I am preparing to sell 2 vintage bicycles on Ebay and I live in NYC. Those who are interested can see my other posts for a complete description. How can I best insure these items against damage or loss in shipment? One bicycle I was going to sell Buy-It-Now only and the other I was going to have an auction with a minimum.
Other questions:
- Are loss or damage claims the buyer's responsibility or the sellers?
- Should I restrict to continental US? Isn't shipping overseas prohibitive?
- Do I have to pack it up measure and weigh it before I sell it?
- What can I do to avoid Ebay scamming specifically related to shipping? I.e. seller claims not received. I've read the post Any new tricks/tactics on eBay
While the general consensus is that FedEx is more reliable than UPS or USPS, neither shipper has escaped scathing criticism on these boards. In particular, UPS seems to have a rule that items must be surrounded with 2 inches of padding on all sides. Since very few people do that, it means that UPS effectively doesn't have insurance. Furthermore a number of posts go on to say how when loss or damage claims have been filed they have been stalled to the point of giving up. A
shipsurance thread
on Etsy appears to show something similar.
Unfortunately the best insurance seems to be to really pack it well. I have experience with taking apart bicycles for shipping. I will follow Miamijim's sage advice in his
Bike Packing 101 post. While I don't think I'm going to start
building a wood crate, I have thought about it. I do plan on putting wood/pvc pipe spacers in the corners, in the center, and by the rear derailleur. I also plan to try to get those mushroom caps for the axles and a block for the fork.
Thanks in advance.