I hate to stir up this thread again...
In my experiences of purchasing computer equipment for the company that I used to work for (Air Canada), the shipments terms are clearly stated in the contract between the parties involved.
More often than not, what I encountered was the term F.O.B. (Freight on board), which I believe means that the seller takes responsability for the shipping, in terms of damage/loss/theft, which limits the seller's responsability to the time the stock leaves the facility. I remember shipping charges being fairly high.
It would then falls on the buyer to make the appropriate arrangements, which the seller must of course accomodate.
It would seem to me that if the seller doesn't accomodate the request for insurance and/or tracking, that the seller then takes on that responsability.
Now if the seller doesn't have such a policy, this is where lawyers get involved, review all the exchanges, and try to find fault, go to court, and make their case.
I don't believe that there is any responsability that defaults to either the buyer or the seller, without a policy, but I'm no lawyer, Canadian or US. Either way, it seems to me like having this policy in place is a good idea.
Of course Bill brings an excellent point: happy customers are critical. In my recent on-line purchases, I've been charged "delivery confirmation" by default, without an option to exclude it, so it seems logical to me that these vendors took on the responsability of getting the product out to the buyer, and they'd have to replace anything that they can't confirm was received. Again, a policy that is in place.
|