Pre-paid shipping insurance vs CGA and similar protection

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Geektastic

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#302287 12-Nov-2022 23:32

I bought a keyboard today for delivery and noticed that the shop added a charge for third party shipping insurance.

It set me to wondering whether they can legitimately be charging for something (eg replacing items damaged or lost) that they ought to be covering anyway - or is this just another way to add $5 or whatever to every order....

SATTV

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#2995360 13-Nov-2022 08:18

If the item is sent from NZ to NZ by courier it has $1500 insurance.

This had to be there to differentiate between a postal service back in the day.

You should have seen the insurance when checking out, if they hid it, it is a very big no no.

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Geektastic

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#2995491 13-Nov-2022 14:58

It wasn’t hidden. However surely the delivery contract is between the seller and the courier rather than the buyer. So it it goes astray, it’s up to them to deal etc.

The idea appears to involve fixing that liability to the buyer and charging them!

Handle9

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#2995494 13-Nov-2022 15:20

The carriage of goods act has a maximum liability for the carrier of $2000 for each unit carried.

I believe it takes precedence over the CGA so insurance is reasonable for high value items.

fe31nz

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#2995670 13-Nov-2022 23:28

Handle9: The carriage of goods act has a maximum liability for the carrier of $2000 for each unit carried.

I believe it takes precedence over the CGA so insurance is reasonable for high value items.

I thought that the CGA made it clear that it was the responsibility of the seller to get the goods safely into your hands. So if they want to insure the shipment, that is up to them. If they want you to pay extra for shipping insurance, that should just be part of the shipping cost, not an extra add-on, as it has nothing to do with you. It is then up to them if they want to risk sending things uninsured and losing some occasionally, or would prefer to charge more to cover insurance and risk losing customers who find another place that charges less.

Handle9

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#2995672 14-Nov-2022 00:00

fe31nz:

Handle9: The carriage of goods act has a maximum liability for the carrier of $2000 for each unit carried.

I believe it takes precedence over the CGA so insurance is reasonable for high value items.

I thought that the CGA made it clear that it was the responsibility of the seller to get the goods safely into your hands. So if they want to insure the shipment, that is up to them. If they want you to pay extra for shipping insurance, that should just be part of the shipping cost, not an extra add-on, as it has nothing to do with you. It is then up to them if they want to risk sending things uninsured and losing some occasionally, or would prefer to charge more to cover insurance and risk losing customers who find another place that charges less.

Yeah the risk sits with the retailer if they arrange shipping, which is why mandatory insurance is reasonable. If it's a high value item they can only recover up to $2000 from the carrier. If you don't like it shop elsewhere. They aren't doing anything underhanded, just taking a reasonable step to mitigate risk.

You of course are free to arrange your own carrier and not pay insurance.

Geektastic

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#2995673 14-Nov-2022 00:09

Handle9:

Yeah the risk sits with the retailer if they arrange shipping, which is why mandatory insurance is reasonable. If it's a high value item they can only recover up to $2000 from the carrier. If you don't like it shop elsewhere. They aren't doing anything underhanded, just taking a reasonable step to mitigate risk.

You of course are free to arrange your own carrier and not pay insurance.

It was a $170 keyboard.

The insurance is this.

Bung

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#2995682 14-Nov-2022 03:45

That isn't a 3rd party insurance, the store is still self insuring just charging extra. Shipaid doesn't involve insurance companies. Are there other sources for the keyboard maybe slightly dearer?

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Geektastic

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#2995701 14-Nov-2022 08:08

Not that had it in stock when I wanted it.

Bung

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#2995725 14-Nov-2022 08:48

To me it seems similar to having lowest retail price to score well on pricespy but high freight. 2 American women had a great time selling widgets to Defence at cheaper prices than anyone else but charging 100s of thousands of $ for shipping because that wasn't checked at tender evaluation.