Quick answer: What is shipping insurance?
Shipping insurance is coverage that reimburses the insured value of a package if it is lost, damaged or, under some policies, stolen while in transit. Shipping insurance transfers the financial risk of a failed delivery from the sender to an insurer or protection provider, subject to the policy’s limits, exclusions and claim rules. Shipping insurance is not the same as carrier liability or declared value, which is a capped amount a carrier agrees to pay under its own service terms. Ecommerce brands can pay for coverage themselves, let customers buy it at checkout, or insure only the orders that carry real risk.
This guide is for operations, logistics and CX leaders at ecommerce brands who need to decide how to cover lost and damaged shipments, who should pay for that coverage, and how to keep claims from turning into a second job.
Delivery failures are a normal operating cost, not an edge case. According to LateShipment.com research, one in ten parcels runs into a delivery issue such as a delay, a lost parcel or a damaged shipment before it reaches the customer. When that parcel was worth more than the carrier’s default liability, the brand usually pays the difference: the replacement product, a second shipping label, the support time and sometimes a chargeback.
Shipping insurance is how brands move that exposure off their own balance sheet. But buying coverage is only half the decision. The other half is choosing the right coverage model and running claims without losing hours to screenshots, carrier portals and follow-ups. This guide covers both.
Key Takeaways
| Topic | What to know |
|---|---|
| Definition | Shipping insurance reimburses the insured value of a package that is lost, damaged or, under some policies, stolen in transit. |
| Declared value | Carrier declared value and carrier liability are capped carrier commitments, not the same as an insurance policy. |
| Coverage varies | What is covered and excluded depends on the policy, the provider, the product and the packaging. |
| Who pays | Coverage can be merchant-paid, customer-paid at checkout, or merchant-paid only for higher-risk orders. |
| Is it worth it | Compare the premium against the full cost of delivery failures, including replacement, reshipping, support time and chargebacks. |
| Claims are a workload | Identifying eligible shipments, collecting evidence and tracking reimbursements is often the real cost at scale. |
What Is Shipping Insurance?
Shipping insurance is a safeguard that protects your packages while they are in transit. It covers financial losses from loss, damage and theft, whether the issue stems from carrier error, mishandling or unforeseen events like natural disasters. Some policies extend to other events, but late delivery on its own is rarely an insured loss, so check the policy wording before assuming it is covered.
With shipping insurance in place, you can offer refunds or replacements to affected customers without taking the full hit to your bottom line. It protects your revenue, keeps customer satisfaction intact, and strengthens trust in your brand.
Every shipping insurance policy is built on the same five elements:
- Insured value: the amount the policy will pay for a shipment, usually the product cost and sometimes the shipping charge.
- Covered events: the incidents that trigger a payout, typically loss and physical damage in transit.
- Limits: the maximum payout per package, per shipment or per period.
- Exclusions: products, situations or causes the policy will not pay for.
- Claim terms: the evidence, deadlines and process required to get reimbursed.
How Does Shipping Insurance Work?
Shipping insurance works by attaching coverage to a shipment before it leaves your warehouse, then reimbursing the insured value if a covered loss or damage event happens in transit and the claim is approved. The typical sequence looks like this:
- Determine the shipment value. Use the actual product value from the order or invoice.
- Select coverage. Choose carrier declared value, a third-party policy or a protection program.
- Activate or pay for coverage. The premium is charged per package, per order value or through a volume program.
- Ship the order. Coverage runs from pickup until delivery, within the policy terms.
- A covered incident occurs. The parcel is lost, arrives damaged or, where covered, is stolen.
- Gather evidence. Collect tracking history, proof of value, photos and packaging details.
- Submit the claim. File with the carrier, insurer or protection provider.
- The provider reviews the claim. Eligibility, documentation and exclusions are checked.
- Reimbursement or resolution. Approved claims are paid out, often after the brand has already replaced the item for the customer.
