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Posted at July 28, 2004, 5:37 pm: From another auction hosting website this startling news just surfaced: (I am not the author and I'm not sure if it's ok to post a link to the ongoing thread. However this has been checked out and is true. I have emailed the link to David and Ina Steiner so that they may report on it.) "For those who know the Fed Ex Ground Tariff by heart or have bothered to read it all, this may be old news. With many thousands of tranactions via Ebay under my belt, most problems that pop up via online selling have been encountered before, so aren't surprising. I sell a wide variety of items both large and small, heavy and light. All would be considered old,used, antique,or collectible items. For items approaching 5 lbs or heavier and aren't Media items, I usually use Fed Ex Ground, the drop off is close, I print out the labels at home, and generally they much cheaper than the USPS for heavier items, and slighlty less expensive than UPS. Before filling out the forms and printing the the labels at home, I used to go and take my packages to their location and fill out the forms by hand. This has a point. Recently, I sold on Ebay a large and heavy item for in excess of $400. It was an old Gas Station sign. This sort of thing regularly generates winning bids of around $400, so it wasn't a freak occurence. I arranged to send the item to the buyer using Fed Ex Ground. I filled out the form as usual and dropped off the package with Fed Ex. When boxed the package dimensions were 45"x43"x7" and weighed about 40 lbs. A very large package. Perhaps, 10 days later, the buyer inquires about the whereabouts of his item. This is my first inkling that something is wrong. To cut to the chase, the item along it's route was scanned and placed on a truck at one location headed to the next hub, and disappeared. Never arrived. Stolen. After a couple of weeks of looking, the best Fed Ex can tell me is what I just told you, it has disappeared. Well, as you can guess, my first question is how can a package of such size and weight simply disappear, but beyond what I thought, I had to deal with the reality. I have a unhappy buyer and the shipping agent that has told me that the package has vanished and to file a claim. No worries, right? For I have purchased full insurance ! Wrong ! For those who sell online and use UPS and Fed Ex, Fed Ex Ground, or whatever Read your User Guides ! This was a very painful lesson, as I refunded the buyer his full payment of nearly 500 dollars inlcuding shipping, and Fed Ex Ground only reimbursed me $100 plus the shipping charge. Since I worked in barter for the Item sold, and wasn't going to get Vendio or Ebay selling costs refunded, and nice profit turned out to be a big loss. I know, I am technically at fault for my gripe, but nonetheless, for years when I paid and filled out the value of items sent via Fed Ex Ground, I was never informed nor did I know the fine print of their rules regarding insurance and claims. I only got the User's Guide upon opening my online account with Fed Ex. The way Fed Ex Ground, has their claim rules constructed, essentially anything second hand that is an antique, collectible, speculative in terms of worth...will only be elibible for $100 MAX claim. Forget that you can prove that Jane Doe gave you 400 bucks and that any particular item is always worth 400 bucks. It doesn't matter. Nevermind, that in years of dealing with your friendly Counter associate and paying insurance costs to cover expensive items, they never mentioned that you would only be eligible for 100 bucks, if damaged or stolen. Essentially,I write this to inform. As I worked my way through this claim process, and sent the buyer his money back, I continued to think that it was only a matter of time until the Fed Ex Claim check would come in and my loss would be limited. Fed Ex resolved the matter quickly, but my first knowledge that I would be getting back pennies on the dollar for my claim was when I opened the letter with the claim check, and saw the measly compensation of $100, plus the shipping. Up until that point, not one of the many Fed Ex employees (and there were many calls) mentioned that my claim would only be eligible for $100 bucks,no matter that I had provided ample proof of the item's worth. My experiences with Fed Ex to this point had been good, a couple of broken inexpensive items. Nothing ever disappeared or had been stolen. In fact, I was under the impression that Fed Ex and UPS, had a major leg up on the USPS in terms of tracking and not losing items. If a package containing a Gas Station sign like mine can simply vanish, anything can. Remember, we aren't talking about some subjective assessment of damage, debating how well an item was packed, or the condition of arrival versus condition when shipped. My item was scanned in one location and never arrived at the next! I now have to inform customers who may choose Fed Ex Ground, that their item will only be covered to $100.00 no matter what, and that I won't be making up any difference or compensate above that amount in case of loss or damage. This was a painful financial loss, of which I didn't have any control, but still got left holding the bag. Even if I had known the small print, my experience was such that if I packed an item extremely well to avoid damage, such matters would never be an issue. I never contemplated a stolen item. I am guessing that UPS Grounds claim policies are similar? And I suppose the USPS Ground shipping with insurance, while expensive, may have more merit now in my eyes. Anyway, there you have it for what it's worth, a lesson learned for me. At the very least since these folks know that an increasing number of Ebayer's are using their service, they should make a better effort to inform the small shippers who dont know the Tarriff or are prepared to read 20 pages of legalize, as to what is and isn't covered,and stop taking the extra money for insurance. Feel free to Post this thread anywhere you like, and make noise, it's the only way anything gets done. For the record: below is in part the section of the Tarriff which they used to marginalize the worth of my item. Its under the heading: Declared Value and Limits of Liability,section number (4). Some of the points are not included as I only make reference to the stuff that would likely apply to those on Ebay and my case in particular. 4. Packages (Including Freight shipments) containing all or part of the following items are limited to a maximum declared value of $100.00 a. Artwork, including any work created created or developed by the application of skill,taste,or creative talent for sale,display or collection. This includes, but is not limited to, items (and their parts) such as paintings,drawings,vases,tapestries,limited edition prints, fine art, statuary,sculpture,collector's items, customized or personalized musical instruments b. Film, photographic images..and so on c.Any commodity that by its inherrent nature is particularly susceptible to damage, or the market value of which is particularly variable or difficult to ascertain d.Antiques, any commodity which exhibits the style or fashion of a past era and whose history, age or rarity contributes to it's value. These items include, but are not limited to furniture,tableware,glassware, and collectors items such as coins,stamps,sports cards,souvenirs, and memorabilia ... e.Glassware, including but not limited to signs,mirrors, ceramics,porcelain,china,crystal,glass,framed glass, and any other commodity with similarly fragile qualities. f. Jewelry...basically anything you could imagine j. Guitars or musical instruments over 20 years old. " Original of the message was taken from http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/ Replies:UPS makes good on insurance claims.-+I have never had a claims problem with either ups or fedex. Wow, that is a startling discovery about Fedx! Since I sell collectib... On the opposite end. USPS takes packages up to 70 lbs. here is the rest of that I take this to mean that you ca... ok. Since it was in the AuctionBytes newsletter today I guess it's ok to p... 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