At a glance
Live count of FedEx claims (loss, damage, missed-commit money-back-guarantee) the merchant has filed and FedEx has not yet resolved. Each open claim represents either pending revenue (FedEx will refund) or pending writedown (claim denied, merchant absorbs the loss). The number sits between operations and finance.
| What it counts | COUNT(claims WHERE status IN ('pending', 'in_review', 'awaiting_docs')), real-time via FedEx Claims API. Each claim is one parcel. Claims auto-close once FedEx pays or denies. |
| Claim types pooled | Loss claims (parcel never delivered, no DL scan in 7+ days post-commit), damage claims (parcel delivered but contents damaged on arrival), missed-commit money-back-guarantee claims (Express services only, freight refund). The card pools all three. |
| Eligibility window | Loss and damage claims must be filed within 9 months of ship date for domestic, 21 days for international. Money-back-guarantee claims must be filed within 15 days of ship date. The card flags claims regardless of eligibility status; track Claim Value for the dollar dimension. |
| Service level scope | All FedEx services. Express services have the strongest claim-success rates because of the money-back guarantee. Ground claims are decided case-by-case. International Priority loss claims have a lower win rate (40% to 55%) than domestic (75% to 90%). |
| Resolution timing | Median resolution is 4 to 14 calendar days. Domestic damage claims with photos resolve fastest (~5 days). International loss claims take longest (3 to 6 weeks) due to customs documentation. |
| Roles served | Operations files them, finance reconciles them, owner sees the headline count. The card is read by all three. |
| Time window | RT (real-time, current open count) |
| Alert trigger | >0 unresolved >7d, fires when any claim has been pending more than 7 days without FedEx response, prompting follow-up action |
| Roles | owner, operations, finance |
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your FedEx data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A US DTC electronics accessory brand shipping out of Dallas, TX, predominantly via FedEx Ground and 2Day Express. Snapshot taken at 14:00 CT on 12 Mar 26.| Claim type | Open count | Avg days open | Avg expected recovery | Total at stake |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Money-back-guarantee (Express late) | 18 | 3.2 days | $24 | $432 |
| Damage (delivered with damage photos) | 7 | 6.8 days | $87 | $609 |
| Loss (no DL scan in 14+ days post-commit) | 3 | 11.5 days | $145 | $435 |
| All open claims (this card) | 28 | 5.4 days | $53 (weighted) | $1,476 |
- Money-back-guarantee claims dominate the count but are low-value. 18 of 28 claims, but only 1,476 expected. These are the easy wins, file them weekly, FedEx auto-approves most within 2 to 5 days. Set up a Friday review cadence.
- The 3 loss claims are the highest-value-per-unit and the slowest to resolve. $145 average, 11.5 days open. FedEx loss claims require the merchant to provide commercial invoice, proof-of-value, and proof-of-shipment. Without these documents the claim sits in
awaiting_docsindefinitely. The alert at >7d open prompts the merchant to either supply missing docs or escalate to the FedEx account manager. - The 7 damage claims average 6.8 days, near the alert threshold. Damage claims need photos at point of receipt, ideally within 48 hours of delivery. If the customer reported damage 4 days after receipt, FedEx may deny on grounds of “not promptly reported”. Train CS to escalate damage reports to the claims-filing process within 24 hours; otherwise expect 30% to 40% denial rate.
- **1,500 per snapshot and 26 snapshots/year (every two weeks) the merchant is recovering roughly $35,000/year through FedEx claims. Most small DTC brands miss this entirely because they do not file. The card surfaces the workload.
- 3 of 28 are >7 days old and the alert just tripped. The action is escalate, either supply missing documentation, or contact the FedEx account team if the claim has been sitting in
in_reviewwithout progress. Most claims that age past 14 days are documentation-related; FedEx pays the rest in roughly 7 days.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
Open claims are the financial-impact lens on shipping problems. Pair them with operational and revenue cards.| Card | Why pair it with Open Claims | What the combination tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Claim Value (open) | The dollar figure underneath this count. | A single high-value international loss claim can dwarf 50 small Express MBG claims. Always read both together. |
| Late Shipments | Lead indicator for MBG claims. | Late count today predicts MBG claim volume in 1 to 3 days. |
| Failed Deliveries | Lead indicator for loss claims. | Each failed delivery is a candidate loss claim if the parcel is not eventually located. |
| Returned to Sender | Adjacent issue. | RTS shipments often spawn refund disputes; not always claimable but watch the combo. |
| On-Time Delivery Rate | Network health driver. | Sustained OTD drop precedes claim volume rising in 1 to 2 weeks. |
| Priority Overnight Service Promise | Subset most directly tied to MBG claims. | Misses on Priority Overnight = directly claimable. |
Cross-connector: shopify.refund_rate | Downstream financial pressure. | Refunds the merchant pays customers can sometimes be recovered as FedEx claims; the two cards together show net writedown. |
| Cross-connector: customer-service ticket volume | Operational signal. | Most claims start as customer complaints. CS-ticket spike predicts claims spike at 2 to 5 day lag. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in FedEx’s own dashboard: FedEx Customer Support claims portal → My Claims → Open. The portal shows each open claim’s status, age, expected recovery, and any document requests from FedEx. The Money-Back Guarantee claims live on a separate path: FedEx Billing Online → Money-Back Guarantee → Eligible & Pending. The card unifies these into a single count. Why our number may legitimately differ from FedEx’s portal:| Reason | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| MBG vs general claims | Either | The portal splits MBG into a separate view from damage/loss claims. The card pools them. To match like-for-like, sum both portal views. |
