Yes, I agree that $400.00 is exorbitant but that was the only option available
at the time in Australia. The risk does seem to be more with damage then theft.
Bruce has posted on Social Media about gorilla proof tubes that are getting
damaged. I think you are right in saying that the only way to properly insure
high end posters is to take out a separate policy and even then, you have to go
through hoops to make a claim.
Regards
John
-----Original Message-----
From: texasmu...@web.de <texasmu...@web.de>
Sent: 1 April, 2023 6:07 PM
To: Moviemem Original Movie Posters <johnr...@moviemem.com>;
MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Aw: RE: [MOPO] Postal Service handling issues
John,
$400 in insurance money sounds like a total waste. There are only two ways to
get high end posters insured: You can get your own insurance policy (which can
be seriously expensive) or if you only occasionally ship top-end posters you
could use a dedicated art service. They are really expensive, but they will
also cover you all the way.
Just for the record, the legal end of things: According to German legislation,
in a business to consumer deal, the seller is responsible for safe delivery. In
a B2B transaction, the seller‘s responsibility ends once the package has been
handed over to the carrier.
My personal solution is this: For several years, I have stopped using Deutsche
Post or Deutsche Post DHL (their parcel post outlet) for any international
shipments. Regardless of value, I exclusively ship with UPS or DHL Express.
Nothing is risk-free, but the private carriers are so much faster and their
tracking is so much more reliable, it makes a lot more sense to me. For
anything seriously expensive I use an art carrier.
As to the actual risks: Let‘s face it, mail thieves are not overly interested
in old posters, so theft is not much of any issue here. Plus, when it comes to
expensive posters, they would be very, very hard to sell. I had countless
delays over the years, but I only remember one package that was supposedly
lost: A shipment to Canada a few years ago never registered as delivered in the
online tracking. Canada Post claimed they had delivered it and denied my
insurance claim. The seller said he didn‘t get it. This was a new and one-time
buyer and I still have the strong feeling that he managed to get hold of his
shipment without a signature and since it didn‘t show in the online tracking,
he decided to rip me off. This is just a gut feeling of course. This is the
only actual loss I remember in roughly 30 years of shipping internationally.
I started out as a collector, so I know only too well how frustrating it is to
receive damaged goods. So I make sure that everything I send out is packed with
utmost care. Still, if the carrier decides to throw your package under a truck,
there is nothing you can do, so damages are always a risk. One last piece of
advice: Do not ship in tubes, or at least use a square box that partially
covers the tube and prevents it from rolling. Tubes tend to roll off a collie,
and especially in stressful times, chances are that nobody cares to pick it up
again. If that happens, you can be happy if your Christmas order arrives by
Easter.
Helmut
www.filmposter.net
> Gesendet: Donnerstag, den 30.03.2023 um 10:30 Uhr
> Von: "Moviemem Original Movie Posters" <johnr...@moviemem.com>
> An: "texasmu...@web.de" <texasmu...@web.de>, "MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU"
> <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>
> Betreff: RE: [MOPO] Postal Service handling issues
>
> Hi Helmut
> I paid around $400.00 for insurance but I do agree that I might have wasted
> my money. I also get a lot of packages delivered from the US and UK and
> always have to pay the customs charges before the package even arrives in the
> country. I would say that there would be little to no chance of getting the
> customs charges refunded if the package arrived damaged.
>
> Bottom line is that there is a huge risk in sending high end posters
> internationally. It doesn’t matter how much you try to anticipate issues,
> sellers will always be at the mercy of the postal services.
> Regards
> John
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: texasmu...@web.de <texasmu...@web.de>
> Sent: 30 March, 2023 6:06 PM
> To: Moviemem Original Movie Posters <johnr...@moviemem.com>;
> MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
> Subject: Aw: [MOPO] Postal Service handling issues
>
> John,
>
> when shipping from Germany, there is no way to insure any collectibles beyond
> a value of €500 with any of the carriers. UPS in the US used to insure
> collectibles, but I don‘t know if they still do. For all I know, the Postal
> Services around the world do not. Chances are that you wasted the money on
> the insurance, as they would have never paid out anyway. In fact, if the
> value is over €500, you won‘t even get that amount, they simply pay nothing.
> UPS Germany makes this pretty clear in their Terms of Service. They also
> explicitly state out that they are under no obligation to tell you about this
> when they take your insurance money.
>
> All you could do is to get your own insurance policy, which is very costly.
>
> There are no custom duties on posters, only Import-VAT. As a business seller,
> it is easily refundable for me. For private buyers, I guess they have to
> prove that a shipment was returned and then file for a refund with customs. I
> never heard of anybody actually doing that.
>
> Helmut
>
>
> > Gesendet: Donnerstag, den 30.03.2023 um 01:09 Uhr
> > Von: "Moviemem Original Movie Posters" <johnr...@moviemem.com>
> > An: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
> > Betreff: [MOPO] Postal Service handling issues
> >
> > Hi to you all
> > There have been lots of comments on Social Media about an increase in
> > damaged packages, no matter how well they are packed.
> >
> > I recently sold some high end posters to a collector in Europe. Thankfully
> > it all went very smoothly.
> >
> > However, much as I tried to anticipate any potential issues there was
> > always some risk involved:
> >
> >
> > 1. The package was fully insured but there is some fine print about what
> > is and what is not covered.
> > 2. The buyer paid with Paypal. If the package was damaged in transit and
> > the buyer had to be refunded, Paypal do not refund their fee which was
> > significant.
> > 3. The buyer had to pay customs charges BEFORE the package even landed
> > in the country.
> > 4. If the package arrived damaged, the buyer would quite rightly expect
> > customs charges to be refunded but how would that work? I would imagine
> > that there would be a lot of red tape in getting a refund.
> > 5. I think some buyers would expect the seller to cover all costs
> > immediately in the event of damage.
> >
> > Fortunately, I didn't have any problems but just curious as to whether
> > everyone here takes into consideration all of the risks that are involved
> > in International Shipping of high end items.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> >
> > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
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