ShipandInsure provides discounted, hassle-free insurance for shipping high-value art, antiques, and design items safely to clients or to and from art fairs, trade shows, or conventions all around the world.




How ShipandInsure.com Became 
a Market Leader in Transit Insurance



by Benjamin Genocchio 




When a famous Seattle-based glass artist is ready to ship some of his incredibly fragile, effusively decorative glass chandeliers and floral centerpieces to a casino in Las Vegas, say, or a hotel client in New York, his studio team arranges the shipping and packing, and then turns to ShipandInsure.com, an online insurance broker that can save artists, designers, dealers, and collectors up to 60% on transit insurance.


“ShipandInsure.com was founded in 2002 when there was a real need for covering shipments for loss or damage sent via FedEx, UPS, and the USPS of bullion, coins, collectible currency, watches, and other collectibles with higher values,” says Elaine Lockard, the VP of Sales and Marketing at ShipandInsure.com. Items of this type were either uninsurable by the shipping firms or the limits were not high enough.




ShipandInsure will cover not only delicate, fragile pieces, but also extremely large and heavy items, such as sculpture.

Today they are a market leader in the growing transit insurance business, providing coverage not only for valuable bullion, coins, currency, and watches but increasingly for artists, designers, dealers, and collectors of all kinds looking to get high-value art, antiques, and design items safely to their clients or to and from art fairs, trade shows or conventions all around the world. No item is too big or small or too expensive.  


“Being a collector of tribal art, I knew there were issues with shipping fine art and other collectibles. I’d heard the stories! Joining Shipandinsure.com in 2005, I had the opportunity and challenge to build another business in my career,” Lockard says. “My goal was to identify and present our program to repeat shippers of high-value items in the collectibles field, such as fine art, antiques, design, jewelry, and the like. We had immediate success.”


ShipandInsure.com does not pack or even ship the items themselves. “Packing and shipping must be arranged separately through the customer. After a tracking number is obtained, the shipment can be entered on our site for coverage the day of or days prior to having the shipment go into the shipping service’s hands,” Lockard says. “With our program, these customers do not need to purchase any shipping insurance from the carrier for their items except through us at greatly reduced pricing.”



Art, antiques, furniture, lighting, ceramics and glass, objets d’art – via domestic or international shipment – ShipandInsure provides shipping insurance for almost anything in the realm of art and design.



ShipandInsure.com covers all fine arts, sculpture, custom custom-crafted items such as furniture, design, musical instruments such as guitars, hand-blown glass and ceramics, jewelry, and loose stones, The coverage is for loss or damage. Domestically their key partner carriers include FedEx, UPS, USPS, freight, and even transportation in your own car, truck (or armored vehicle) given most auto policies don't cover these kinds of items. International coverage includes FedEx, DHL, and other freight shippers.


Shipandinsure.com does have limits on insurance depending on the carrier and the type of service but they are far higher and with an override can extend into the many millions of dollars. Items shipped via USPS Priority Mail are limited to $10,000 while Express and Registered mail is limited to $75,000. UPS Next Day delivery is limited to $75,000 and the UPS Ground limit is $15,000. FedEx Ground has a maximum limit of $20,000 (but with an online request they can override the limit to $35,000) while FedEx Priority and Overnight has a maximum of $75,000, or higher with approval.


Lockard says another of the benefits of Shipandinsure.com is that the step-by-step process of shipping a piece of art with ShipandInsure is easy and takes less than 30 seconds for registered customers. “Once a tracking number is assigned you log in to your account, select domestic, international or freight shipping, and select the carrier and shipping method, add tracking number, zip to and from, and value. You have up to midnight, same day, to enter the shipment for coverage. It’s that simple,” she says.


Shipandinsure.com does not need an appraisal of an item prior to coverage. Nor is there any deductible cost. “Our claim process is online,” Lockard says. “For a loss, we only ask for a declaration of loss by the shipping firm and a substantiation of the wholesale value or the replacement cost. For damage, we would like before and after photos, a substantiation of the value, and a repair estimate from a conservator. If the item cannot be repaired for less than its value, we may ask for the item to be shipped to us for salvage and the claim will be paid in full for wholesale or replacement cost.’



Whether packed by the seller or by a commercial shipper, ShipandInsure offers insurance coverage that is substantially less expensive than that offered by commercial carriers.



Today ShipandInsure.com has thousands of customers and works with many interior designers, artists, art, design, and antique dealers and is the exclusive shipping insurance benefits program for the NACA (North American Collectibles Association). Lockard is understandably unable to speak about clients, for proprietary reasons, but nonetheless reached out to several of her current clients.


Millicent Ford Creech, owner of M. Ford Creech Antiques and Fine Arts in Memphis, Tennessee is one such customer. "Specializing in 18th-century furniture and decorative arts, the items we ship to our customers are not replaceable,” she says. “For that reason, we really need a partner like Shipandinsure.com. Recently, a pair of very valuable Queen Anne stools were damaged in transit. Shipandinsure.com had them expertly repaired without any problem. I had them back in a couple of weeks.”


John Terry, owner of Avalon Gallery in Delray Beach, Florida is also a fan of the service. "As a gallery, I ship valuable items all over the world. We use Shipandinsure.com because as a 3rd party insurance broker, they give us an alternative to the limited insurance offered by FedEx or UPS. I recall we shipped an expensive lamp that was broken in shipment and had no problem at all collecting from Shipandinsure.com. It was all done very professionally, and we had our insurance check in 3-4 weeks."