What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Mike Mac&nbsp; </b><p>How do you ship or receive cards you pay or sell $1000's for? I have received cards UPS and USPS certified insured. I have received lesser valued cards via USPS media mail.<br /><br />A seller is going to ship me something FedEx overnight, insured and signature required. I didn't think FedEx insured collectibles.<br /><br />What is your experience with shipping items safely?<br /><br />Thanks, Mike

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Scooby Doo</b><p>If you perfer using the USPS, you should send high value items registered. This makes insurance cheaper and assures the safe arrival. Registered mail is hand delivered and never goes through the standard mail.

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>warshawlaw</b><p>Sellers should have some form of private insurance that covers their inventory for losses of this type. Fed Ex will insure valuable stuff, subject to certain limits in their manual.<br /><br />I have found Fed Ex to be the most reliable carrier. I would not trust a really valuable item to the TCL of the USPS.

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>warshawlaw</b><p>I don't speak so good later in the day. <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>The Other One</b><p>is probably the safest of all, and the most expensive. they do not like collectibles, or jewelry! (wish i was them), but if you have a small, flat packet, it will fit in their smallest envelope and be where it's going the next morning for about 21.00. Insure for almost nothing.<br />Write something boring on the "contents" SLIP[ IF REQUIRED.<br />The just-as-safe is USPS regestered mail. It will cost you about 15.00 and may take a long time to get there. Everyone who TOUCHES this package has to sign for it! Don't use scotch tape; use that brown tape for packages. tHESE REGISTERED PACKAGES MAY BE INSURED, THE AMOUNT OF INSURANCE WILL BE ADDED TO THE PRICE OF SHIPPING, AND IT WILL show on the stamp. but: eVERYONE WHO TOUCHES IT WILL HAVE TO SIGN. They are, in a way, protecting you from themselves!<br /><br />I don't know anyone who has ever lost a package by either of these methods. The fedex is quicker, but the registered is maybe even safer.<br /><br />If you are sending something to Canada, wrap it tight, insure it for NOTHING, call it "Photo-cards", send it air mail, and pray. Or use fed ex, other instructiuons apply:<br />\<br />These Canada packages can be opened, and Canadians are soaked heavily by their gov't for incoming stuff. You want the package to look as boring as possible. Write something innocuous as hell on the tarrif sticker--which ALL packages going to Canada require. "photograph" or "photo-cards" will probably be seen as applying to anything you send, even lithography. God, don't write "lithography"!

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Max Weder</b><p><br /><br />I must add that professed practices such as not properly reporting customs declaration forms to Canada only generates future work for Canadian tax and customs lawyers, and is not a recommended practice. If someone is paying large amounts for a card, the extra tax (14.5% in BC ) should not lead them into temptation, which at worse can lead to criminal consequences. I've seen it too many times with jewellry, cameras, boats, etc. <br /><br />If the package is opened (and a surprisingly large percentage are physically inspected) and there is evidence of false reporting on the declaration, the package (our beloved card) is subject to forfeiture. It isn't a risk that I take in making purchases from the US, and I would never ask any vendor to do this. It's double pound foolish. <br /><br />The safest way to ship expensive cards is to properly insure them and properly report them. <br /><br />Max<br /><br />

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>The Other One</b><p>Every time I go to the grocery store, I'm paying for winning something in an auction! And you want to add another 6% on top of that? aRE YOU SURE IT'S ONLY 14.5%?<br /><br />It sure does add up!<br /><br />Catch Me If You Can!

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Josh K.</b><p>Just out of curiousity, Im expecting a T206 Matty from a seller in Canada. Ive never shipped to or bought anything from someone in Canada before. Do I have something to worry about here?

