Nervous about mailing books ......... 1 1

[Corallas]

                       So this will be my first time mailing books , Im considering mailing around 20-25 , estimated values of at least 2000 -5000 , this is a significant 

amount of money for me compared to how much money I have , (virtually zero savings ) . Was going to mail to a pressing company and then they would be forwarded to cgc . 

Is there anything I can do to minimize the risks? Do you recommend paying for insurance and if say something happened to them would the us postal service reimburse me for the acual estimated value which could be pretty substantial ? Any General recomendations? 

Thank You 

[buddy2]

Hi: A few general things you might consider.

1.  I would make sure I trusted the presser.

2.  Might look at

3.  Insurance is important if you want to reduce the risk but truly understand what is needed (Pictures, proof of value, etc.)  in the event you had to do a claim before you actually purchase.

4.  Ensure the presser accepts responsibility in case books are lost, stolen, etc. while in their possession until CGC gets them.

5.  Ensure Signature Confirmation but know there has been some changes due to Covid.

[buddy2]

Article related to #3 above

 

[buddy2]

Another Article just for your consideration

 

[revat]

I mean if you’re not in a hurry, you can wait until you’re more financially comfortable in a year or two. 
 

or maybe do some research to see if there’s any great pressers in your area who will pack and ship to Cgc after

[adampasz]

Thanks everyone for the great resources linked above.

For insurance, document everything. Also, split shipment into several packages to reduce risk.

[Mr.Fantastic]

Most definitely get those insured and require signature confirmation.  If you want extra assurance you can always send them Registered mail, which takes a bit longer, but I believe they have to be signed for at each stop along the way, and are placed in a secure location while there.

[KCOComics]

I had the same concerns. 

I would insure books through the post office, but that gets costly when you start mailing books all over the place. 

Ultimately, I got private insurance for my collection. It covers shipping, but you will need to require signature confirmation. 

Honestly, it pays for itself in shipping insurance alone. 

[pemart1966]

I'd recommend starting with a couple of books.  It gives you a chance to try out the presser - who knows, you may not like his work.

If you do make a mistake in the process or something goes wrong, better that it happen with 1 or 2 books as opposed to 25.  Additionally, it gives you a chance to correct anything that you don't like on the next go round.

[CHASEnBLUE]

10 hours ago, adampasz said:

Thanks everyone for the great resources linked above.

For insurance, document everything. Also, split shipment into several packages to reduce risk.

In late 2018, I sent three Mayhew variants of Venom 1, 9.8, to a buyer in Florida after they won the auction on my ebay store. First time for this, but a similar thing happened as noted above where the package was "misplaced" for about five days. However, it ultimately arrived at the buyers location taped up in the priority box - though no comics were within.

Fortunately I bought the insurance for this because of the value of the sell. I'm a bit more strategic now when it comes to larger or more expensive orders and like to do a few different shipments if there are several items just in case. It's always a risk though to some degree.

As far as the initial post here, for the values and number of comics mentioned good advice was given and keep all hard receipts for mailing. I definitely would not try to do it all at once, especially if there is no emergent need to rush fwiw. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by CHASEnBLUE

[theCapraAegagrus]

19 hours ago, Corallas said:

                       So this will be my first time mailing books , Im considering mailing around 20-25 , estimated values of at least 2000 -5000 , this is a significant 

amount of money for me compared to how much money I have , (virtually zero savings ) . Was going to mail to a pressing company and then they would be forwarded to cgc . 

Is there anything I can do to minimize the risks? Do you recommend paying for insurance and if say something happened to them would the us postal service reimburse me for the acual estimated value which could be pretty substantial ? Any General recomendations? 

Thank You 

Yes. A lot of good posts in this thread, already.

[Corallas]

Thanks for all the replies , I have some threads to read 

[Corallas]

18 hours ago, pemart1966 said:

I'd recommend starting with a couple of books.  It gives you a chance to try out the presser - who knows, you may not like his work.

If you do make a mistake in the process or something goes wrong, better that it happen with 1 or 2 books as opposed to 25.  Additionally, it gives you a chance to correct anything that you don't like on the next go round.

Yes trying to discipline myself a bit as opposed to going all in haha 

[Corallas]

On 2/16/2021 at 12:26 PM, buddy2 said:

Hi: A few general things you might consider.

1.  I would make sure I trusted the presser.

2.  Might look at

3.  Insurance is important if you want to reduce the risk but truly understand what is needed (Pictures, proof of value, etc.)  in the event you had to do a claim before you actually purchase.