The specific documentation, limits, deadlines and payout timelines depend on the carrier, provider and policy. The last step matters more than most brands expect: the customer usually needs a replacement or refund immediately, while reimbursement arrives days or weeks later.
What Does Shipping Insurance Cover?
Shipping insurance typically covers packages that are lost or physically damaged while in the carrier’s possession. Depending on the policy, shipping insurance may also cover:
- Lost parcels: shipments the carrier cannot locate or deliver.
- Damaged goods: products broken or unusable on arrival due to transit handling.
- Theft: packages stolen in transit and, under some programs, after delivery.
- Missing contents: items missing from a delivered package, where the policy includes shortage.
- Shipping charges: some policies reimburse the original shipping cost along with the product value.
Coverage varies by provider. Two policies with the same headline limit can pay out very differently once exclusions and claim rules are applied, so read the terms rather than the marketing page.
What Does Shipping Insurance Typically Not Cover?
Shipping insurance typically does not cover losses caused by the sender, excluded products, or events outside the policy terms. Common exclusions and restrictions include:
- Inadequate packaging: damage claims are often denied if the item was not packed to the carrier’s or insurer’s standard.
- Prohibited or restricted goods: items the carrier will not transport or the policy lists as excluded.
- Excluded commodities: many policies restrict cash, precious metals, perishables, fine art or certain electronics unless specifically added.
- Incorrect documentation or address: losses caused by a wrong address or missing paperwork provided by the sender.
- Pre-existing damage: defects that existed before the parcel was shipped.
- Fraudulent claims: any claim that cannot be supported with evidence.
- Delay-only losses: most policies do not pay because a package arrived late but intact.
- Losses above the limit: anything over the per-package or declared maximum.
Exclusions are policy-specific. Treat this list as a checklist of questions to ask a provider, not as a universal rule.
Shipping Insurance vs Carrier Liability vs Declared Value vs Shipping Protection
These four terms are often used interchangeably, but they describe different things. Knowing the difference tells you who pays out, how much, and who handles the customer when something goes wrong.
- Carrier liability is the maximum amount a carrier agrees to pay for a lost or damaged package under its service terms. It is not insurance. It is a contractual cap, and it applies by default on most services.
- Declared value is a carrier option that raises that liability cap. The sender states a higher value when creating the label and pays a fee. Recovery is still governed by the carrier’s terms and claims process.
- Shipping insurance is a policy from an insurer or insurance provider that reimburses the insured value for covered events, under policy terms that sit outside the carrier’s contract.
- Shipping protection is a broader program, usually run by the brand or a platform, that combines financial coverage with a resolution experience for the customer, such as a replacement or refund workflow.
According to LateShipment.com’s review of carrier terms across its integrations, default carrier liability typically caps at $100 per package on major carriers such as UPS and FedEx unless a higher value is declared. A $400 order shipped without declared value or insurance can therefore recover at most $100 from the carrier.
| Dimension | Carrier liability / declared value | Shipping insurance | Shipping protection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core purpose | Caps what the carrier owes for loss or damage | Transfers a defined financial risk to an insurer | Covers the loss and manages the customer resolution |
| Provided by | The carrier | An insurer, insurance provider or platform | The brand, a provider or a platform |
| Who pays | Usually the merchant | Merchant or customer | Merchant or customer |
| Terms set by | Carrier service terms | Policy terms | Program terms |
| Claims route | Carrier claims process | Insurer or provider | Program or provider workflow |
| Role in customer experience | Limited | Financial reimbursement | Reimbursement plus replacement or refund experience |
Terminology varies by provider, and carrier declared-value products are not legally identical across carriers. Always check each carrier's current terms.
Types of Shipping Insurance
There are four main types of shipping insurance: carrier-provided coverage, third-party shipping insurance, all-risk insurance, and international shipping insurance. Ecommerce brands increasingly add a fifth approach on top: rules-based coverage that insures only the orders that need it. Which one you need depends on what you are shipping and how much protection you are after.