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Max</b><p>There is nothing special to worry about buying from someone in Canada. Many vendors will have US dollar accounts, which are available at all banks. Some vendors who don't have accounts will require international money orders only. Letters cost more to mail to Canada.<br /><br />Probably the biggest gripe from Canadian vendors is that a sale this year is only worth $1.31 instead of $1.63 like last year, due to the fall in the mighty greenback.<br /><br />Max

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>hankron</b><p>Have you ever tried stealing a card from a moose's back? Plus most moose can't tell a $1 from a $5.

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Max</b><p>Julie<br /><br />The sales taxes are a way in which Canada can have universal medical care, without paying through the nose directly (although we have continually debate how to fix our system, so not everything is perfect). In BC it's $47 per month for health care. In BC, the income tax rate is equivalent to the federal/California rate, so I suspect I can live through the situation in which I use money that is designed so I can actually distinguish the different denominations. Besides, the Queen and John A. MacDonald are both prettier than George (although at least John A. drank a heck of a lot more).<br /><br /><br /><br />Max

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>The Other One</b><p>is a blessing devoutly to be wished. God, how I wish we had it! (HA! In a movie I just--multiple times--saw, your "universal health Care" is translated "Medicare." Do you know how much of a joke that is? Medicare is what you get when you're 65, doesn't cover perscription drugs, and many doctors don't accept it!)<br /><br />I wouldn't mind if my Canadian friends were rich...$60 on top of $250 seems a bit excessive--if I'd wanted to charge $310 for the blinking card, I would have charged $310! <br /><br />Guess you don't get something for nothin'. C'est le loi.<br /><br />Oh. George (Washington, PLEASE!) smoked marijuana...grew it himself.

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>warshawlaw</b><p>Julie: we don't pay sales tax on groceries, only the non-food items. Although if yuou buy doritos or other "snack foods" you really aren't paying taxes on actual food either <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><br /><br />Max: You are the exception. Virtually every Canadian (Canadien?) I've dealt with asks me to lie on the customs slip when shipping into Canada. I refuse, of course. <br /><br />Healthcare: I've alway thought of our friends to the North as the ones with medical care and no guns. Thank heavens we have the freedom here to own guns and avoid dirty socialist medicine! Now, if only that pain in my lower right abdomen would subside...Maybe when the fever dies down and I stop puking...My HMO recommended tylenol, so I guess I'll be ok, though it wasn't polite of the $5 an hour clerk who took my call seeking permission for an ER visit to laugh like that...Maybe I'll shoot the bastard next time...

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>The Other One</b><p>and of course, I WOULD pick the one item--groceries--that there's no tax on here, unless you buy that packaged stuff which, as you rightly point out, isn't food anyway.<br /><br />My Canadian friends ask me to lie my head off, and I do.<br /><br />I just rented a slick new walker for a month, having wrenched my back on Sunday picking up baseball card albums and the 2004 Catalogue at the same time (maybe I should sue Lemke?). $60.

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Max</b><p>Julie <br /><br />Please feel free to refer all your Canadian friends to me when they are faced with a notice of ascertained forfeiture or a criminal charge on the importation with a false value. My fee will be cheap in comparison to the consequences, but my rate is $400C per hour, plus GST and PST --no exceptions. <br /><br />I can only tell you that the Canadian Border Service Agency (customs, or the Canadian BS Agency , as we call it) does do internet searchs in order to obtain comparable market values. It's always interesting what and who they'll find when they type in "N172" for example.<br /><br />Yours in universal care,<br /><br />Max

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>The Other One</b><p><img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><br />Look: you admit you're sending cards; the only thing you lie about is the value. If it's cards and you say it's a photo, you might get into trouble. As it happens, I don't deal in graded cards (don't collect them, although am occasionally forced to buy them to get what i want), so there's no fancy holder. Come to think of it, the cards I send are rarely better than ex--not the sort of thing a customs official would find interesting, and of course, looking it up, he'd have to know what card it is, and that in itself will cost him 5 minutes of valuable TIME.<br /><br />Hey, I'm tired of being made to feel like a crook, even if I am one!<br /><br />Look at my Orr painting, already! (kids' thread)

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Max Weder and Jennifer Ettinger</b><p>A wonderful Bobby Orr. I can only counter with a Sawchuk...<br /><br /><img src="http://www.ettinger.ca/terry.jpg">

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>The Other One</b><p>Great job.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Check out haiyan.gallery for similar stuff. Cheap, too.

