At a glance
Real-time count of Australia Post claims (lost-in-transit, damaged-in-transit, missing-content) currently inOPENorUNDER_REVIEWstate. Each open claim represents a customer who has been refunded/replaced and a financial recovery still in flight with Australia Post. Claims unresolved beyond 7 days fire the alert because Australia Post’s published claim turnaround is 5 business days.
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Australia Post data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
The Brisbane outdoor adventure brand from earlier examples. Reading taken at 09:00 AEDT on 12 Mar 26.
Of the 30 open claims, 7 sit in
AWAITING_DOCUMENTATION for an average of 11.5 days; these are the alert-tripping cases. Three observations:
- AWAITING_DOCUMENTATION is the work-the-merchant-owns bucket. Australia Post is waiting on the merchant to upload proof-of-value (commercial invoice), proof-of-postage (consignment receipt), or photos of damage. The 11.5 day average means the merchant has been sitting on the request. Action: assign claim documentation to a single owner with daily tickler review.
- **Open value A6,000 to A$7,100 over the next 4 to 8 weeks. Pair with Claim Value (open) to see this in finance terms.
- Cyclone-driven cluster. Of the 30 open claims, 8 trace to a single damaged depot incident in Townsville post-Cyclone activity. Australia Post will batch-process those once the depot reopens; expect the count to drop 8 in a single batch.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in Australia Post’s own portal: Australia Post Business → MyPost Business → Claims → Active Claims for SME merchants. eParcel and StarTrack accounts use eParcel Customer Centre → Claims → Open, which exposes status detail (UNDER_REVIEW, AWAITING_DOCUMENTATION, etc). Why our number may legitimately differ from Australia Post’s report:
Cross-connector reconciliation:
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
My MyPost Business shows 25 active claims, Vortex IQ shows 30. Why? The portal often folds claims sitting inAWAITING_DOCUMENTATION into an “On hold” or “Pending action” tab separate from “Active”; the card counts them all as open. Pending action is still open from the merchant’s workflow perspective. Inspect the AWAITING_DOCUMENTATION items first; they usually have the longest aged claims.
Why is the alert firing on a single 8-day-old claim?
The alert trigger is >0 unresolved >7d. Australia Post’s published claim turnaround is 5 business days, so anything past 7 calendar days is structurally overdue. The action is to follow up with your Australia Post account manager (eParcel) or via the MyPost Business claim form portal (SME). One stuck claim is usually a documentation gap.
How do I get claims approved faster?
Three documentation moves: (1) Always upload the commercial invoice (proof of value) at claim submission, not on Australia Post’s request. (2) Photograph damaged parcels before processing the customer refund/replacement; Australia Post requires photos for damaged-in-transit claims. (3) Keep the consignment receipt (proof of postage) for at least 12 months; international claims sometimes pull receipts from 6+ months ago.
Are international EMS customs holds counted as claims?
Not until the consignment is declared lost (typically after 30 to 45 days at customs). The card distinguishes “in transit, customs hold” (counted as exception, not claim) from “declared lost / damaged in transit” (claim). International claims are typically slower to process (30 to 60 days) than domestic.
My open claims are all from Cyclone-affected weeks. Will Australia Post pay them?
Mixed answer. Australia Post invokes force majeure for events on its important updates page, which means SLA is suspended but claims are still processed. Damaged-in-transit claims from depot incidents typically pay in full; lost-in-transit claims from network disruption pay if the consignment was scanned into the affected facility. Claim approval rates during cyclones drop from ~80 percent steady state to ~60 to 70 percent for weather-event windows.
The peak-season claim count is scary. Is this normal?
Yes. November-January claim count typically runs 1.5 to 2x normal. Drivers: more parcels, more high-value gift items, depot capacity stretched (damage incidents up), customs backlogs (international claims escalate from “stuck” to “lost”). Plan finance recovery cashflow expecting 60 to 90 day recovery cycle on peak-period claims rather than the steady-state 30 to 45 day cycle.
Should I auto-refund the customer immediately or wait for the claim?
Auto-refund. Australia Post claim turnaround is 5 to 30 business days; customers will not wait. The healthy DTC pattern is to refund or replace immediately on customer report, file the claim against the carrier, and treat the claim payout as a recovery line in finance. Claim payouts in Australia typically recover 70 to 85 percent of the lost gross merchandise value.
Special Delivery vs Express Post claim cover, what is the difference?
Australia Post’s standard Parcel Post and Express Post include limited cover (A300 with Extra Cover purchased at label). eParcel Premium and StarTrack include up to A100 base + value-declared additions). Always check Extra Cover on shipments above A$100 of declared value if using Parcel Post; the marginal cost is small relative to claim recoverability.
My open claims have been stuck for 30+ days. What now?
Two escalation paths: (1) Email your Australia Post account manager (eParcel/StarTrack accounts have a named manager) with the consignment IDs and outstanding documentation request. (2) For SME accounts on MyPost Business, file a complaint via Australia Post Customer Service referencing the original claim numbers; Australia Post’s compliance team escalates aged claims internally. Persistent 60+ day open claims often signal a documentation completeness issue rather than carrier delay.