Selling high value items to countries where insurance is not available

[TiasTreasures]

In Canada there is a law that states that you can refuse to sell to a customer. It does not state that there has to be a specific reason. So if I decided that I didn't want to sell to a customer with a 3 in their address, I have the legal right to do that.

I could still be barred by eBid. Their policies may not match my legal rights. It's their website and they can set more stringent rules. That's why I asked support about it, and got that silly response.

[adruml]

See below. From USPS Website. Coverages showed "All Countries" I don't know why it didn't paste it but it shows on their site all countries. I know there are weight and package size limits but I have not heard of insurance limits other then Priority mail $1,000.00 limit

International Insurance Prices

Protect your item as it heads abroad against loss, missing contents, and damage. Get the price you need by the value of your item for Global Express Guaranteed®, Express Mail International® or Priority Mail International® service.

Global Express Guaranteed Insurance Prices
Insurance covering up to $100 for loss, damage, missing contents or document reconstruction is included at no additional charge for almost all network destinations. You can purchase additional insurance for an additional $1.00 per $100 or fraction thereof, up to a maximum of $2,499 per shipment. Destination-specific limitations may apply.
Express Mail International Insurance* Prices

$0.01 to $100	$0.00
$100.01 to $200	$0.80
$200.01 to $500	$2.25
$500.01 to $1,000	$3.70
$1,000.01 to $1,500	$5.15
$1,500.01 to $2,000	$6.60
$2,000.01 to $2,500	$8.05
$2,500.01 to $3,000	$9.50
$3,000.01 to $3,500	$10.95
$3,500.01 to $4,000	$12.40
$4,000.01 to $4,500	$13.85
$4,500.01 to $5,000 *Maximum indemnity varies by country.	$15.30

Printer Friendly

Priority Mail International Insurance* Prices

$50.00	$2.30
$100.00	$3.40
$200.00	$4.50
$300.00	$5.60
$400.00	$6.70
$500.00	$7.80
$600.00	$8.90
$700.00	$10.00
Each add’l $100 or fraction over $700 *Maximum indemnity varies by country.	$1.10

Printer Friendly

[TexasAda]

I wasn't aware USPS had insurance restrictions by country. Seems a bit biased/bigoted to me...

To me, USPS insurance restrictions or refusal to sell insurance to particular countries seems like a "friendly warning" to proceed with caution. I wouldn't want to be forced to sell to destinations that have proven records of, shall we say, vacillations in delivery success. I see no need to ship to countries that appear to give me a high chance of having to refund for lost packages. It is one of the facts of life that some places have unreliable postal services and I don't want to risk my money on them.

[TiasTreasures]

I knew the same problem applies to Express Mail, but I didn't mention it because I can't think of any reason I'd ever use it to ship merchandise. If you read the text carefully, you'll see the same wording as for Priority Mail:
Destination-specific limitations may apply
and
Maximum indemnity varies by country.

This is from the USPS website (and the reason it would be an enormous amount of work to identify the countries):
See the Individual Country Listings for availability and limitations of coverage.

Also, we can't even get proof of delivery to some countries:
Some countries do not admit Return Receipt and many restrict to Registered Mail.

[DanMart]

I have private insurance that covers many countries but my insurance details are also private.

There are insurance companies that specialize in insuring collectibles dealers.

Their fees are much less than the post office for insurance.

My company only alows Fedex for overseas and no USPS services for outside the US. Tells you something.

Fedex International is very very expensive.

[DanMart]

Having insurance coverage and having common sense are two different things. I can get insurance to China and Mexico but I will not ship to either,
for example.

Most of Western Europe is OK with a few exceptions. You just gotta know what you are doing. Not for rookies.

It is expensive to have a loss.

[TiasTreasures]

I've decided how to handle this. I'm going to change the international shipping on all our listings over $20.

Value $20 to around $65, if it can go by letter I'll send by Registered 1st Class, otherwise Priority Mail.

Over $65, will only send by Priority Mail and only if I can get the additional insurance. That means restricting to the countries I can select from the list provided by eBid.

And I've added a note to our policies that combined shipments over $20 will be required to use one of these shipping methods.