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Shipping insurance?

Jerry J

Jerry J

Supporting Member
Mar 27, 2000
5,484
767
P-town, OR
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#1
Ok, so I am selling a VERY EXPENSIVE bass and for certain it is going to have to shipped. The most that most of the carriers will cover is something like $500. So that is not going to work for my peace of mind (what's left of it anyway).

Has anyone been in a similar situation and how did you handle it?

I have shipped a $6600 bass before but it was all on the west coast so I took a chance. But I was a nervous wreck until it was delivered. I probably aged 2 years in those 2 days with FedEx.
 
#5
Have the shipper pack your bass at one of their locations. In the event of a claim, it can eliminate a pissing match about whether the damage was due to bad packing. It'll cost $20-30 more, but it's worth it.
 
#7
younggun said:
What shipper are you using? Every bass I've ever shipped was insured for its full value, from $1500 to $4000. Never had any problem having it covered for the full amount.
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I haven't decided yet but I've always had my best luck with FedEx and the USPS recently.

It's been several years since I shipped my other Fodera but at that time I recall that they maxxed out at $5000 value which didn't fully cover that bass or the one that I'm selling.
 
#10
Jerry J said:
Do you recall how much extra you had to pay for that much coverage?
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I don't remember the exact amount but it was less than $100. I had it restored and they sent it back through fedex for $74. They valued it for at least $12000 when they shipped it back so it's not to expensive. That was a year and a half a go so the prices may have changed slightly. Let them do everything and take pictures through the process no matter how upset they may get. This may be different for you but every time I shipped an instrument and they insured it UPS wouldn't ship the instrument in the case. They would put the case in the same box but they packed every thing great. No employee wants to lose their company a few thousand because they packed something poorly. Also I've always had to bring my own box to ship it in that cuts the price because apparently large cardboard boxes are worth their weight in gold at UPS. Your local music store should have plenty just make sure you can fit the instrument and the case in there separately. Don't forget to loosen the strings as well.
 
#11
Resurrecting an old thread instead of starting a new one just to see what additional insights might come up after doing my own homework on this topic.

Usually we direct donate our charity basses to an organization which auctions it at their own event. We are trying an eBay for Charity sale for the first time with our time machine bass. So we'll sell it and the proceeds will be donated to the MJ Fox Parkinson's Foundation.

Usually I ship FedEx but they told me they don't offer insurance. With UPS you can do declared value or go to UPS Capital to buy an insurance policy. The declared value is $1/$100 of value. The insurance is more for high value items and the rate is actually lower but you have to buy the policy separately from UPS Capital rather than just checking a box when you create a label.

So the insurance is better protection for less money. That's what I plan to do when we sell the time machine assuming it sells for the high price we hope it will (North of $10k). If the buyer is in the Midwest, I'll probably deliver it myself.

By the way, the insurance folks at UPS Capital told me that there is no need to declare a value when you get insurance. To do so doubles your cost and doesn't really add any additional protection.

The other thing I plan to do is take pictures and maybe a video as I pack it. Demo that everything works as it goes in the box and show that it was packed well enough to drop from an airplane.

Any other suggestions from folks who have shipped instruments with very high values (more than $5000).

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#12
Beware of thinking that just because you have "insurance" anything is actually covered (except for loss of the instrument).

I've been told on more than one occasion that unless you allow the shipper to pack, any damage is not going to be covered.

Might want to get verification prior to ahiping.
 
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#13
Mamoru said:
Beware of thinking that just because you have "insurance" anything is actually covered (except for loss of the instrument).

I've been told on more than one occasion that unless you allow the shipper to pack, any damage is not going to be covered.

Might want to get verification prior to ahiping.
Click to expand...

Did you get actual insurance or just declare the value? Big difference.
 

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