Insured Shipping to Europe

[srtiwari]

I was sending out an expensive lens from Florida to Sweden, and was told I could only get $600 worth of insurance. That is, apparently, the most one can buy. This, of course, is wholly inadequate for a lens worth thousands. I haven't tried UPS/Fedex/DHL etc., as I always believed they are more expensive than USPS. OTOH, the option of sending an exopensive item uninsured makes me very nervous. 😱
Wonder what most US members do when shipping Camera gear to Europe ?
And does the same issue come up when shipping to the US from elsewhere ? If so, it is scary that I have been receiving high priced items from overseas, inadequately insured. Fortunately, I've never had to collect on the insurance to find out.🙂

 

[andersju]

Looking at http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/ps_038.htm it appears $650 is the limit for Express Mail and Priority Mail, while $2499 is the limit for Global Express Guaranteed (which is considerably more expensive).

Insurance prices/policies vary between countries. I always ship fully insured from Sweden. Here shipping a typical lens overseas with the cheapest "safe" option (registered mail) costs $25 and includes ~$1500 insurance.