> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Open Claims, EasyPost > Open Claims for EasyPost stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Exceptions & Claims](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Live count of EasyPost insurance claims that are not yet resolved. These are claims you have filed against EasyPost's parcel-insurance product for parcels lost, damaged or arriving with contents missing in transit. The count is money the merchant is owed and has not yet recovered, plus a backlog signal: a claim sitting unresolved for more than a week usually means missing documentation or a stalled carrier investigation. Read the cash value of the backlog on [Claim Value (open)](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/claim-value-open). | | | | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(EasyPost Claim objects WHERE status NOT IN ('resolved', 'rejected', 'paid'))` at the current moment. Each open claim counts once. | | **Data source** | EasyPost Claim objects via the Claims API. The card reads each claim's `status` (one of `submitted`, `under_review`, `approved`, `rejected`, `paid` and similar), `created_at`, the `tracking_code`, and `amount`. | | **Scope** | EasyPost parcel-insurance claims only. Carrier money-back-guarantee refunds (a late FedEx Express or USPS Priority Mail Express parcel) are a different recovery path filed in the carrier's own portal and do not appear here. | | **What "open" means** | Any claim submitted but not yet closed, whether it is awaiting your documents, under EasyPost or carrier review, or approved-but-not-yet-paid. | | **Ageing** | The card flags claims by age. A claim open more than 7 days is the actionable subset: it usually indicates missing proof of value, missing damage photos, or a carrier investigation that has stalled. | | **Returns / RTO** | Not a claim source. Return-to-sender parcels are tracked on [Returned to Sender](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/returned-to-sender). | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time). This is a live backlog count, not a period total. It rises when you file a claim and falls when one is paid or rejected. | | **Alert trigger** | `>0 unresolved >7d` (any claim still open after 7 days). The threshold is deliberately strict: an ageing claim is recoverable cash slipping toward the filing deadline. | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your EasyPost 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 same US apparel merchant from [Late Shipments](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/late-shipments), insuring higher-value parcels (orders over 75 US dollars) through EasyPost at purchase. Reading taken live at 09:00 ET on 12 Mar 26. | Claim status | Claims | Total value | Oldest claim age | | --------------------------------- | ------ | ----------- | ---------------- | | Submitted (awaiting our docs) | 4 | \$1,180 | 11 days | | Under review (EasyPost / carrier) | 6 | \$1,940 | 9 days | | Approved, not yet paid | 3 | \$640 | 5 days | | **All open (this card)** | **13** | **\$3,760** | **11 days** | The card reads **13** open claims. The alert at `>0 unresolved >7d` has tripped: the four "submitted, awaiting our docs" claims and some of the "under review" set are past the 7-day line. Five things to notice: 1. **The alert is about ageing, not volume.** Thirteen open claims is normal background for a merchant insuring 75-dollar-plus parcels; the alert fires because some have aged past a week. The action is not "file fewer claims", it is "clear the backlog". 2. **The "awaiting our docs" four are self-inflicted and the fastest win.** EasyPost has asked for proof of value (the order invoice) or damage photos and not received them. These claims will never pay until you upload the documents. Clearing them is a 20-minute admin task that recovers 1,180 US dollars; do it today. 3. **The "under review" six are a carrier-investigation wait.** For lost parcels the underlying carrier (USPS, FedEx) runs its own trace before EasyPost pays. This subset is genuinely out of your hands, but a claim open beyond 14 days warrants a chase note in the EasyPost dashboard. 4. **The "approved, not yet paid" three are already won.** They clear automatically; they only show here because payment settles on EasyPost's cycle. No action, but they explain why the count does not drop to zero even when you are on top of it. 5. **Watch the filing deadline.** EasyPost insurance claims must be filed within a fixed window from the ship date (commonly tens of days for damage, longer for loss, but always finite). A claim that ages here is also ageing toward the point where it cannot be filed at all. The 7-day alert exists to catch this well before the cliff. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together Open Claims is the recovery-backlog count. Pair it with these to see the cash at stake and the failures that feed it: | Card | Why pair it with Open Claims | What the combination tells you | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Claim Value (open)](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/claim-value-open) | The cash value of the same backlog. | Thirteen claims could be 400 US dollars or 13,000; the value card tells you whether the backlog is a nuisance or a priority. | | [Failed Deliveries](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/failed-deliveries) | The upstream source of loss claims. | A spike in failures predicts a rise in claims a few days later as lost parcels are confirmed. | | [Exception Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/exception-rate) | The earliest lead indicator. | Rising exceptions feed failures feed claims; this is the front of the chain. | | [Late Shipments](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/late-shipments) | The carrier-MBG recovery path. | Late is recovered from the carrier, not from EasyPost insurance; do not double-count the two recovery streams. | | [Returned to Sender](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/returned-to-sender) | The other end-of-life parcel outcome. | RTS parcels are recovered, not claimed; separating