1. Carrier-Provided Coverage and Declared Value
Most carriers like FedEx, UPS, and USPS offer some level of declared value coverage as part of their services. You declare the value of your shipment upfront, and if it is lost or damaged, they reimburse you up to that stated amount. That said, this coverage has its limits. The reimbursement cap can be restrictive, and certain items may be excluded altogether. Always read the fine print before assuming you are covered.
2. Third-Party Shipping Insurance
Third-party providers specialize in shipping protection and often offer broader coverage than carriers do. They tend to cover a wider range of items, offer higher coverage limits, and run their own claims process. For brands that ship with more than one carrier, a third-party policy also means one set of terms across the whole carrier mix instead of a different liability rule for every label.
3. All-Risk Shipping Insurance
All-risk insurance offers the widest coverage of the bunch. It protects shipments against any cause of loss or damage except the specific exclusions listed in the policy, such as acts of God or inherent vice. The alternative is named-perils coverage, which pays only for the events it lists. All-risk costs more, so it is usually reserved for high-value shipments.
4. International Shipping Insurance
International shipping insurance protects goods moving from one country to another, covering losses or damage that occur during transit by sea, air, or land. Cross-border parcels change hands more often, pass through customs and frequently switch from one carrier to a last-mile partner, which adds exposure at every handoff. If you sell globally, check that your policy covers every leg, not just the first carrier.
5. Rules-Based or Selective Ecommerce Coverage
Rules-based insurance lets you set conditions that automatically trigger coverage. Instead of insuring every package or none, you insure the shipments that match risk criteria such as:
- order value above a set threshold;
- specific products or categories, such as fragile or high-theft items;
- destination country or region;
- carrier or service level;
- lanes with a history of loss or damage.
You pay only for coverage where it is actually needed, which keeps costs lean while making sure high-value shipments are always protected.
Who Pays for Shipping Insurance?
Either the merchant or the customer can pay for shipping insurance. In practice, ecommerce brands use three structures: merchant-paid coverage on every order, customer-paid coverage offered at checkout, and selective merchant-paid coverage applied only to higher-risk orders. Each model has legitimate use cases. The right one depends on your margins, order values and how you want delivery problems handled for the customer.
Merchant-Paid Shipping Insurance
With merchant-paid shipping insurance, the brand pays the premium and every covered order is protected without the customer seeing a fee.
Where it works well:
- Protection is consistent, so every delivery failure has a known resolution path.
- The brand controls the policy, the limits and the claim process.
- Customers face no extra decision at checkout.
- The customer promise is simple: if it does not arrive intact, we fix it.
What to weigh:
- The brand absorbs every premium.
- Blanket coverage can over-insure low-value, low-risk orders.
- The economics depend on your actual loss and replacement rates.
Customer-Paid Shipping Insurance
With customer-paid shipping insurance, often called shopper-paid protection, the customer chooses at checkout whether to pay a small fee for coverage.
Where it works well:
- Customers choose the level of risk they are comfortable with.
- The brand does not absorb the premium on every order.
- It can suit lower-margin brands, or catalogs where high-value orders are occasional.
What to weigh:
- It adds another decision at checkout.
- Coverage is inconsistent, because only customers who opt in are protected.
- Customers who declined coverage usually still expect the brand to help when a parcel goes missing.
- Claim ownership can split between the brand, the customer and the provider.
