Is it now mandatory to have insurance on ebay auctions? I remember reading an email from ebay last week that starting Nov 1, all items would need to have insurance & just add it to the handling cost. I can't find it on the website if it has already been implemented. Please shed light on this matter. Thanks.

No, it's just not optional at the discretion of the buyer. As a seller, either you offer it or you don't. If you don't, you're not covered. If you do, you are and the buyer foots the cost (and your shipping costs go up, and your ratings go down for charging too much).

John M.

Thanks for the reply. What would you suggest, should I offer it but add $1.50 (at least) to the S&H cost?

I know you used to sell on ebay, don't know if you still do.

No, it's just not optional at the discretion of the buyer. As a seller, either you offer it or you don't. If you don't, you're not covered. If you do, you are and the buyer foots the cost (and your shipping costs go up, and your ratings go down for charging too much).

John M.Your information is incorrect.

The seller can no longer offer or require insurance to be paid by the buyer.

However, a seller can purchase insurance on shipments, but not ask buyers to purchase insurance separately.

You can include the insurance cost in your item, or shipping cost.

Thanks for blocking me!

Ok, so saying "offer" is a bad way to put it. Either you include it or you don't, but you have to build it into the cost of the S&H or soak it out of the item itself. Base price of insurance is $1.70 (or higher) so putting $1.50 onto your shipping cost means you will lose money if you do include it.

John m.

Yet another ebay change that doesn't make any sense. Last time I checked, offering options was a good thing. Why would you take something like this away? Part of me thinks that ebay really wants themselves to fail sometimes. And with all the changes they have made and the negativity that surrounds those changes, why hasn't someone else really stepped up and taken over?

No, it's just not optional at the discretion of the buyer. As a seller, either you offer it or you don't. If you don't, you're not covered. If you do, you are and the buyer foots the cost (and your shipping costs go up, and your ratings go down for charging too much).

John M.

yeah, but they are supposed to make it where overseas buyers ratings do not count for that stuff. So, you can ship ONLY international priority and get free insurance up to $100 IF you buy the postage off the USPS website. They also give you a discount. Just be prepared for whiney international buyers and whiney USPS counter people, because they still have to type in the name and address and all that stuff and they are so freaking ignorant that they will often try to charge you the difference between the counter rate and the USPS.com rate. I swear, the last time I sent a USPS intl priority package the USPS witch griped about typing the stuff in for longer than it actually took her to do it after she pulled her head out of her sphincter and started doing it. then she tried to hit me up for more money. Nope. Actually, I overpaid because I ALWAYS add a couple ounces to the weight just in case my scales are wrong.

I have $16K worth of ebay sales this year. Man, do I have USPS stories......

My friend who still sells on eBay always adds insurance to the S&H cost.
He's got plenty of stories where the buyer would claim it never arrived. He then would reply "oh OK then let's fill out the insurance claim." Afterwards those packages magically arrived. :D

yeah, but they are supposed to make it where overseas buyers ratings do not count for that stuff. So, you can ship ONLY international priority and get free insurance up to $100 IF you buy the postage off the USPS website. They also give you a discount. Just be prepared for whiney international buyers and whiney USPS counter people, because they still have to type in the name and address and all that stuff and they are so freaking ignorant that they will often try to charge you the difference between the counter rate and the USPS.com rate. I swear, the last time I sent a USPS intl priority package the USPS witch griped about typing the stuff in for longer than it actually took her to do it after she pulled her head out of her sphincter and started doing it. then she tried to hit me up for more money. Nope. Actually, I overpaid because I ALWAYS add a couple ounces to the weight just in case my scales are wrong.

I have $16K worth of ebay sales this year. Man, do I have USPS stories......

just use the usps.com site. you can fill the forms, print them out (get your dicount) pay for them, and schedule the carrier to come get them for free. eons easier then dealing with the actual post office.

just use the usps.com site. you can fill the forms, print them out (get your dicount) pay for them, and schedule the carrier to come get them for free. eons easier then dealing with the actual post office.

Yes, but they don't always get scanned in. Especially the Internationals. The only internationals I've had get lost are those that the carrier picked up. I always print the Internationals at home, but take them down to the PO so they have to enter them manually.