Insured shipping ?

[guitarlover]

Buying guitars online a makes me "nervous" : I do not have a lot of experience with it and have nightmares about lost shippings, damaged instrument . So as a buyer I always ask for shipping with full insurance.
Now I am wondering is this a wise thing to do : it costs me more and what happens without it if I pay with VISA eg on REVERB ? Isn't the risk for the seller if something goes wrong ?
Do you ask for shipping with insurance ?
Denis

 

[GAD]

All guitars I ship are fully insured.

 

[HeyMikey]

I insist on insurance for everything I ship to protect myself. If the buyer doesn’t want to pay for insured shipping I won’t ship. I don’t rely on arbitration by ebay, reverb or anyone else to determine who is at fault for damage or loss.

 

[guitarlover]

So I am not too stupid after all ;-) I also want to avoid discussions with Reverb, VISA, etc...
The last sellers I contacted reacted quite strange to my question though so I started to doubt.

But good to know I am not the only one who wants some security ! Denis

 

[HeyMikey]

Denis, The other thing I would recommend that has worked well for me as both a buyer and seller is to not ship to a residential address.

I use FedEx to ship to a major FedEx location where it is held until the buyer presents an ID to pick it up. Still fully insured, but it cuts down on the potential for mis-deliveries to the wrong house, or damage from mishandling by careless end-stage residential delivery drivers. Even if a signature is required, it often is not collected and either faked or skipped by the driver. Especially with Covid.

 

[GAD]

Denis, The other thing I would recommend that has worked well for me as both a buyer and seller is to not ship to a residential address.

I use FedEx to ship to a major FedEx location where it is held until the buyer presents an ID to pick it up. Still fully insured, but it cuts down on the potential for mis-deliveries to the wrong house, or damage from mishandling by careless end-stage residential delivery drivers. Even if a signature is required, it often is not collected and either faked or skipped by the driver. Especially with Covid.

While I get it, I wouldn't accept that as a buyer as the closest Fedex location is about 35 miles from me.

I also want to avoid discussions with Reverb, VISA, etc...

As a buyer, dealing with Reverb for issues has been *wonderful*, and they've solved every issue I've had with buyers on that site. The key is if the shipper used Reverb Shipping (or whatever it's called which is totally worth it IMO) because if they did, Reverb handles everything.

 

[guitarlover]

Yes, I prefer this also now. Especially since I live in an appartement with a "slow" elevator. So it takes some time to come down .(reacrion to post from HEYMIKEY)

 

[guitarlover]

"While I get it, I wouldn't accept that as a buyer as the closest Fedex location is about 35 miles from me."

Belgium is a small country so a pickup point is always more or less nearby ;-)

 

[dreadnut]

I always ship insured.

 

[Guildedagain]

I only sell guitars on Reverb, and the coverage is mandatory, but what does it get you?

When I had a $3k issue with the last guitar I sold, the Cust. Serv. rep said "good thing you selected full coverage" as if it was an option, but i thought to myself, what if they invoke shipping damage and let me off the hook?

After all, the guitar was in transit four days and went to Seattle - twice our humidity - in the middle of a "Bomb Cyclone" where pressure drops drop more than 24 millibars in the same number of hours.

The complaint was excessive room under the strings that the TR couldn't fix. It turns out humidity is well known to raise action.

The rep casually dismissed this idea and they hit me with a refund because of "guitar not as described".

But wait a minute, I never described this unknown to me condition in the ad, so how could it be "not as described"?

When the guitar came back, the neck was straight as a board. I sent pics to Reverb and they said it was "probably atmospheric conditions", and that "it happens a lot".

 

[davismanLV]

Also, note for selling and shipping, when you use Reverb you can save a TON on the shipping AND the insurance. When I sold my Breedlove Concerto E to go from Las Vegas to Ohio with full coverage and the label printed off Reverb it was $152 total. When I showed up at the UPS store and asked how much to ship and insure the total was over $380!! If you do everything through Reverb you should be fine. I'd never ship a guitar without full insurance!!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I often insure, but usually for less than the fill value. It's expensive, so I ask myself how much loss I can live with and insure accordingly.

I've never had to put in a claim, so at this point I'm far from break-even. If I ever do put in a claim, it's not likely to amount to what I've already spent on insurance.

There's nothing less rewarding than betting against yourself.