Protecting yourself when shipping high dollar value items?

[USArmyParatrooper]

Most people think of scams in terms of someone who has something for sale.

 

That said, I've heard a lot of horror stories about BUYER scams who fraudulently use PayPal protection. How can you prove what was actually in the box? Even if you take pictures it's too easy to do a swap after the fact. So it got me to thinking...

 

The next time I ship a high dollar value item I could have my wife shoot a video of the item entering the protective cardboard, entering the box with all the protective packing material, and the box being sealed. Then just make sure the camera stays fixed on the box until it's handed off the postal worker at the front desk.

 

Would that end the argument or would it be a waste of time? Thankfully I've never had a problem with a buyer trying to scam me, but it never hurts to take precautions.

[Dr. Balls]

I take photos of the item in the box and the method of packing (mostly to protect myself on insurance claims) - but I'd like to hear how other people protect themselves against the ol "There was nuthin' in the box!" defense.

[jaybuck43]

Pay UPS/Fedex to pack and ship it.

[kav]

there is really no way to protect yourself from this its part of the hazards of doing business luckily its rather rare. i've heard plenty of stories where proof was submitted to paypal and they just ignored it. If the buyer has low feedback you could maybe i dont know say the item got destroyed and cancel transaction....

i'm not sure what the max insurance amount is for parcels....

[jaybuck43]

USPS max coverage is $5,000.

[kav]

maybe for item over like 20k you could fly to they guy's city and accept cash....heck i don't know....

[USArmyParatrooper]

maybe for item over like 20k you could fly to they guy's city and accept cash....heck i don't know....

 

I don't deal with anything close to that valuable. At most items that are in the four digits.

 

As with the other poster, I am interested in seeing other people's ideas. Do any of you have other ways to protect yourself? Have any of you dealt with fraudulent buyers before?

[Junkdrawer]

To have a track record of cases of "the box was empty when I got it" would come to a crashing halt (one would hope). I would guess a buyer could do it and get away 1 time. To continue to repeat would surely be picked up on. So they would want to do a higher amount on that one time. I think you are pretty safe selling $1,2,3 k to buyers with good track records and percentage of getting spooned is low.

[Junkdrawer]

Selling high dollar books would be best to go through auction houses like Clink or CC. your books are insured while in their possession and mostly they know who the buyers are and they hold the funds for a month to be sure it stays