Damage claims and reasonable couriers?

Nanako

My mother recently died, and i'm selling a lot of her posessions on ebay to cover various costs associated with her estate. I've got a looot of things to sell, a large chunk of it is ceramics, places, crockery, etc. She was an avid antique collector

The second ever item I sent by courier, a lamp (sent via parcelforce, booked through parcelhero) arrived broken and i had to refund the buyer.

Going into this, I assumed what i thought was a common sense thing. You pay the courier to ship the item, if they break it, they pay for it.  That's just logic, right?

But parcelhero is giving me the run around, they've admitted in writing that I did package the lamp adequately, but are now claiming that I have to prove the value of the item by providing an original purchase reciept. It was bought decades ago, I inherited it, no such reciept exists. I'm pretty disgusted and feeling robbed. I don't know if theres anything I can do here. The only thought that comes to mind is that I must have picked a terrible company.

I went looking for someone better to use in future, but the more I look the worse things get.

Apparently many couriers, parcelforce included, just refuse to pay compensation on items they deem "breakable", which includes all ceramics and glassware. How can they do that? How can they be allowed to just break things without consequences, surely that has to be illegal. Someone in the van could literally take a sledgehammer to my parcels and I'd be the one out of pocket

They can't all be like this. Where are the good guys? Is there a courier somewhere who'll take responsibility for their mistakes, and pay out if they break things without making you jump through a million hoops and then citing some arcane exception to get away with it

This otherwise feels like gambling, am I just expected to pack things tight and pray?

I've got a huge pile of extremely fragile things to ship, i need some better options than simply hoping they don't get broken in transit

Spoonie_Turtle

Nanako said:

But parcelhero is giving me the run around, they've admitted in writing that I did package the lamp adequately, but are now claiming that I have to prove the value of the item by providing an original purchase reciept. It was bought decades ago, I inherited it, no such reciept exists. I'm pretty disgusted and feeling robbed. I don't know if theres anything I can do here. The only thought that comes to mind is that I must have picked a terrible company.

Depending on their T&Cs, you might be able to claim for the sale value because you are a private seller.

Your investigating shows why so many people either self-insure (i.e. take the risk and swallow the loss if it happens) or just don't sell these things to be posted, only for collection (which on eBay is its own minefield).

I'm sorry for your loss, and that there may be no simple way to sell everything you need to.

Nanako

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Your investigating shows why so many people either self-insure (i.e. take the risk and swallow the loss if it happens) or just don't sell these things to be posted, only for collection (which on eBay is its own minefield).

I'm sorry for your loss, and that there may be no simple way to sell everything you need to.

Self insure?  Wouldn't that imply getting some third party to provide insurance for the shipping? Is that an option, can i pay someone to cover shipping losses?

Aren't there any couriers that specialise in fragile things? Pay a bit more to have china and glassware shipped properly and covered?

Spoonie_Turtle

Nanako said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Your investigating shows why so many people either self-insure (i.e. take the risk and swallow the loss if it happens) or just don't sell these things to be posted, only for collection (which on eBay is its own minefield).

I'm sorry for your loss, and that there may be no simple way to sell everything you need to.

Self insure?  Wouldn't that imply getting some third party to provide insurance for the shipping? Is that an option, can i pay someone to cover shipping losses?

Aren't there any couriers that specialise in fragile things? Pay a bit more to have china and glassware shipped properly and covered?

No, self-insure, as in you cover the losses yourself.

I don't know; I would think it would be quite difficult to find someone to deliver the odd item, and very expensive even if you could.

ladyholly

I believe there are specialist companies that will transport fragile goods but I suspect they are very exepnsive and unles your items are very valuable r probably not viable. I have frequently sent ceramics and glassware including a piece of terracotta sculpture which was very intricate and it arrive safely. I have only ever had a couple of breakages both of which were my own fault. If you google packing there is lots of advice on how to pack securely. After that you are in the hands of the courier or postman. Good luck. If your pieces are of a decent value have you though of an auction house?

vitamin_joe

was also going to suggest the possibility of an auction house, though I have no personal experience. Might just be a lot easier, and you're getting an audience who knows what they're buying.

In terms of posting fragile items, I generally pack them so they would survive being dropped from a height of around ten feet. For this reason, I tend to avoid trying to flip those items. It's always more stressful than selling clothes.

Totally understand your frustration.

jon81uk

Not sure on other couriers but for private sales (ie I'm selling my second hand items) with Royal Mail I just used the eBay sale price as the value and they accepted it.

martindow

I am quite surprised that this is covered by their insurance as most companies exclude ceramics and anything fragile.  Despite the carrier saying it was adequately packed I suggest that you make sure that fragile items are really well packaged.

Once it is in its box you need to be confident that you could drop the parcel from chest height onto a solid floor.  Anything less is not adequate.

Spoonie_Turtle

Another option is Vintage Cash Cow - they take up to 30kg, free postage and fully insured (apparently*) including if you don't want to accept their offer and they return it to you also for free.  You probably wouldn't get as much as selling the pieces individually but it would be a lot simpler and much less of a risk.

*I haven't used them myself yet but have heard this from others who have used them.

RFW

The rule I follow is if it has a chance of breaking, it will break. If you can't wrap a breakable item to a point where you can drop it from waist height to the ground and it doesn't break then it's not worth giving it to a courier.
Parcelforce, and most couriers, throw parcels around, that's why they won't insure breakages of things that they know they'll break!

maisie_cat

How would you defend a courier claim that the items was insufficiently packed? If I send something fragile I package as though it might be used as a football en-route. I bought some vintage glass a few weeks ago, the items were packaged in loads of bubble wrap but one of the items had broken. I could see the dent in the corner of the box where it had been dropped. I felt bad for the seller, but he refunded the one item. It's a risk that you either or use a specialist shipper and pay for it.