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>JOhnny</b><p>I sent a card recently valued around $3000 or so, and the buyer claimed I sent him an empty box. Paypal took the money back, couldn't get insurance claim, and no card. Even sending insured, registered and everything else isn't safe if someone wants to scam you. Especially with Paypal.

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>The Other One</b><p>cheapest way you can track a package (USPS) on the internet or the phone--the guy said, "What's the matter, you think I'm a crook, or something?" Now I'm careful to explain why I do it.<br /><br />Geez...#3000...

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Josh K.</b><p>Johnny - just out of curiousity, who was the buyer that scammed you. I had the same thing happen to me. Fortunately, it was only a $50 card and he eventually went away after we went back and forth a few times. I dont think he was trying to pull a scam (if he was, he gave up pretty easy) but it would certainly change my opinion if it was the same person.

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Andrew</b><p>USPS Registered Mail<br />Safest<br />Tracked from beginning to end<br />Postman will not leave unless signed for<br />$7.50 comes with tracking and $0 insurance; insurance is extra up to $25,000 insurance ($15,000 for Priority?)<br />e.g., for $500 declared value add $1.35 plus 1st class postage by weight<br />for $2000 declared value add $3.05 plus 1st class postage by weight<br />signature required for delivery<br />Can use Priority box; pay extra ~$2.88, but won’t get priority service<br />No clear tape<br />Prefer no label<br /><br />Insured (non-Registered) <br />max reimbursable is $5,000<br />Not track able unless with delivery confirmation<br />If insured, will leave note at door<br /><br />FedEX<br />FedEx will insure up to $100 at no additional cost to the shipper (claim between $.01 - $49.99 does not require a claim form.) <br /><br />Shipper can purchase additional insurance for declared value over $100. However, if the item is deemed an "extraordinary item/irreplaceable", then the maximum insurance coverage that can be purchased is $500. <br /><br />Shipper can purchase coverage for more than $500 through Transglobal, a FedEx partner.<br /><br />"DVX" is an approved only program, i.e., not an option for average Joe calling about shipping choices, that's intended for packages containing high value items. So, this would be another way to have more than $500 coverage.<br />

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>The Other One</b><p>Sometimes, when I win something at an auction, it arrives fedex or UPS WITH NO PRICE ON IT. When I SEND something, fedex or UPS or USPS, they always insist on putting the price on the stamp. Which of course I don't like!<br /><br />What do the auction--or even big dealer---places know that I don't know?

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Tom Boblitt</b><p>what do you mean a price on it? UPS doesn't put a 'register' tape on the price anymore when you drop off a package, so no value for the shipping cost should show on the outside of the package. How do you mean a price?<br /><br />As for shipping, everyone knows I'm not impartial but......<br />Both FedEx and UPS offer free insurance up to $100 and UPS is 35 cents per hundred above the first $100. In most cases, for short distances that require $100 insurance, both UPS and FedEx are cheaper than priority mail and include REAL intermediate point scanning/detailed information on package location on the web. Both FedEx and UPS track the package at every stop along the way and you can actually see where your package is unlike anything the post office offers. Registered mail is VERY secure as it is under lock and key at each step of the way but you really don't know WHERE it is until it's delivered.<br /><br />Insuring unreplaceable items is difficult with anyone for the most part. If you have things that can be easily replaced, insurance isn't a risk. Otherwise, you can also seek insurance from a third party insurer for your packages--especially if you ship a lot. I think the larger auction houses have insurance policies from another insurer rather than the transportation companies.<br /><br />Someone talked about shipping to Canada.......if you ship to Canada through UPS or FedEx, you will always have to worry about duties and taxes on the Canadian side. If you ship through the USPS, since they have no real regulation, you may or may not have to worry about duties and taxes. I've experienced about 2 out of 3 going TO Canada that don't get duties and taxes assessed. Guess it's value based. DO NOT falsify documents for shipments going to Canada. Quick way to get the goods seized by Canadian Customs. We have shippers at UPS that do that and the goods are routinely seized. Nothing fishier than a 50 pound box of modems valued at $25.00.<br /><br />

