Charging additional cost for Insurance

[foxboots]

Washington State.
Is is legal, to offer an item for sale with a flat shipping charge, then to ask for extra money to insure that item during shipping as an extra, optional charge, and claim that without insurance the seller is not liable for damaged or missing packages?

I purchased a couple "widgets" on line from an ebay like venue. I paid via paypal for the items and the shipping costs. Well one widget arrived broken and the other never arrived, even though the seller had proof it shipped (USPS tracking, two different packages). Going back to read the fine print of the seller's website, I see I could have purchased at an optional, additional charge, insurance to cover loss or breakage during shipping. The seller claims they are not responsible and since I didn't pay extra for insurance I am out of luck for both the missing and the damage items. With some yelling on my part, they agreed to replace the broken and missing widgets, but this is only when I threatened to report them to the BBB and FTC... I am wondering if they really have a legal leg to stand on with have this kind of disclaimer?

 

[justalayman]

yes, they did have a leg to stand on. You failed to read the agreement and they are not liable for situations beyond their control.

 

[foxboots]

Ok I was reading the FTC.gov website, if I never received an item, even if I didn't pay for insurance, the seller is liable and I could do a chargeback with paypal or my credit card. Doesn't this rule contradict what the seller claims? I thought insurance was to protect the seller of the goods and not the buyer, who is already protected? Asking the seller to pay an additional fee to protect themselves against loss in shipping seems like extortion. Why not just include that with the shipping price? I know Amazon and other big retailers never do this, which is why I didn't think of it when I made my purchase.

 

[justalayman]

sorry about that. I was addressing the damage and did not address the MIA stuff.

If you do not receive the merchandise, then yes, the seller is liable. That becomes problematic when the seller does not use some sort of traceable delivery but that becomes their problem.

 

[foxboots]

Thanks so much for your input.

Basically their policy only half covers them then, if item is broken and I didn't get insurance, I am liable, if the item is missing and they can't prove I got it, they are liable.
It's still questionable to me why a seller would ask extra for insurance, they should just have that as part of the shipping/handling charge, since it only partially covers them. Maybe it just comes down to poor customer service.

 

[justalayman]

sometimes that, sometimes the fact they are across the country makes it very difficult to sue so many suits never get filed because it is not cost justified.