Merchant-Paid vs Customer-Paid Shipping Insurance
Merchant-paid coverage gives brands consistency and control at the cost of the premium. Customer-paid coverage shifts that cost to the customer at the cost of consistency. The table below compares both, alongside the selective model many brands end up using.
| Factor | Merchant-paid (all orders) | Customer-paid (opt-in) | Selective merchant-paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who pays the premium | Brand | Customer | Brand, on qualifying orders only |
| Checkout friction | None | Adds a choice at checkout | None |
| Protection consistency | Every order | Only opted-in orders | Every order that meets the rules |
| Brand control over terms | High | Lower, set by the widget provider | High |
| Claims administration | Centralized with the brand | Split across brand, customer and provider | Centralized with the brand |
| Customer experience when a parcel fails | Predictable resolution | Depends on whether the customer opted in | Predictable on covered orders |
| Margin impact | Premium on every order | Minimal premium cost to the brand | Premium only where risk justifies it |
| Best fit | Higher-AOV brands that want one simple promise | Early-stage or low-margin brands | Mixed catalogs with uneven risk |
Selective Merchant-Paid Coverage
Selective merchant-paid coverage is the third option. Instead of covering every order, the brand insures shipments based on identifiable risk: order value, product type, destination, carrier or past loss rates. Low-value, low-risk orders ride on carrier liability, while the orders that would genuinely hurt to lose are protected automatically. This model keeps checkout clean and puts premium spend where the exposure actually is.
For a deeper look at the trade-offs between these models, read our guide to merchant-led vs shopper opt-in package protection.
Which shipping protection model fits your business?
Customers choose and pay: a customer-paid, opt-in model.
You want every order protected: blanket merchant-paid coverage.
You want to protect only riskier orders: selective, rules-based merchant coverage.
When Do Ecommerce Businesses Need Shipping Insurance?
Shipping insurance is not mandatory for every package, but it becomes a straightforward decision when a single lost or damaged parcel costs more than the carrier will pay back. Product value is only one trigger. These are the scenarios where brands most often need coverage:
| Scenario | Why the risk is higher |
|---|---|
| High-value orders | Electronics, jewelry, artwork and luxury goods quickly exceed default carrier liability. |
| Fragile goods | Glassware, ceramics and musical instruments can break in transit even with careful packing. |
| Theft-sensitive items | Branded electronics, sneakers and small high-value goods are common theft targets. |
| International shipments | More handoffs, customs holds and last-mile partners mean more points of failure. |
| High-risk lanes or destinations | Some routes and regions show consistently higher loss or damage rates. |
| Peak shipping seasons | Holiday and sale periods increase carrier strain, delays, damage and loss. |
| Limited or hard-to-replace inventory | A lost unit may mean an out-of-stock replacement and a cancelled order. |
| High customer acquisition cost orders | A failed first order can lose a customer you paid heavily to acquire. |
| Expensive replacement fulfillment | Oversized, heavy or temperature-controlled items cost a lot to reship. |
| Bulk shipments | The cumulative value riding on one dispatch is substantial. |
Is Shipping Insurance Worth It?
Shipping insurance is worth it when the premium costs less than the delivery failures it covers. That depends on the value of your shipments, how often they fail, and your risk tolerance, so there is no universal yes or no. The mistake most brands make is comparing the premium against the product cost alone. The real comparison is against the full cost of a failed delivery.
Expected Uninsured Loss Exposure
Use this simple framework to size your exposure:
Expected uninsured loss = Incident rate x Average financial impact per incident
The average financial impact of a lost or damaged order usually includes:
- the product cost of the replacement unit;
- a second shipping label;
- refunds issued when a replacement is not possible;
- customer support time spent on the incident;
- chargebacks from customers who dispute the charge;
- lost margin on the original order;
- staff time spent filing and chasing the claim.
Then compare that number with the total cost of coverage: premium + deductible + any exposure the policy still leaves uncovered.
Illustrative example
A brand ships 5,000 orders a month with an average order value of $120. If 1% of shipments are lost or damaged, that is 50 incidents a month. If each incident costs $60 in product, $12 in reshipping, $8 in support time and $5 in claim handling, the average impact is $85, or $4,250 a month in expected exposure.
