Insurance question

Kris7
New Community Member

If you by something off of ebay and it is shipped to you but it is damaged when you receave the item, does paypal insurance help cover the loss?

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5 REPLIES 5

skier
Advisor
Advisor

No, shipping insurance is normally an option the buyer selects.

 

Regards,

 

skier

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Temp20200923a
Contributor
Contributor

I don't understand. If I don't receive the item, and the seller tells me 'tough, you didn't insure it' or whatever, I contact Paypal, and eventually, I get my money back. I don't need insurance, the seller does, he's the one mailing the package, not me.

Just to play devils advocate, what is there to prevent a seller from saying they mailed an item and never mailing it?

If the item is lost in the mail, the seller is out that money. I'm certainly not going to pay for an item I never got. Why should I?

So, as far as I can see, insurance covers the seller, not the buyer. If the seller wants to surreptitiously include enough money to cover insurance cost in his price, or shipping and handling, that's his choice, but it obviously makes his prices appear higher to the buyer.

But why would any buyer buy insurance which will protect the seller in case of loss?

Why are sellers even allowed to offer insurance the buyer will pay for when it only protects them? Any and all explanations wanted.

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skier
Advisor
Advisor

Insurance is an option, not a requirement for either buyer or seller as per PayPal's User agreement. 

 

All PayPal requires is proof of shipment, i.e. tracking info.   Some services like UPS provide insurance up to a specific amount which is included in the shipping cost.  If an additional amount is required, some has to pay for it.  Services such as USPS offer insurance as an option, again someone has to pay this.  If the seller is footing the bill, the cost is simply passsed on to you, the buyer.  Bottom line, the cost of the item is higher.

 

Regards,

 

skier

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Temp20200923a
Contributor
Contributor

Are you saying that all the seller has to show is proof that he sent out a package and then Paypal will tell the buyer he is out of luck?

That doesn't make sense to me on a few levels.Again, just to play devils advocate:

First, who is to say there was anything in the box? What is to prevent a seller from sending an empty box, then claiming that the Hope diamond was in that box?

Secondly, as a former postal employee, I know things get lost, stolen etc. within the system. It's not that the system is bad per se, just that it is so large that it is unwieldy. So if a package gets lost in the mail (or ups etc.) system, and the seller can prove he sent it, that's it, the buyer is out of luck?

This just doesn't ring true to me. It seems to me that the onus is on the seller to prove that the buyer actually took receipt of the package, either by signature confirmation or whatever.

In reality, the system works 99.9 % of the time on the good will and honesty of both buyer and seller, but there has to be something in force to stop fraud on both sides, I guess. I really do feel for the sellers, it seems as if Ebay has been changing everything to their detriment in the last few years, much of it unnecessary IMHO.  Can't we all just get along?:-)

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GazLanNaThai
Member
Member

When you purchase from a non-eBay site, and pay with PayPal, your primary concern falls under two levels -

 

1.  The terms and conditions of sale stipulated by the site, in accordance with the stated jurisdictional laws of where the vendor business is located (not where the website is hosted).

 

2.  The relationship you enter into for the transaction (Business-to-Business, Business-to-Consumer, or Person-to-Person - B2B / B2C / P2P)

 

For cross border transactions, the overriding consideration for shipping insurance are the contracted terms of sale - they will be either -

 

A. Carriage, Insurance, and Forwarding (CIF Terms)

B. Frieght on Board (FOB Terms)

 

For a CIF transaction, the seller will state that the buyer pays ... should be obvious this ... for the carriage, insurance, and forwarding.  In the event of loss or damage in transit, the remaining terms of sale will dictate how that loss or damage is compensated to the buyer - most commonly via replacement goods upon return of the damaged ites (with a no-return = no-replacement clause usually prominent)

 

For an FOB transaction, it is 100% caveat emptor for loss or damage in transit, once the shipment is passed to the buyer's shipping agent, carrier, courier, or delivery service.  The seller is responsible only for either getting the shipment safely to your shipping agent etc., or for making it available for them to collect, and checking their identity and authorisation when they do so.

 

For domestic transactions, the seller's terms of sale and shipping compensation clauses have precedence, but can be overridden by a court of law. Generally the courts will find in the seller's favour provided their terms and conditions do not violate your statutory rights (for a domestic to domestic transaction, international is stickier as courts cannot enforce their decision in another country).

 

PayPal insurance should not be relied upon other than as a refuge of last resort - you should always refer to the terms of sale you agreed to from the seller, to the shipping terms (CIF or FOB), and to your own common sense as a buyer, in deciding if you are willing to risk a mail order purchase for a product that is easy or difficult to damage in transit. 

 

Before purchase, the majority of sellers will be happy to discuss special shipping terms such as elevated levels of  packaging (if you pay the postage on the extra weight), tracking or delivery speed and so on.  Talk (email, chat, write, or call) to the seller before commiting to any purchase value that you would not be willing to write off, before making the purchase.

 

Gaz

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