.With all due respect, it does give me a chance to recoup my monetary loss. While it is true that the Shipper is the one who has to initiate the claim, and would receive the compensation, MOST of the Members of the firearms community are honest and reliable, and would give you back your money after he gets paid for his claim.
If that person does not refund your money after being paid, then you will be out the amount you have paid. However, I do not think I would like to be the Seller who received money for a claim, then did not send it along to a Buyer. A Seller who does that would have his name and reputation plastered all over a Post here, along with the details of what happened.
One of the things I ask for is a Name, address and telephone number of anyone I buy something from. That way, if the Seller does something like keeping the Insurance Money, you can bet your butt that I WILL put his name on a Thread and outline his actions.
I do agree that it is probably best to simply include Insurance and Shipping in the selling price. It is a simple matter to state the asking price of the firearm and adding the words "shipped" or "including shipping" in the description. Right now, most firearms can be shipped for $40 to $50 in Canada except to the more remote areas.
It is a lousy situation, but it is better than nothing. Perhaps we have to rethink our Buying and Selling habits, and the Seller assume all costs of Insurance. However, as pointed out, those costs, like any expenses in business, get transferred to the Buyer by increased selling prices. I would much rather have documentation that I was the one who paid for the Insurance, and a case could be made that the Seller is merely acting as my Agent in processing the paperwork, and therefore as my Agent, he is required to send the compensation to me.
I would rather pay the Insurance costs myself, and keep all e-mails and correspondence between myself and the Seller until my item arrives. That way I have documentation that it was I who paid the Insurance costs, and can go from there if I need to. I have never had problems with a Seller in this area, and because I keep the communications between the Seller and myself, because the Seller is aware that I do have his name and address, and because I have looked at the Seller's trader rating, and possibly his Posts on the Forum, and maybe even talked to him on the phone, it is probable that I may never have a problem in this area. When my item does arrive, I simply delete any of this correspondence.
I do not know if it has come up, but there might be a possibility of Mail Fraud where the seller has used the mails to obtain funds that you paid for and he has not delivered to you. In any transaction, there has to be a certain trust between the Buyer and the Seller. It is also up to the Buyer to satisify himself that the Seller is a reputable person to deal with. In this respect, a new Seller on this Forum, or a person who has few trades is where a Buyer should take a bit of extra caution and satisfy himself of the Seller's reliability.
I am wondering if we are making a Mountain out of a Molehill here. The amount of packages that Canada Post ships is enormous, and most of them arrive intact to their destination. I am not sure what the exact loss and/or damaged percentage is, but I would think it is relatively small. Certainly there will be some cases where a shipment is damaged, either accidentally or willfully by an employee, but when we see the amount of firearms for sale on the EE of just this Forum or Website alone, along with the thousands of items shipped each day by the Dealers and other businesses, just what percentage is damaged? More so, in shipping, what is our alternative?
I have seen a Courier Company sorting and processing facility. Long lines of moving belts where packages end up in large wire cages that go to a destination. These packages go down a belt and drop about four feet into the cage, and your Grandmother's prized dishes might be followed by a 50 pound steel anvil.
It is also up to the Seller to package the item securely. Having been involved in the Shipping business for about four years, I have darned near seen it all, and a firearm wrapped in paper and taped up, or in a flimsy light cardboard box is asking for trouble. Some of the best shipping I have seen is done by Trade-Ex where a good cardboard box is placed in an outer cardboard box, with bubble wrap or paper to hold everything from moving around inside, and everything securely taped up.
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If that person does not refund your money after being paid, then you will be out the amount you have paid. However, I do not think I would like to be the Seller who received money for a claim, then did not send it along to a Buyer. A Seller who does that would have his name and reputation plastered all over a Post here, along with the details of what happened.
One of the things I ask for is a Name, address and telephone number of anyone I buy something from. That way, if the Seller does something like keeping the Insurance Money, you can bet your butt that I WILL put his name on a Thread and outline his actions.
I do agree that it is probably best to simply include Insurance and Shipping in the selling price. It is a simple matter to state the asking price of the firearm and adding the words "shipped" or "including shipping" in the description. Right now, most firearms can be shipped for $40 to $50 in Canada except to the more remote areas.
It is a lousy situation, but it is better than nothing. Perhaps we have to rethink our Buying and Selling habits, and the Seller assume all costs of Insurance. However, as pointed out, those costs, like any expenses in business, get transferred to the Buyer by increased selling prices. I would much rather have documentation that I was the one who paid for the Insurance, and a case could be made that the Seller is merely acting as my Agent in processing the paperwork, and therefore as my Agent, he is required to send the compensation to me.
I would rather pay the Insurance costs myself, and keep all e-mails and correspondence between myself and the Seller until my item arrives. That way I have documentation that it was I who paid the Insurance costs, and can go from there if I need to. I have never had problems with a Seller in this area, and because I keep the communications between the Seller and myself, because the Seller is aware that I do have his name and address, and because I have looked at the Seller's trader rating, and possibly his Posts on the Forum, and maybe even talked to him on the phone, it is probable that I may never have a problem in this area. When my item does arrive, I simply delete any of this correspondence.
I do not know if it has come up, but there might be a possibility of Mail Fraud where the seller has used the mails to obtain funds that you paid for and he has not delivered to you. In any transaction, there has to be a certain trust between the Buyer and the Seller. It is also up to the Buyer to satisify himself that the Seller is a reputable person to deal with. In this respect, a new Seller on this Forum, or a person who has few trades is where a Buyer should take a bit of extra caution and satisfy himself of the Seller's reliability.
I am wondering if we are making a Mountain out of a Molehill here. The amount of packages that Canada Post ships is enormous, and most of them arrive intact to their destination. I am not sure what the exact loss and/or damaged percentage is, but I would think it is relatively small. Certainly there will be some cases where a shipment is damaged, either accidentally or willfully by an employee, but when we see the amount of firearms for sale on the EE of just this Forum or Website alone, along with the thousands of items shipped each day by the Dealers and other businesses, just what percentage is damaged? More so, in shipping, what is our alternative?
I have seen a Courier Company sorting and processing facility. Long lines of moving belts where packages end up in large wire cages that go to a destination. These packages go down a belt and drop about four feet into the cage, and your Grandmother's prized dishes might be followed by a 50 pound steel anvil.
It is also up to the Seller to package the item securely. Having been involved in the Shipping business for about four years, I have darned near seen it all, and a firearm wrapped in paper and taped up, or in a flimsy light cardboard box is asking for trouble. Some of the best shipping I have seen is done by Trade-Ex where a good cardboard box is placed in an outer cardboard box, with bubble wrap or paper to hold everything from moving around inside, and everything securely taped up.
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