Added postage insurance.

[jellybirddesigns]

Does anyone add extra insurance onto their items?

I've had 2 satchels go missing in the last 3 months (which is really unusual). They literally dropped off the face of the earth.

Both were worth around $70-$80 and the most that Aus Post will reimburse you for is $50 for contents.

Of course I reimburse the buyer, but I'm still out of pocket the difference.

Not sure if it's worth it as 99% of my items get through, but maybe for that 1% it's worth paying for.

[clarry100]

We only buy it if the cost to us of any loss would be over about $75. Otherwise we just foot the loss ourselves. We built a little bit into item prices to cover it.

[chameleon54]

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@cushioncovers wrote:

Does anyone add extra insurance onto their items?

I've had 2 satchels go missing in the last 3 months (which is really unusual). They literally dropped off the face of the earth.

Both were worth around $70-$80 and the most that Aus Post will reimburse you for is $50 for contents.

Of course I reimburse the buyer, but I'm still out of pocket the difference.

Not sure if it's worth it as 99% of my items get through, but maybe for that 1% it's worth paying for.

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EASY - If you only lose 1 % of your items, just add 1% of total sales price, plus postage to your postage cost and self insure. It is much cheaper than taking out AP insurance for every item and much less hassle with " claims".

AP,s insurance is very expensive and would add a fair bit to your postage costs or hammer your profit margins if you absorb the cost. I add around 50 - 80 cents to my postage cost on every item I sell and just pay out, no questions asked when an item goes missing.

[jellybirddesigns]

Thanks Chameleon.

I'm not sure if the insurance is that expensive - the Aus Post website shows $1.50 for every $100 in value (or part thereof).

About 30% of my sales are in satchels valued between $60-$90, so perhaps your suggestion is worth trying out.

[brerrabbit585]

If you add 50c to the postage you charge the buyer, ebay will take roughly 5c of it, which leaves 45c. After 10 buyers you've got an extra $4.50 in your pocket, which you can either spend on insurance on the 3 parcels (30% of the ten) or keep it and just pay out when necessary.

[chameleon54]

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@cushioncovers wrote:

Thanks Chameleon.

I'm not sure if the insurance is that expensive - the Aus Post website shows $1.50 for every $100 in value (or part thereof).

About 30% of my sales are in satchels valued between $60-$90, so perhaps your suggestion is worth trying out.

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I dont use AP,s insurance for Australian delivered mail, but do enquire about insurance for OS items from time to time. Last quote a couple of weeks ago worked out to around 15% of the item value, so too expensive to consider. I usually add  $1.00 to OS items for self insurance with item cost and postage averaging around $50.

This works out about right as I do get a few claims for item not recieved on OS sales. I suspect in most cases the parcels just get delayed by customs and the buyers are working to ebays unrealistic delivery estimates. It is getting harder all of the time to sell to international clients, but they still make up around 25% of my sales, so too much to ignore.