If the carrier covers up to $100 per package but only after a manual claim, some of that is recoverable, but only if someone files every claim on time. Insurance is worth it when it recovers more of that $4,250 than it costs, and when it removes the claim work from your team.
These figures are illustrative. Replace them with your own incident rate, order value and cost per incident.
The core answer: evaluate shipping insurance against the expected total cost of delivery failures, not against the premium alone.
How Much Does Shipping Insurance Cost?
Shipping insurance is usually priced as a rate per $100 of insured value, and the general rule is simple: the riskier the shipment, the more it costs. The main cost drivers are:
- Declared or insured value: premiums are typically calculated as a percentage of the value you insure. Always declare the actual value. Under-declaring to save a few dollars can backfire badly when you file a claim and cannot be reimbursed for the full loss.
- Type of goods: fragile items, easily damaged electronics and high-value goods like jewelry or artwork carry higher rates.
- Shipment volume: higher volumes often qualify for lower per-package rates.
- Destination: destinations with higher theft rates, difficult transit conditions or natural disaster risk cost more to insure.
- Carrier and shipping method: air, ground and sea freight each carry different risk profiles, and carriers differ in loss and damage rates.
- Claim history: a history of frequent claims can raise premiums.
- Coverage type and limits: all-risk coverage costs more than named-perils coverage, and higher limits cost more than lower ones.
- Deductible: a higher deductible lowers the premium but increases what you absorb per incident.
Rates vary widely by provider and by business, so treat any industry average with caution and request quotes based on your own shipment data. For reference, LateShipment.com’s own OneProtect pricing starts at $0.69 per $100 of shipment value, with discounts at higher volumes, as listed on the OneProtect shipping insurance page in September 2026.
How to Choose Shipping Insurance for Your Ecommerce Business
Choose shipping insurance by matching the coverage model to your actual risk, not by picking the cheapest premium. Not all insurance is created equal. Work through these criteria in order:
| Criterion | Question to answer |
|---|---|
| 1. Average order value | How many of your orders exceed default carrier liability? |
| 2. Replacement cost | What does it cost to replace and reship one order? |
| 3. Actual loss and damage rate | How often do your parcels fail today, by carrier and lane? |
| 4. Product fragility | Which products break in transit most often? |
| 5. Destination risk | Which regions or countries show higher loss or theft? |
| 6. Carrier mix | Do you need one policy that works across every carrier you use? |
| 7. International exposure | Does the policy cover every leg of cross-border shipments? |
| 8. Claims workload | Who on your team files, tracks and reconciles claims today? |
| 9. Customer expectations | What do customers expect when a parcel goes missing? |
| 10. Policy exclusions | Are any of your core products or situations excluded? |
| 11. Premium economics | Does the premium cost less than your expected uninsured loss? |
| 12. Operational complexity | Can coverage be applied automatically, or will your team decide order by order? |
Your answers point to one of five models:
- Carrier liability only: low order values, low loss rates and a team with time to file carrier claims.
- Third-party insurance: multi-carrier operations that want one set of terms and higher limits.
- Customer-paid protection: tight margins and occasional high-value orders.
- Blanket merchant-paid coverage: higher-value catalogs where a simple customer promise matters.
- Selective, rules-based merchant coverage: mixed catalogs where only some orders carry real risk.
Finally, evaluate the claims process. Insurance is only as good as the claims experience behind it. A paperwork-heavy process makes filing feel like more trouble than it is worth, and unfiled claims recover nothing.
Shipping Insurance by Carrier
Every carrier sets its own liability limits, declared-value options, exclusions and claim deadlines, and those rules change. Here is how the major carriers differ at a high level, with links to our carrier-specific guides for the details:
- UPS: includes limited liability by default, with declared value available for higher-value parcels. See our UPS shipping insurance guide.
- FedEx: uses a declared value model with its own limits and exclusions. See our FedEx shipping insurance guide.
- USPS: includes limited coverage on some services and sells additional insurance on eligible mail classes. For claims help, see USPS lost and damaged claims.
