EB Forum

Question for the guru's of trading etiquette here. The poster I rec'd in a trade was damaged upon arrival - tube dented and poster & handbill dented as well. What's the solution here? Other party has yet to receive his poster & handbill (it's delivered but he's not in town) to see the condition - I'm assuming it's in the same mint condition as when I sent it. Both posters were/are insured based on their original paid value. Am I stuck with the damaged poster & handbill? The trade was a fair based on paid value and aftermarket value.

Unless you think they used sub par packaging materials, I dont see holding the trader responsible for USPS mishandling.

Just another reason to make the postal system a public entity; call your congressman.

I should not that I offered to send the damaged poster back with $ equal to 1/2 what the damaged poster was insured for.

You can try but if I was him, I wouldn't do it.

Risk you take when you ship posters-from my experience, when the proper thickness of tube is used, its nearly impossible to crush them.

You guys sent stuff and insured it for the original purchase price, not the current market value? Seems kinda silly/foolish in my opinion.
If it was damaged and is the USPS fault and it's insured for the market value, then you can get the cash for it (since you say that the prints are of equal value for the trade) and basically come of out it as having sold your prints to him/her. If they're of basicaly equal value then hopefully you can find the same prints (the ones that were damaged) for that cash you get from the insurance and go from there.
Now if I'm reading it right, it sounds like you both insured for less than the current market value - went with the original price of the prints instead. In that case, kinda hard to say if a trader should be responsible for the shipment once it's left their hands.

send the tube back for the proper insured amount and ask the trader to claim from there.. USPS shouldn't have crushed it in the first place

jenga101 wrote:send the tube back for the proper insured amount and ask the trader to claim from there.. USPS shouldn't have crushed it in the first place

you can't send something out that's already damaged!

well you can... but USPS isn't going to pony up any dough.

Dudes. It dosent matter who damaged the poster. He is saying that he offered to return the damaged poster and pay the guy half of what the dollar amount was they traded for. Dont tell me that isnt fair. Ethics should kick in and the other dude should understand that the other end got screwed.

i think your only recourse here is to make a claim for what the tube was insured for...

justbehmh wrote:Dudes. It dosent matter who damaged the poster. He is saying that he offered to return the damaged poster and pay the guy half of what the dollar amount was they traded for. Dont tell me that isnt fair. Ethics should kick in and the other dude should understand that the other end got screwed.

Boy I don't know about that. Shipping entails a certain degree of caveat emptor when buying and selling posters.
Since it was insured, file a claim: http://www.usps.com/insuranceclaims/welcome.htm

It's a pain and time consuming, but damaged posters to me wouldn't be worth getting back regardless of the financial gesture.
Ethics, to me means you can never count on the "other dude" to understand anything beyond the original transaction details.
Good luck though, I'm confident you can work things out one way or another.
BTW Good lesson from Yamar on this, ALWAYS over-insure prints when shipping, nothing unethical about covering your ass in this respect.

I wouldn't say overinsure, but def get the market value at least (assuming its above the original retail price). You will be forced to show proof of its value, and if its selling higher now, you have to back it up somehow (i.e print out the price history here or something).
If you both agreed to shipping them insured for their original value, your trade partner is only obligated to return the money when he cashes in on that claim.

bysleightofhand wrote:I wouldn't say overinsure...

It is advisable to overinsure to the extent that the underwriter, in this case the USPS, will ususally attempt to reduce the amount of any claims paid out. "Reasonably" higher insurace amounts, consistent with a reasonable and provable replacement value, will ensure at least a fair settlement on both ends.
I admit I don't have much experience with regard to shipping posters, but I've shipped tons of antiques worldwide and escpeciallydepending on the rarity of the item, a little over insuring never hurt.

bysleightofhand wrote:I wouldn't say overinsure, but def get the market value at least (assuming its above the original retail price). You will be forced to show proof of its value, and if its selling higher now, you have to back it up somehow (i.e print out the price history here or something).
If you both agreed to shipping them insured for their original value, your trade partner is only obligated to return the money when he cashes in on that claim.

Shouldn't the trading partner return the money upon receipt of the damaged items? USPS will deny the claim only if the items were improperly packaged, which would obviously be the fault of the shipper. I've never heard of overinsuring an item, but in that case I suppose you'd have to wait until the claim was paid.

At the time that the claim is filed, you can designate if the claim should be paid to the sender or receiver of the goods. Traders have to communicate and agree what is the best recourse in problem situations like this.

this is retarted - f that

that is what insurance is for plain and simple - if the post office drymounts up your poster after I send it = not my problem and I do not care - file the insurance claim - I don't want some damged poster (if I shipped it that way that is another story)

some of you people are wayyyyyyyyyy too nice and must have vaginas

justbehmh wrote:Dudes. It dosent matter who damaged the poster. He is saying that he offered to return the damaged poster and pay the guy half of what the dollar amount was they traded for. Dont tell me that isnt fair. Ethics should kick in and the other dude should understand that the other end got screwed.