| Auto-closed claims | FedEx may show lower | Claims FedEx auto-closes within minutes of submission (instant-approve MBG cases) may never appear in the open count, but the card may briefly show them open before sync catches up. Sync delay 5 to 30 minutes typical. |
| Time zone | Boundary days off | Portal defaults to billing time zone; card uses UTC for “open >7d” calculation. |
| Manually-filed vs API-filed | Either | Claims a merchant filed by phone or email may take 4 to 24 hours to appear in the API. The portal shows them within minutes via the manual-entry path. |
| Cross-account aggregation | Card may be higher | A merchant with multiple FedEx account numbers under one Vortex IQ workspace sees pooled claims; the portal shows per-account by default. |
| Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence |
|---|---|---|
usps.usp_open_claims | Peer carrier. Independent populations. Different process (USPS files via Form 1000). | Different parcels entirely. |
easypost.eas_open_claims | If EasyPost handles claim filing on behalf of the merchant, the EasyPost view aggregates across all EasyPost-routed carriers; the FedEx subset matches this card. | EasyPost may handle FedEx claims through its own claims service, adding 1 to 2 day reconciliation latency. |
shopify.refund_rate | Downstream. Refunds paid to customers may be recovered through FedEx claims. | Not all refunds are FedEx-recoverable (customer preference, sizing). |
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
How long do FedEx claims typically take to resolve? Median 4 to 14 days. Money-back-guarantee claims (Express late) auto-resolve fastest, often 2 to 5 days. Damage claims with photos at point of receipt resolve in 5 to 10 days. Loss claims for domestic parcels resolve in 7 to 14 days; international loss claims with customs documentation can take 3 to 6 weeks. Why is my claim sitting inawaiting_docs?
FedEx requested supporting documentation, typically commercial invoice, proof-of-value (purchase order, retail price), photos for damage, or proof-of-shipment. Until the merchant uploads the docs, the claim does not progress. The alert at >7d open is designed to catch this. Set up an internal triage process: any claim aged beyond 5 days, check the FedEx portal for document requests and respond within 24 hours.
What is FedEx’s claim approval rate for DTC merchants?
Highly variable by claim type. Money-back-guarantee on Express services has near-100% approval (it is contractual). Domestic damage claims with photos have 75% to 90% approval. Domestic loss claims have 60% to 80% approval. International loss claims have 40% to 55% approval. Across all types, well-documented merchants run 70% to 80% approval; under-documented merchants run 40% to 55%.
Can I claim damage if the customer reported it 5 days after delivery?
FedEx requires “prompt reporting” of damage, which it interprets as within 60 days of delivery for filing purposes but ideally within 7 days for high-approval rate. After 60 days the claim is automatically denied. Train CS to escalate damage reports to claims-filing within 24 hours of customer contact; the photo timestamp from the customer matters for evidence.
FedEx denied my claim, what next?
File an appeal within 9 months of the original ship date via the FedEx Customer Support portal. Appeals require additional evidence (delivery scan analysis, customer statement, photos). Approximately 30% to 40% of denials are reversed on appeal when the merchant supplies new evidence. Beyond appeals, escalation to the FedEx account manager is the next step for high-value claims.
Are FedEx claims tax-deductible if denied?
Talk to your accountant. Generally a denied loss claim becomes an inventory writedown for the merchant; the cost basis of the parcel contents is deductible as cost of goods sold. The card does not track denial outcomes; pull historical data from the FedEx portal for tax purposes.
Should I outsource claims filing?
For low-volume merchants (<10 claims/month), in-house is cheaper. For high-volume merchants (>50 claims/month), services like ShipScience, ShareSpend, and Refund Retriever automate claim filing for 30% to 50% of recovery as their fee. The economics flip around the 50-claim/month mark. The card tells you the volume; the math is yours.
Why did open claims jump after a weather event?
Weather drives a wave of late shipments, a smaller wave of damage shipments (truck-handling damage during embargo recovery), and occasionally a wave of loss shipments (parcels mis-routed during chaotic re-routing). Expect open-claim count to climb 3 to 7 days after the weather event peak in Exception Rate. The wave processes through over the next 2 to 4 weeks.
Can I file a money-back-guarantee claim for a Ground shipment?
No. FedEx Ground, Home Delivery, and SmartPost (Ground Economy) do not carry a money-back guarantee. Late Ground shipments can only be claimed as damage or loss, and only if there is a tangible loss event (parcel lost in transit, contents damaged on arrival). A merely-late Ground shipment that did eventually deliver is not claimable. This is the structural reason MBG claims dominate the count for Express-heavy merchants and damage claims dominate for Ground-heavy merchants.
What does the alert at “any claim open >7 days” actually mean operationally?
It is a follow-up prompt, not a degradation signal. FedEx’s own published SLA is to respond on most claims within 5 business days. Past 7 calendar days, the merchant should check the portal for document requests, escalate to the FedEx account team, or file an appeal if the claim was silently denied. The alert exists to prevent claims from sitting forgotten.
My open claim count is 0. Is that good?
Sometimes. A merchant with zero open claims is either (a) running a flawless shipping operation (rare), (b) not filing claims they could be filing (common, see the 30% to 50% of small DTC merchants leaving claims on the table), or (c) shipping low volume. Cross-reference with Late Shipments and Failed Deliveries, if those counts are non-trivial and open claims is zero, the merchant is missing recovery opportunities. Set up a weekly review cadence.