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>The Other One (Julie)</b><p>which summed up "Bowling for Columbine", plus health care, in one satirical paragraph 13 posts back...<br /><br />

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Mike Mac</b><p>OK, thanks everyone with answers to the initial post.<br /><br />If I understand correctly:<br /><br />1. If someone is going to scam you, no method is safe.<br /><br />2. The safest way is registered since the parcel probably will not be opened.<br /><br />3. FedEx and UPS probably are safe except the insurance rates are relatively high compared to registered suggesting that the parcel will be stolen if the rotten employee knows it's valuable baseball cards & given a chance.<br /><br />Thanks again, Mike

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Josh Evans</b><p>Tom Bobblit has the most realistic (and accurate) view on the shipping services <br />I truly believe the good old post office is the safest way to ship <br />As Tom said, their “registered” packages have to be signed for every step of the way<br />As far as the tracking feature which they do not supply (I did not know that) that might not be for the faint of heart <br />But who cares if you cannot track where it isn’t?!?!<br /><br />As far as insuring your packages it is a complete waste for the most part<br />These guys simply do not pay claims (or very, very few)<br />Years ago they used to <br />Now they could care less<br /><br />A third party insurance carrier is the best way to go<br />But that might not be practical for the infrequent shipper (sounds like a sequel to The Accidental Tourist) <br /><br />Self insurance is one way to go when you figure over time you lose so few and you save on the insurance <br />This only works if you ship a lot of stuff<br />But remember if it’s lost you gotta pay your client <br />So be careful with the "bigees" (heavily valued stuff) as that throws off the averages<br /><br />As far as damage, make believe an elephant will step on it<br />That part is on you<br /><br />No easy answer<br />In the end its one of the prices of doing business<br /><br />

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>jw</b><p>Aside from normal shipping/handling & insurance what costs would a seller from Canada incur when shipping via UPS to the U.S.? Are there taxes/duties due when a package leaves Canada? The reason I ask is, I'm contemplating a purchase from one of our friends up north & would like to inform myself of possible shipping fees. Any help w/this would be greatly appreciated.

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Julie Vognar</b><p>Unless it's going to Canada, in which case, wrap it well but deceptively simply and don't insurte it for more than $10--or recipient will have to pay big bucks to customs.<br /><br />Description on customs label should more or less "match" what's inside--they can open ANY package--if you ship stuff in fancy holders (graded stuff) to Canada, God help you. And the person you sold it to...oh yeah, Fed Ex hates jewelry and collectibles--call them "photo cards" or "photographs."<br /><br />Canadians can ship registered fairly cheaply--I think $10--but insurance costs them a lot. Coming this way, there's NO tarriff from customs...

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>jw</b><p>just the info i was looking for!

What is the safest way to ship expensive baseball cards?
 

Posted By: <b>Jason</b><p>I paid 26.50 in taxes and duties for a card I bought from Old Orioles for 150 bucks.<br /><br />I never tell sellers what to do with my packages. (I live in Canada by the way) I'd say about 85% of the cards I buy I don't pay anything on as they mark them gifts or put a low value on them.<br /><br />Its kind of nice actually when you think about it since you've already paid for the auction and the shipping. Duty and taxes kind of suck.<br /><br />I must be lucky as well because insured or uninsured I have never not received a card.<br /><br />I had a couple of guys that elected not to have insurance that said they never saw the package but I haven't heard from them in a few a weeks so I'm assuming they did finally arrive. At least I hope they did.