Submitting a banknote for grading.

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

I think I might be a bit paranoid, but I'm going to find it difficult to just put my notes in the mail and hope I get them back. Is there a safe way of doing this? courier, registered  mail?....Has anyone done this?
Thanks,
Luckyme.

I think I might be a bit paranoid, but I'm going to find it difficult to just put my notes in the mail and hope I get them back. Is there a safe way of doing this? courier, registered  mail?....Has anyone done this?
Thanks,
Luckyme.

I have sent notes by reg mail, registered, Xpresspost and courier and no issues knock on wood.
If you plan to mail them, first decide on the TPG you are going to use and ask them the recommended procedures...
Depending where you live, there may be a TPG that is within a driveable distance and you can just drop then off and pick them up when done...
I'm sure people (on the forum) have had an occassion on which notes were lost...so I guess nothing is 100% safe....
Good luck...but likely they will be fine..

Thank you friedsquid, I appreciate the input.
Luckyme

I had a set of notes worth $600 go missing despite being sent by registered mail.  Guess who ate that loss?  Here's a hint: it wasn't Canada Post.  My advice is to mail important packages at the post office, not those privately-run postal outlets.  You just don't know who is behind the counter at those outlets.  At the outlet where my package went missing, there were usually guys loitering around the counter...

Mark:

First, sorry to hear your missing.

Second, Privately-run postal outlet means not in Shoppers Drug Mart, 7-Eleven, right?  Cause sometime I do went to the postal outlet in the mall to mail (these outlets locate in the back of the gifts shop or selling cards retailers)

Third, Canada Post postman also made mistakes (a lot).  Example is I received a note last night when I finish working (cat value over $500 but I steal the note at a price of slight over $400 .... what a shame for me).  The note was sent by xpress  with signature (with a sticker marked signature required).  But I wasn't home, the postman just put the note into my house without signature.  If I am a bad guy, I can call the dealer that I didn't received the note and claim for a refund ...  This kind of activities may happen if the postman keep doing their job without attention!

Lastly, I just want to tell everyone accident do happen!

Mark:

First, sorry to hear your missing.

Thank you.  I'm "over" it as it happened in May 2009.

Second, Privately-run postal outlet means not in Shoppers Drug Mart, 7-Eleven, right?  Cause sometime I do went to the postal outlet in the mall to mail (these outlets locate in the back of the gifts shop or selling cards retailers)

That's right, the outlets are usually in another business like a corner store or drug store.  I guess I should not tar all outlets with the same brush as there are lots of honest businesspeople running these outlets.  There are so many outlets around where I live that I don't feel compelled to do business with the one that lost my package.  I can't prove that they were the culprits, but the tracking information was never updated after I gave them the package, so I am inclined to believe the package never left Ottawa.  The package's intended destination was Nova Scotia, and it may have made it there without ever being tracked.  Like you say, YuMan, errors happen, and I speculated on the possibility that the person who bought the notes did receive them but made a claim that he did not because the tracking information was never updated.  I ended up selling another set of notes to the same buyer, and on that occasion, I used Priority Courier which costed over $40 and came with signature on delivery.  Guess what?  The package was never signed-for.  So even though the buyer was honest about getting the second set, I am never going to sell anything to that guy unless he moves to another province.  I don't trust the mail delivery to his particular part of Nova Scotia.

ANYHOW, getting back to the original subject of sending stuff to grading companies, I'm surprised that they don't offer to insure items sent to them the same way auctioneers do when accepting consignments.  I think that would go a long way to reassuring potential customers who don't trust the mail.  However, I can already fathom several ways that people could scam the company (like sending an empty envelope).

If you don't trust the mail, don't send expensive notes through the mail. I hear that BCS accepts in-person consignments of notes to be graded.

ANYHOW, getting back to the original subject of sending stuff to grading companies, I'm surprised that they don't offer to insure items sent to them the same way auctioneers do when accepting consignments.

*Are* there insurance underwriters who cover banknotes in transit?  Any and all that I can find exclude them from loss or damage coverage. 

Thanks everyone for your inputs. I guess the other question I have, is how important is it to have an item graded for an auction. For example, although I'm not an authority on grading,  the bills I wish to submit are perfect in every category listed in articles on "how to grade paper money". So why do I need to spend time and money to have someone say "you're right"?
Thanks'
Luckyme.

Thanks everyone for your inputs. I guess the other question I have, is how important is it to have an item graded for an auction. For example, although I'm not an authority on grading,  the bills I wish to submit are perfect in every category listed in articles on "how to grade paper money". So why do I need to spend time and money to have someone say "you're right"?
Thanks'
Luckyme.

If they were my notes, and I had plans to sell them in an auction, I would have them graded. However, this would not be for the grading number, but rather for the protection of the notes. A miss handled note could cost you 30% of the value or more.

just my 2 cents,

Scott

Good point Scott, thanks.

If they were my notes, and I had plans to sell them in an auction, I would have them graded. However, this would not be for the grading number, but rather for the protection of the notes. A miss handled note could cost you 30% of the value or more.

just my 2 cents,

Scott

Actually this makes a great deal of sense...I was at a show in Florida about 2 years back when I first handly saw a collector take out one of a dealers notes from a sleeve and accidently drop it on the busy bourse floor ...and yup you guessed it ...it was stepped on..the dealer was pissed to say the least and the person who dropped it just quickly walked away after handing back the damaged note to the dealer...what was once an unc note was now trashed, bent, and dirtied....I guess that slabbed note would have been fine if dropped and maybe even caused the culprit to slip

  I recently had 3 notes graded by BCS.  They offer a 3rd party insurance on shipping loss.  It cost extra, of course.   I emailed him my order in advance and he sent an insurance confirmation back before I mailed the notes.   If I recall I sent the notes by registered mail and was able to track them all the way to BCS.  The whole process was seamless.

Call Steven and he will explain how it works.

*Are* there insurance underwriters who cover banknotes in transit?  Any and all that I can find exclude them from loss or damage coverage. 

  I recently had 3 notes graded by BCS.  They offer a 3rd party insurance on shipping loss.  It cost extra, of course.   I emailed him my order in advance and he sent an insurance confirmation back before I mailed the notes.   If I recall I sent the notes by registered mail and was able to track them all the way to BCS.  The whole process was seamless.

Call Steven and he will explain how it works.

 

*Are* there insurance underwriters who cover banknotes in transit?  Any and all that I can find exclude them from loss or damage coverage. 

This is a very good point. At one time I had spoken to Steve at BCS regarding insurance on notes. It seems that most insurers will only insure your collection at a specific location (ie, safe, SDB etc) and NOT WHILE IN TRANSIT. Larger entities that ship frequently (TPGs, Auctioneers etc), build a good working relationship with their insurer while allows them to be more willing to insure against loss/damage of items during transit.

 If you're an average joe, they won't even entertain the idea most of the time.