jtivat - I agree with you totally and have said the same thing many times - D/C is worthless because there is no recourse. It's a scam and no better than buying credit card insurance. The PO can deliver it wrong or worse yet, trash it or steal it and SAY that it was delivered.
I wish that we would set an official policy on CPF about shipping and liability and responsibility.
I have no idea what Pocketbeam is referring to, but if you insure a package and the receiver does not receive it, you file a claim and the sender is reimbursed. It's a PITA and takes quite a while, but that's what insurance is for. On insured packages $50 and under, no signature is required for delivery, but it's the same thing - if it's not received by who it was sent to - you collect from insurance. In fact, with the non signature under $50 insurance, the waiting period to make a claim is only 30 days.
In my experiences in buying and selling, the seller is responsible to provide a non damaged delivered item. That doesn't seem to be the norm here.
To cover all of my bases, if I list an item for sale that I don't intend to insure or be responsible for, I state that I will not be liable for loss or damage w/o insurance.
I just bought an item that was listed with 1st class USPS shipping included. When I paid for it, I included another $1.50 with instructions to insure it for $50, because I'm not willing to accept the risk of loss.
Face it, the entire reason that this is an issue, is because insurance jacks up the selling price by $1.30-$3.20 (and more) and makes the item that's being sold look more expensive. This is one of the few places that I buy from that when I look at the selling price, I perceive that price as my final price. Almost any other place that I buy from, I see the cost of the item and then have to figure in the shipping.
I have shipped and received many items here on CPF and been very fortunate, but not w/o casualties. I've had a Priority Mail item shipped to me w/ D/C that never made it (at least D/C never showed it as delivered). I've done 2 fairly large BP GBs and had only one lost (2 small clips to Canada).
I've been reimbursed by insurance for a lost charger that was returned to Maha and have a claim started for an international package to another CPFer that has been lost. International claims are a whole different thing. It'll take 3-6 months to collect, but at least it's not a complete loss. BTW the shipping fees for the internatl package was over $24 and then add another $2.60 for insurance.
This is a topic that I'd like to see an official policy at least "recommended."