the two keeps the claims count clean. | | [Days to Token Expiry](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/days-to-token-expiry) | Operational-health guardrail. | An expired credential can silently stop claim sync; if the count freezes, check the token. | ## Reconciling against the source **Where to look in the EasyPost dashboard and in the underlying carriers' own portals:** EasyPost is an aggregator, so claims reconciliation has two layers. First, the EasyPost dashboard: [EasyPost Dashboard](https://www.easypost.com/account) → **Insurance / Claims**, which lists every claim with its status, filed date, tracking code and value. This is the authoritative record for EasyPost-insured claims and is what the card mirrors. Second, where a claim depends on a lost-parcel trace, the underlying carrier's own portal (USPS, FedEx, UPS) holds the investigation status; EasyPost cannot pay a loss claim until that carrier trace closes, so a claim stuck "under review" here is often waiting on the carrier, not on EasyPost. The closest like-for-like view in EasyPost is the **Claims** list filtered to any status other than resolved, rejected or paid. **Why our number may legitimately differ from EasyPost's record:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | --------------------------- | ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Sync latency** | Ours can lag | The card syncs claim status on the standard refresh (typically every 30 to 60 minutes). A claim you just filed or that just paid may take one cycle to appear or clear. | | **Status mapping** | Either | EasyPost exposes several intermediate statuses; the card buckets all non-closed statuses into "open". Reading the dashboard with a narrower filter (for example "under review" only) shows fewer. | | **Carrier-side timestamps** | Boundary days off | A claim's filed and updated timestamps follow EasyPost account time; carrier investigation milestones are recorded in carrier-local time. This rarely moves the count but can shift the displayed age by a few hours. | | **Test-mode claims** | Ours lower | Claims filed against a test API key are excluded from the card. | | **MBG confusion** | Either | Carrier money-back-guarantee refunds are not EasyPost insurance claims and are not counted here; a tally that includes carrier refunds will be higher than the card. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | Causes of legitimate divergence | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Carrier-direct claim or refund logs (if the merchant files MBG directly) | The two recovery streams are separate; together they are total recovery owed. | EasyPost insurance covers loss and damage; carrier MBG covers late-delivery service failures. Different parcels, different deadlines. | ***
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple shippers) Open-claim counts exist with similar definitions across other insured-shipping integrations (for example Shippo's insurance, or a carrier-direct claims feed). These are independent claim queues against different insurers; do not sum them as one number without de-duplicating by parcel. Use these only to navigate documentation.
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **What is the difference between an EasyPost insurance claim and a carrier money-back-guarantee refund?** An EasyPost insurance claim covers a parcel that was lost or damaged, paid out by EasyPost's insurance product, and is what this card counts. A carrier money-back guarantee refunds the postage on a late-but-delivered premium parcel (FedEx Express, USPS Priority Mail Express) and is filed in the carrier's own portal. They are separate recovery streams with separate deadlines; the late-MBG path is referenced from [Late Shipments](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/late-shipments). **Why is a claim stuck "under review" for two weeks?** For loss claims, EasyPost usually cannot pay until the underlying carrier completes its own parcel trace, which can take one to three weeks at USPS and FedEx. For damage claims the wait is normally documentation: EasyPost wants the order invoice (proof of value) and clear photos of the damage and packaging. Check the EasyPost claim detail for the exact blocker before assuming it is a carrier delay. **A claim shows here but I have already been paid. Why?** Sync lag. The card refreshes on the standard cycle, so an approved-and-paid claim can linger for one refresh before it clears to resolved. If it persists across several cycles, force a refresh; if it still shows, the claim status in EasyPost may still read "approved" rather than "paid". **How do I stop the alert firing every week?** Clear the ageing subset, do not raise the threshold. Most ageing claims are "awaiting our docs", which is a quick admin fix. The alert is doing its job: a claim that ages out is recoverable cash you are about to forfeit. If a specific claim is genuinely blocked on a carrier trace you cannot influence, that is the rare legitimate exception. **Do test-mode claims count?** No. Claims filed against an EasyPost test API key are excluded. **Should I insure every parcel to maximise recoverable claims?** No, insure by value and risk. The premium on low-value parcels usually exceeds the expected loss recovery. The common pattern is to insure orders above a value threshold (the worked example uses 75 US dollars) and self-insure the rest. The aim is to minimise net cost of loss, not to maximise claim count. **The count suddenly froze and stopped moving. What does that mean?** Most often a credential or sync problem rather than a real change. Check [Days to Token Expiry](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/days-to-token-expiry) and [API Error Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/easypost/api-error-rate); an expired API key or a spike in API errors can stall claim sync so the count sits still even as claims are filed and paid in the EasyPost dashboard. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Open Claims* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across EasyPost and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.