Before it leaves
The cover a seller assumes they have and the cover they actually have are frequently different, and the gap only becomes visible at the point of a claim. Everything below is about closing it beforehand.
Declared value is not the same as insured value
Declaring a value tells the carrier what the consignment is worth. It does not automatically mean they will pay that if something happens, and the conditions attached to any payout are set out separately.
Carriers publish limits, and above those limits either cover is unavailable or a separate arrangement is needed. Anything genuinely valuable is likely to sit above the standard ceiling, which means specialist cover rather than the box on the consignment form.
The exclusions that catch people
Most carriers exclude categories outright. Antiques, fine art, jewellery, glass and ceramics appear on those lists routinely, and an excluded item is not covered at any declared value.
There are also packing conditions. A claim can be refused because the packing did not meet a published standard, regardless of how careful it looked. Read what the carrier requires before packing rather than after, because the requirements are specific and are not obvious from common sense.
Evidence, gathered before dispatch
Photograph the object before packing, during packing, and once sealed with the label visible. Keep the receipt showing what was declared and what was paid. Keep the tracking record.
That set of evidence is what makes a claim straightforward and its absence is what makes one impossible. It takes five minutes and it is the cheapest insurance available.
Before an expensive object leaves
- Check whether the category is on the carrier's exclusion list. An excluded item is uninsured at any declared value, and this single check decides whether the rest matters.
- Check the liability cap. Anything genuinely valuable is likely to sit above the standard ceiling.
- Read the packing conditions before packing, not after. A claim can be refused for packing that did not meet a published standard however careful it looked.
- Photograph the object before packing, during packing, and sealed with the label visible.
- Keep the receipt showing what was declared and what was paid, and the tracking record.
- Establish who carries the risk in transit, and consider letting the buyer appoint the carrier for anything high value.
When not to ship at all
Some objects should not go through a general network. Anything large, anything structurally fragile, anything whose value would be destroyed by a knock that a parcel would survive.
The alternatives are specialist shippers who handle this class of goods, or arranging collection. Both cost more per item and both are cheaper than a destroyed object. Where the cost of moving something safely is a large fraction of its value, that is a signal about the route rather than about the packing, and choosing where to sell is the right place to reconsider it.
Making the claim, if it comes to that
Claims are refused far more often for procedure than for substance. Carriers set short windows for reporting damage, require the packaging to be retained for inspection, and expect the claim to come from whoever holds the contract, which is normally the sender rather than the recipient.
So the first thing to do on being told something arrived damaged is not to argue about fault. It is to ask the buyer to photograph the packaging and the object as received, before anything is unpacked further or thrown away, and to report it to the carrier within their window.
The pre-dispatch photographs then do their work. A set showing the object intact, the packing method, and the sealed parcel, matched against the buyer's photographs of what arrived, is a straightforward claim. Without them it is one person's word about how carefully something was wrapped.
Deciding who arranges the carriage
For anything valuable it is worth considering letting the buyer arrange and pay for collection, which changes the risk position materially.
Where the buyer appoints the carrier, the contract is theirs and so is the claim if something goes wrong. That is a genuine transfer rather than a technicality, and for high-value or awkward objects many sellers prefer it.
The trade is control. A buyer arranging their own collection may send somebody who packs badly or not at all, and a seller who hands over an unwrapped object has limited standing to complain about how it travelled. The workable middle is that the seller packs to their own standard and the buyer's carrier collects a parcel that is already properly prepared.
The underlying point is that cover is a contract rather than a reassurance. It has conditions, it has exclusions, and it has a process with deadlines in it. A seller who has read those three things before dispatch is in a position to recover a loss. One who declares a value, assumes that settles it, and reads the conditions afterwards generally is not.
One last practical point. Establish before dispatch whether the object is on any carrier exclusion list at all, because that single check decides whether the rest of this matters. An excluded item is uninsured at any declared value, and the seller is then choosing between a specialist carrier, arranging collection, or accepting that the whole risk sits with them.
Common questions
Does a signature on delivery settle a damage dispute?
It helps with delivery but not with condition. A signature confirms that a parcel arrived, not that its contents were intact, and buyers are entitled to open and inspect afterwards. Where damage is discovered later, the seller’s pre-dispatch photographs and the carrier’s handling record are what the argument turns on, not the signature.
Should the buyer be refunded before the claim is settled?
Marketplace policies frequently require it and, separately, waiting until a carrier pays out can take a long time. Refunding promptly and pursuing the claim afterwards is generally both the required course and the one that avoids a dispute escalating. It does mean the seller carries the money for a period, which is worth knowing before choosing to send something valuable at all.