- Canada Post: includes base liability on most services, with declared value on eligible services. See our Canada Post shipping insurance guide.
- DPD: applies standard liability with extended liability available by contract. See our DPD shipping insurance guide.
- Purolator and DHL: each apply their own liability terms. For DHL claims, see DHL lost and damaged claims.
If you ship with several carriers, you are managing several sets of rules at once. That is one of the main reasons brands move to a single third-party or platform-level policy.
How Does a Shipping Insurance Claim Work?
A shipping insurance claim follows five stages: identify the failed shipment, document the loss, submit the claim, wait for review, and receive reimbursement. The details differ by provider, but the shape is the same.
The five stages of a shipping insurance claim.
Documentation commonly requested includes:
- proof of shipment, such as the label or carrier acceptance scan;
- order or invoice value;
- tracking history for the parcel;
- photos of the damaged product;
- photos of the outer box and packaging materials;
- customer confirmation of non-receipt or damage, where required.
Filing deadlines vary by carrier, provider and claim type, so confirm the window in your policy. A valid claim filed one day late usually recovers nothing.
Carrier Claims vs Insurance Claims
A carrier claim, a declared-value claim and an independent insurance claim can differ in eligibility rules, required documentation, filing windows, who reviews the claim and how much is reimbursed. Carrier claims are paid within the carrier’s liability or declared value, while insurance claims are paid under the policy’s own limits. Brands that carry both need to know which route applies to each incident so they do not file twice or miss a recovery. For a closer look at the carrier side, see our page on automated lost and damaged claims.
Manual vs Automated Shipping Insurance Claims
Filing one claim by hand is manageable. Filing claims across hundreds or thousands of shipments a month is not. A manual claims process asks your team to:
- detect which shipments failed, often only after a customer writes in;
- check each incident against the policy to confirm eligibility;
- collect evidence, including screenshots from the order system and carrier portal;
- submit each claim through the right portal before the deadline;
- track open claims and follow up on slow or denied ones;
- reconcile reimbursements against the replacement or refund already issued.
Automated claims management moves those steps into software. Shipments are monitored, incidents are flagged when they happen, evidence is attached from order and tracking data, and claims are submitted and tracked without someone copying details between systems. The result is that more eligible claims get filed on time, with fewer denials for missing information.
LateShipment.com walks through how this works in practice in episode 11 of its Grab n Go video series, Automate Shipping Insurance:
Source: LateShipment.com, Grab n Go EP 11: Automate Shipping Insurance, YouTube.
What brands underestimate about shipping insurance
Buying coverage solves only the financial side of a delivery failure. At ecommerce scale, identifying eligible shipments, gathering evidence, submitting claims, tracking outcomes and reconciling reimbursement becomes a separate operational workload.
In conversations with LateShipment.com customers, the same pattern repeats: damaged orders are discovered only when the customer contacts support, evidence is pieced together from order system screenshots and carrier portals, and replacements go out long before any reimbursement arrives. Brands shipping with several carriers run that process once per carrier.
That workload is measurable. Blondery, a LateShipment.com customer, saves 78 hours a week on claim filing through automation.
Managing Shipping Insurance and Claims at Ecommerce Scale
The right shipping insurance protects your revenue, keeps customers whole when a parcel fails, and removes a steady source of operational stress. The decision comes down to three questions: how much of your volume sits above carrier liability, who should carry the premium, and who will run the claims.
When you are processing hundreds of shipments a day, deciding coverage order by order and filing claims by hand stops working. That is where LateShipment.com’s OneProtect shipping insurance fits. OneProtect runs inside LateShipment.com’s Post-Purchase Operating System and works like this:
- Rules-based coverage: insure shipments automatically at label creation based on order value, product, destination or region, with one-click coverage for orders your rules do not catch.
