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.
| What it counts | COUNT(claims WHERE status IN ('OPEN', 'UNDER_REVIEW', 'AWAITING_DOCUMENTATION')). Approved/paid claims and rejected claims are excluded, they have moved out of the in-flight workload. |
| API endpoint | GET /shipping/v1/claims (Australia Post Shipping & Tracking API claims endpoint). Reads claim_id, status, consignment_id, claim_value, created_at, last_updated_at. |
| Service-tier scope | All services with claim eligibility: Parcel Post (limited cover), Express Post (limited cover), eParcel Premium and StarTrack (extended cover up to A$5,000), International EMS (variable by destination). |
| Geographic OTD variance | Open claims skew slightly to remote/regional destinations where parcels go missing more often, and to international where customs holds escalate to “lost” claims after 30 days. |
| Returns / RTO | RTS consignments that go missing on the return leg are claimable; the card includes them. |
| Climate handling | Claims surge after major weather events (cyclone, flood, bushfire) where parcels are physically damaged or destroyed in depot incidents. Australia Post often acknowledges weather events as force majeure but still processes claims. |
| Peak-period seasonality | Claim count climbs 1.5 to 2x during November to January from peak volume + Australia Post processing backlog (claim approvals slow during peak). |
| Time window | RT (real-time). Reading is current state, not period-aggregate. |
| Alert trigger | >0 unresolved >7d. Australia Post’s published claim turnaround is 5 business days; 7 calendar days is the practical SLA. |
| Roles | owner, operations, finance |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Australia Post data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
The Brisbane outdoor adventure brand from earlier examples. Reading taken at 09:00 AEDT on 12 Mar 26.| Status | Claim count | Open value (A$) | Days open (avg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| OPEN (newly submitted) | 14 | 2,640 | 1.8 |
| UNDER_REVIEW | 9 | 1,920 | 4.2 |
| AWAITING_DOCUMENTATION | 7 | 3,840 | 11.5 |
| Total open (this card) | 30 | 8,400 | 5.4 |
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
| Card | Why pair it with Open Claims | What the combination tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Claim Value (open) | Currency view of the same population. | Count is operational workload; value is finance-recoverable cash. |
| Failed Deliveries | Upstream input. | Failed deliveries that stay unresolved escalate to claims at 14 days. |
| Returned to Sender | Different failure mode. | RTS is parcel returned (refundable), claim is parcel lost or damaged (recoverable). |
| Exception Rate | Earlier signal. | Exception spike at day 0 typically lifts claim count at day 14 to 21. |
| On-Time Delivery Rate | Outcome dial. | Heavy claims usually correlate with OTD compression in the same period. |
Cross-connector: shopify.refund_rate | Customer-facing refund volume. | Each open claim is typically already refunded to the customer; the claim is the carrier-recovery in flight. |
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:| Reason | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Timezone (AEDT/AWST) | Boundary day | Portal in account timezone; card in UTC. A claim opened at 23:30 AEDT shows different “day opened” depending on which side. |
| Customs lag for international | Ours higher | International claims sit in AWAITING_DOCUMENTATION while customs paperwork is collected; portal sometimes hides them as “pending” while the card surfaces as open. |
| Peak-period batch processing | Ours higher | November-December the portal can take 24 to 72 hours to reflect newly opened or recently closed claims; the card matches the API real-time. |
| Climate-driven exception spikes | Equal | Both systems count cyclone/flood-related claims; only the volume changes. |
| Status mapping | Either | Australia Post sometimes folds AWAITING_DOCUMENTATION and UNDER_REVIEW into a single “Active” bucket in the portal; the card splits them for actionability. |
| Card | Expected relationship | Causes of legitimate divergence |
|---|---|---|
shopify.refund_rate | Each open claim is typically a customer already refunded. | Refunds have many drivers; claim is one of them. |
shopify.unfulfilled_orders | Indirect. | Unfulfilled is upstream of shipped, claims are downstream. |
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.