Do you only insure packages that your buyers have chosen insurance on? I've found that most sellers do, and spend hours per month on customer service and wondering whether or not to eat the cost of a lost of damaged shipment.
There's a better way, and it's called third party insurance!
I'd bet many of you have heard of it but have not given it much thought. Imagine never losing any sleep over problem packages. Better yet, imagine 100% satisfaction when you instantly refund a buyer who receives his package in smithereens.
Here's the strategy:
Sign up with a company like U-PIC or DSI to insure all of your packages each month. Right off the bat you'll have considerable savings on shipping insurance (usually about 50-70% off) from what you're paying now.
Continue to offer optional insurance at the regular carrier rates. You could even lower them slightly if your management software allows for this (hint: Laris customers should set up their custom rates).
The result:
Your customers that opt into insurance will end up covering your entire monthly bill for insurance in most cases. No extra cost, and everything is insured! I know that after a while, U-PIC will set you up with a monthly rate as long as your claim history isn't too high.
With this strategy, we see many of our clients actually making a profit on insurance without gouging their clients and covering all of their shipments!
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2 comments:
The generic U-PIC & other 3rd party insurance is tied to shipper insurance. For instance, with Fedex, the first $100 is covered by Fedex, and U-PIC will only kick in at $100.01 onwards. So if an item that's damaged is worth $500, Fedex will send you a check for $100 and U-PIC the other $400. HERE'S THE CATCH: If Fedex DENIES you claim, U-PIC will AUTOMATICALLY DENIES you claim too! Go to Fedex to find the list of items that they will NOT COVER (which includes artwork, LLadro figurines, etc., etc.). To bypass this risk, you MUST contact U-PIC and request for DOLLAR ZERO coverage -- which means that you're double insuring the first $100 value of the item (Fedex & U-PIC covering $0-$100) -- but U-PIC (may) cover items that Fedex rejects. CAVEAT: All items must be packaged properly of course, or you'll get the dreaded 'INADEQUATE PACKAGING -- CLAIM DENIED' message...
I wasn't even aware that U-PIC had a dollar zero coverage. Thanks for your comment!
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