- Coverage limits: product cost and shipping charges insured up to $2,000 per package, compared with the $100 default carrier liability that typically applies.
- Automated claims: claims are prepared and submitted with complete, carrier-compliant data and tracked in one claims portal. According to LateShipment.com platform data, this approach delivers a 99% claim success rate.
- Helpdesk integration: a missing or damaged delivery flagged in a support ticket starts the claim automatically.
- Connected recovery: OneAudit files carrier claims for shipments your insurance rules do not cover, so recoverable value is not left behind.
Because OneProtect shares data with OneTrack, delivery exceptions are caught as they happen rather than when the customer complains. Brands using LateShipment.com’s proactive delivery notifications see up to 72% fewer delivery-related support contacts, which means fewer lost-parcel tickets reach your team in the first place.
To understand how protection connects to tracking and audit data, read how shipping protection works inside a Post-Purchase Operating System, or compare options in our roundup of the best shipping protection software.
Protect the orders that matter and take claims off your team's plate.
See how OneProtect applies coverage automatically and runs claims end to end.
Frequently Asked Questions About Shipping Insurance
Shipping insurance is coverage that reimburses the insured value of a package if it is lost, damaged or, under some policies, stolen in transit. It transfers the financial risk of a failed delivery from the sender to an insurer or protection provider, subject to the policy's limits and exclusions.
Shipping insurance is attached to a shipment before it ships. If a covered loss or damage event occurs in transit, the sender collects evidence such as tracking history, proof of value and photos, then files a claim. The provider reviews the claim and reimburses the insured value if it is approved.
Shipping insurance typically covers packages that are lost or physically damaged in transit. Depending on the policy, shipping insurance may also cover theft, missing contents and the original shipping charge. Coverage varies by provider, so check the policy terms.
Shipping insurance usually does not cover damage caused by inadequate packaging, prohibited or excluded goods, incorrect addresses or documentation, pre-existing damage, fraudulent claims, delay-only losses, or any amount above the policy limit. Exclusions differ by policy.
No. Declared value raises a carrier's liability cap under the carrier's own service terms, and claims are handled by the carrier. Shipping insurance is a separate policy from an insurer or provider, with its own limits, exclusions and claims process.
The value of shipping insurance depends on the value of your shipments, how often they fail and your risk tolerance. Compare the premium with the full cost of a failed delivery, including the replacement product, reshipping, support time, chargebacks and claim handling. For high-value or fragile items, it is often worth the investment.
Shipping insurance is usually priced per $100 of insured value. The rate depends on the product, destination, carrier, shipment volume, claim history, deductible and coverage limits. As one reference point, LateShipment.com's OneProtect pricing starts at $0.69 per $100 of shipment value.
Either can. Merchant-paid coverage protects every order without a checkout fee and gives the brand control. Customer-paid coverage lets customers opt in and pay at checkout, which lowers the brand's cost but leaves opted-out orders unprotected. Many brands choose a middle path and pay only for coverage on higher-risk orders.
Some shipping insurance policies cover theft in transit, and some protection programs also cover packages stolen after delivery. Many carrier liability terms end once a parcel is marked delivered, so check whether your policy covers post-delivery theft.
Yes, shipping insurance typically covers physical damage that happens in transit, provided the item was packed to the required standard and the claim includes photos of the product and packaging along with proof of value.
Yes, many shipping carriers offer declared value or insurance options. It is wise to compare limits, exclusions and claims processes with third-party providers, who may offer higher limits, one policy across multiple carriers and a different claims experience.
Weigh carrier coverage, third-party insurance and self-insurance against your order values, loss rates, carrier mix and international exposure. Check exclusions and limits, and evaluate how claims are filed and tracked, because unfiled claims recover nothing.
Yes. Claims automation software monitors shipments, flags lost or damaged parcels, attaches evidence from order and tracking data, submits claims and tracks them to payout. This removes manual filing and helps brands file more eligible claims before deadlines.
