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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