One of the biggest misconceptions that an eBay seller can have is... "Well, they didn't choose insurance... I'm not responsible."

MANY of us (yes, me included!), have that in our auctions... but in reality, it IS our responsibility to get our customer's item to them perfectly.  It's not the USPS, UPS, Fed Ex's or whoever you ship through's responsibility... it is OURS.

You know how stores can sometimes have signs up that says, "Not responsible for Accidents"?  Well, all that they are, are signs... for people that want to think that's true.  They'll be a fair amount of people that could - slip, trip or fall, and will not file a lawsuit against said store, just because of that sign.   BUT... if you'd fight it in court, 9 chances out of 10, you'll win.

Well, eBay and shipping is NO different.  We can say it's not our responsibility all we want... BUT... if a buyer paid with PayPal... and their WHOZIT got busted in transit... Guess who is responsible?  You guessed it!  YOU are!

Now... you have a few choices to help protect yourself.

1. Have insurance *MANDATORY* in your listings, and charge it to your buyer.

2. Add the insurance costs to your shipping charges, and have the buyer pay for it that way.

3. Pay for the insurance yourself, out of your own pocket.

4. Try your luck!  You never know... you might never need it anyway! (I would NOT recommend doing this on items that you do not want to replace the cost of!)

5. UPS covers your packages FREE for the first $100.00.

6. You can choose to insure your packages through other avenues.  Here are two, that I've been looking into (you need to read their policies, and decide for yourself if this is something that you'd like to participate in.):

http://www.u-pic.com

(from their website!)  Why pay the high cost of carrier provided insurance? Ship with the carrier and insure with U-PIC at a discount! Whether you ship hundreds of packages a day or want to insure that special package once a year, U-PIC has a program to meet your needs. 

We provide substantial savings on insurance for shippers using UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL and most other carriers.

Here's another place:

http://www.dsiinsurance.com/

(from their website!)  Discount Shipping Insurance (DSI) - Parcel insurance & cargo insurance for insuring shipment worldwide. Ship with UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, Airborne Express, or any Common Carrier. Private 3rd party insurer.

7. Or, finally... go with an online shipping service that can offer you reduced rates for insurance, such as:

 

or

Endicia