4.  Ensure the presser accepts responsibility in case books are lost, stolen, etc. while in their possession until CGC gets them.

5.  Ensure Signature Confirmation but know there has been some changes due to Covid.

These are all good ideas , I guess just because I send them with insurance and registered doesnt mean the presser will .

Its unfortunate that USPS gives people such a hard time , I mean if one pays for insurance they deserve to get reimbursed for the value of the insurance . 

It seems a no brainer , all the insured packages that they dont lose make them more than enough money to pay the insured claims Im sure . 

[Corallas]

On 2/16/2021 at 1:05 PM, revat said:

I mean if you’re not in a hurry, you can wait until you’re more financially comfortable in a year or two. 
 

or maybe do some research to see if there’s any great pressers in your area who will pack and ship to Cgc after

Yes having a hard time being patient  , the 6 month turnaround time makes it difficult with pressing and submission , if it was like 2-3 months ....

[Corallas]

On 2/16/2021 at 12:26 PM, buddy2 said:

Hi: A few general things you might consider.

1.  I would make sure I trusted the presser.

2.  Might look at

3.  Insurance is important if you want to reduce the risk but truly understand what is needed (Pictures, proof of value, etc.)  in the event you had to do a claim before you actually purchase.

4.  Ensure the presser accepts responsibility in case books are lost, stolen, etc. while in their possession until CGC gets them.

5.  Ensure Signature Confirmation but know there has been some changes due to Covid.

Was considering using CFP pressing got a recommendation from someone that they do a good job but have not reached out to them about specifics .

I think they drop off the books at CGC which cuts one step out of this . 

[Corallas]

The key issue here seems to be the USPS insurance , I mean if a customer pays for insurance for a specific amount of money , legally this should be cut and 

dry if a package is lost or damaged and current market value is proven which it is relatively easy to do .

I mean this would be very cut and dry in a legal setting in my opinion , is it just that people are not pressing it and taking them to court? 

[Mr.Fantastic]

If you decide not to go with USPS insurance you may want to try Ship Insurance. I always use them to ship e-bay packages, and from what I've heard they always pay if it is a legit claim quickly. Sign up with Pirate Ship and you can get Ship Insurance there and keep track of your packages.

[rjpb]

USPS insurance is a racket. I've sent a few thousand packages through the mail and not had one lost, and only one damaged, and it was a priority mailer with apparently inadequate cardboard support, and the corner got bent. It was only $30 worth of books, so not a big loss to make up on my part. I ship by box now, or sometimes a bubble wrap mailer with enough extra cardboard to make it impossible to bend by human hands.  USPS charges $1.80 for every hundred in value for insurance, so on average they'd have to lose or damage about one in every 55 packages to make insurance pay for itself. I still insure higher priced items (over $1000), but generally registered mail over $1500 (which reduces costs - it costs about $40 to send a $3000 book registered mail including insurance), as that is my pain thresh hold for having to eat a loss if by chance the package is lost. Less than that, not buying insurance over the years has saved me far more than that. 

Packages are more likely to be stolen from the porch after being delivered than lost in the mail, and insurance doesn't cover that. You can mitigate the chances of that happening by purchasing signature requirement for much less than insurance on anything worth more than $200. In theory all priority packages are automatically insured for $50, but I have no idea how hard it is to collect.

[Ryan.]

10 hours ago, rjpb said:

USPS insurance is a racket. I've sent a few thousand packages through the mail and not had one lost, and only one damaged, and it was a priority mailer with apparently inadequate cardboard support, and the corner got bent. It was only $30 worth of books, so not a big loss to make up on my part. I ship by box now, or sometimes a bubble wrap mailer with enough extra cardboard to make it impossible to bend by human hands.  USPS charges $1.80 for every hundred in value for insurance, so on average they'd have to lose or damage about one in every 55 packages to make insurance pay for itself. I still insure higher priced items (over $1000), but generally registered mail over $1500 (which reduces costs - it costs about $40 to send a $3000 book registered mail including insurance), as that is my pain thresh hold for having to eat a loss if by chance the package is lost. Less than that, not buying insurance over the years has saved me far more than that. 

Packages are more likely to be stolen from the porch after being delivered than lost in the mail, and insurance doesn't cover that. You can mitigate the chances of that happening by purchasing signature requirement for much less than insurance on anything worth more than $200. In theory all priority packages are automatically insured for $50, but I have no idea how hard it is to collect.

Agree on all points.