grand opening in Las Vegas on December 3rd. Good reason to hit Vegas for the weekend! About a 4-5 hour drive for you, right?

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Dammit!

I'm in Vegas on the 11th of November for a taping of Pawn Stars! The next closest submission point for me is Terry's show at the end of January. I decided to ship out via Registered, knowing we have the photos and authority to back up a claim. What's poignant here is that no responses to this post have been able to nail down the points of a successful claim against USPS.

There is a gap in knowledge here. Somehow, a lost or stolen package that got shipped with insurance will have a lost or damaged claim story that ended well for the shipper.

 

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Dammit!

I'm in Vegas on the 11th of November for a taping of Pawn Stars! The next closest submission point for me is Terry's show at the end of January. I decided to ship out via Registered, knowing we have the photos and authority to back up a claim. What's poignant here is that no responses to this post have been able to nail down the points of a successful claim against USPS.

There is a gap in knowledge here. Somehow, a lost or stolen package that got shipped with insurance will have a lost or damaged claim story that ended well for the shipper.

 

Yep. I said the same thin in a discussion from a week ago right here.

 

It's funny how this gets relegated to being a "Canadian" problem. The last two people I've dealt with were "Americans" - one of them wanted me to declare a $25K piece as being worth $100, and the other wanted me to declare a similarly valuable item for even lower.

 

While I don't condone the practice, I feel there is an equally concerning pattern of "thefts" I read and hear about. Not sure if you can pin it on insiders, or just terrible luck, but the indication of high value does seem to be the common thread these "mysteriously disappearing" parcels share.

 

I will also say that there are third-party insurers who ask for a tracking number. They don't seem to care about how it's declared on the parcel - they just want proof you paid that much. Whether that can be established via PayPal invoice, eBay invoice, or an email referencing the transaction, the details on the parcel don't matter as much having proof of purchase and a tracking number that corresponds with the senders address.

 

I hate the thought of people's personal property being stolen more than any overlying concerns of cheating a system that lacks accountability and mechanisms to arrest internal mail theft.

 

Insurance is cold comfort in situations where people's personal property is of a sentimental or irreplaceable nature.

 

IMHO the backdrop to any discussion on the topic has more to do with the fact that until the corrupting elements of the system are fixed, people will continue to find ways to exploit and/or subvert it.

 

The pick-up point/local warehousing hub concept might be one way we might eliminate some of the delivery logistics in the future, but I think it's human nature for people to sweat over a parcel that screams Steal Me!, whether that indication happens by the value declaration, the insurance value, or the brand name recognition of the sender known to ship high value merch. 2c

 

Yep. Great post.

 

There is a gaping hole in the shipping process that relates to theft and that gap needs to be closed, especially in the globalized world we live in.

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I had reviewed this post when I posted my own. The global aspect of shipping comes with more levels of worry.

I've been shipping comics and other collectibles globally since my store became operational in 1998. I've dealt with scammers, blundering customs services, and disappeared/reappeared packages, bad credit cards and buyers sending money wrapped in aluminum foil!

The Canadian buyers, and their requests to alter the truth on customs forms: I understand. It is a dirty, little secret that everything we send to buyers in Canada is a "gift" worth less than $40. The Canadians are good customers and the them. I've cooperated with their requests and nothing has ever come back to haunt either of us. I do warn them that my cooperation comes with a guarantee I won't be held accountable for lost packages. My employees and I pack to ensure strength and resilience. We've not heard a foreign complaint yet.

But, I'm not one step closer to believing all that insurance we pay for does any good.

I'm concerned that at crunch time none of us will file a claim through the post office and receive compensation.

I'd love to hear or read of a USPS insured claim that was compensated. Anybody?

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The problem is, quite simply, that in offering a product for "collectible coverages", certain companies want to take the thought and worry out of taking your money. So they come up with "comprehensive" plans which are supposed to cover you in the event of a loss.

 

As an accredited appraiser, the best piece of advice I can offer you is that you would leave yourself significantly exposed should you decide to self-appraise your personal property.

 

The other is that you need to make sure your insurance policy is based on "replacement cost", otherwise the insurer will use what is referred to as an "actual cash value" or "depreciated" cost. The fact they asked you for a reciept is pretty clear indication your policy was not underwritten with replacement cost. It costs more to have this type of coverage and for an appraisal report to be drawn up, but a certified appraisal report providing a replacement value would not be disputed in the event of a loss claim.

 

On the latter point, I recently had a client contact me who experienced a significant loss claim. They were unsure if what the adjuster was offering them was fair market value. I reminded him that his policy offered replacement cost, which is higher than fair market value, reviewed the offer, and immediately knew something was amiss. After researching the situation, I noticed the adjuster had conveniently cherry-picked a data point that was not at all similar to what my client had lost. I provided my client with all the information he needed to return to the adjuster, and the adjuster gave him what was owing, no questions asked. The adjusted offer was $5K more than what the claimant was offered, which amounted to roughly 20% more than what they originally offered - an unheard of increase - except when you have someone on your side that knows how to back them to the wall with no wiggle room.

 

In a nutshell, you need to explore a collectibles insurer that will offer you replacement cost coverages, and a policy comprehensive enough to protect you when you are shipping items to and from your place of business, and during times you set-up at shows. Take the time to find the right fit, get everything you require in writing, and ask as many questions to make sure you don't have to ask them after a loss claim, only to discover too late you were dealing with a broker who said all the things you needed to hear, but had the policy underwritten by a company with a different name who doesn't understand your needs.

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