Lost Or Stolen Stamp

And if the item is covered with nice stamps, this identifies the philatelic nature of the valuable content.

All I mostly ever sell is cheap packets, but I'd guess around half my sales are to international customers. Just in the last month I've shipped to Ireland (3 times), Mexico (twice), Turkey, Israel (twice), Sri Lanka (twice), Costa Rica, Albania, and the UK. There is a higher incidence of item-not-received claims than on domestic shipments, but it hasn't risen to an unacceptable level with me yet. Although I do cringe sometimes when I see orders from places like Albania. Nothing against Albania or Albanians, I have just never shipped there and I have no idea how reliable the Albanian postal service is.

Just out of curiosity, not being an ebay seller myself, is there much of a loss in selling US classics to restrict sales to the US only?

I think difference sometimes is whether you have one US bidder or three others from abroad, larger competition will bring higher price. I have seen many stamps going at low price but unfortunately I cant bid, I am restricted from doing it.

And I thing you are going to extreme, there is no problems with US outgoing mail I think, problem is with incoming mail going thru customs and then disappearing.
So far I have purchased hundreds of stamps from US and none of them went missing.

Or is it same problem for US sellers?

It is also happening on domestic shipments

Another Tracked shipment from the UK has not moved from Kennedy in 4 weeks. Code for it's been stolen. Fourth time in a little over a year. I'll be made whole but another very tough set will not make it into my collection.

At the same time I received two sets from a seller in Portugal with multiple undisclosed problems that will have to be returned. I'm really paranoid about shipping them back as the seller can always say they didn't arrive and insurance is impossible to find as USPS doesn't offer it.

Do any of the available stamp insurance programs cover international shipments?

I have sent some international lots using Registered service with no problems, but understanding that there is no tracking outside US cross my fingers each time. I have had some recipients request simple first class international, not registered or with many stamps as to not attract attention. I probably have been lucky on the registered shipments, but also hold my breath on un-registered shipments that the recipient is honest. US shipment to some countries allows return receipt notification, so I DO sometimes use that service (and have had no problems).

Within the US, I use certified for most higher value shipments (and have had no problems, as this provides tracking service which is useful for both sender/recipient, and costs much less than registered).

I just lost another registered shipment from Germany. Made it to NY, then nothing. Apparently the thievery there is still going on and of course the USPS apparently still hasn't changed their practices. Beware of shipments coming from Europe via registered mail as there's a fairly good likelihood you won't receive your item.

Art, it took 6 weeks for a registered letter to reach me from Germany. I don't know where the holdup was, but at least it arrived. How long have you been waiting for your shipment?

It was ordered December 7. It was scanned in NY on December 15 and nothing since then.

I'm really sorry to hear that Art. As you may know, I've had several of the same problems and they always involve JFK.

Insurepost (Shipsurance) will insure international shipments but only to certain countries due to high losses to others. Personally, I will only ship to countries they insure to. They also have limits for insurance.

Shermae - If you purchased your lots on ebay, the seller is responsible for paying your return shipping. File an INAD through ebay and you should not be out anything. If the seller can't send you a label or won't send you money for shipping, escalate to ebay and they will refund with no return required. Make sure you figure out costs with tracking.

u-pic.com also insures shipments to most countries and accepts an APC kiosk receipt as proof of mailing when there's a claim.