Shipping insurance

So I went to The UPS Store the other day to ship out a bunch of cards that I had sold.

Naturally I wanted to insure them, just in case some lowlife making $7.80 an hour at a processing center decided to take a walk with my box.

I attempted to insure the package, when I was told that I could not insure them because "sports cards did not have a set value and were worth only what someone was willing to pay."

His supervisor confirmed this to me, and they placed a phone call higher on the food chain, who echoed their sentiments.

This is the first I have ever heard of this and when shipping one or two cards with the post office I have always been able to insure my packages, and in fact, I've never even been asked what it was that I was insuring.

I also swear I remember receiving winnings from various houses shipping UPS and I distinctly remember paying the house for insurance, though I freely admit in my exuberance in tearing open my packages I never stopped to actually look at the label.

Is this accurate, or did I just encounter a couple of idiots?

UPS will insure them. The problem is dealing with the UPS store. They are not actually owned by UPS (similar to FedEx Office) but are franchises and allowed to set their own rules and rates. When they do offer insurance, it's higher than if you take it to a UPS center.

Every auction house carries private insurance that allows them to ship items via USPS, FedEx, UPS, or other carrier fully insured without having to go through that carrier. A company like Collectibles Insurance Agency will cover UPS shipments while UPS generally limits collectible reimbursement to $100. Your best bet if you do a lot of shipping is to get a CIA policy as it pays for itself, but otherwise, I always use USPS because they'll insure anything up to $25K.

To echo what Brian said, CIA is worth it if you do a lot of shipping or are transporting high value stuff. For occasional shipping of high value items, I recommend using Registered Mail through USPS. It takes longer, but they insure it up to $25,000 and it is signed off on every step of the way and sits in safes overnight. I'm told that the Hope Diamond was sent to the Smithsonian via Registered mail.

Thank you, this is helpful advice. I didn't know that C.I.A. covered shipments. So if you only ship registered, is it still worth it to get C.I.A.?

Also, do you trust the post office to come through with the money if a registered package is lost or stolen?