putting a loose diamond in the mail...

[Laila619]

Hi everyone,
From what I understand, loose diamonds cannot be insured. So if I buy a diamond from one vendor, and put it in the mail to ship it to another vendor to be set, and God forbid something happens to it, am I SOL? The general recommendation is to send it USPS registered mail, which is already insured up to $25,000. However, I have heard that if something does happen, it is impossible to make a claim and get any sort of financial compensation for the value. Is this true? Thanks for any info.

 

[stone-cold11]

Apparently Jeweler''s mutual can insure a loose stone in transit, look at elle_chris post in this link. https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/local-jeweler-or-no-who-pays-shipping.126921/

 

[HVVS]

Express Mail can be insured up to $5000. May not apply to you but this is a shipping thread so thought mention add that. I don''t think that it prohibits jewelry. Anyone know if a sub-$5000 loose diamond could be shipped Express Mail and still be fully covered?

 

[oldminer]

A consumer may ship an unset diamond for what it actually cost them with Registered Mail or Express Mail with the US Postal service within the USA. You have to declare the actual cost when sending the item and pay accordingly. No insurance is automatically included, but based on your declaration and payment for the coverage. If there is a loss, you MUST be able to prove the value with a receipt or some other ironclad evidence. If you cannot prove the value, then you are indeed SOL. Losses of Registered Mail are VERY rare. Losses with Express Mail are somewhat less rare but not commonplace.

With Express Mail use Signature confirmation, especially to residential addresses. Double box and put an address on the inner box, too.

There is a $25K limit on insurance coverage with Registered Mail. There is a $5K limit on Express Mail insurance coverage. With Registered Mail, there is no limit on declaring value. Whatever the value, even a million bucks, the actual value must be declared and a fee paid for the value, eventhough the insured portion never exceeds $25K. Over $25K, the fee is reduced, but the fee is mandatory and declaration is mandatory, too.

You may not ship an unset stone with UPS although they may accept it at the window they will not cover a loss and if they discover the package is an unset stone, they will return it to you and not refund the fees.

Fed-Ex offers NO insurance on jewelry eventhough they may accept the package, one must read the fine print.

Jewelers have special coverage for these shipments which allows us different privileges and coverages that consumers cannot obtain.