Open Claims, Sendle

Metrics type: Key Metrics • Category: Shipping & Courier

At a glance

Real-time count of Sendle cover claims open against shipments: lost parcels and damaged-on-arrival cases where the merchant has filed for cover under Sendle’s standard or extended insurance. Sendle includes basic cover by default (AUD 100 / USD 100); merchants can purchase extended cover up to AUD 1500 / USD 1500 per parcel at booking time.


What it counts	`COUNT(claims WHERE status IN ('open', 'investigating', 'awaiting_evidence'))` against the merchant’s account. Sendle uses a single in-house claims process (no carrier-side variance, unlike multi-carrier orchestrators).
API endpoint	`GET /api/claims` (Sendle Claims API). The card reads `claim_id`, `parcel_id`, `status`, `claim_type` (lost / damaged / missing_contents), `claim_amount`, `currency`, `created_at`, `last_update_at`.
Delivery success criterion	Not applicable, claims are filed because delivery did not succeed (lost) or did not succeed in good condition (damaged).
On-time threshold	Not applicable.
Returns / RTO	Return-to-sender is a separate flow (Returned to Sender) and does not generate a claim; the parcel reverses without dispute. RTO with damage at return scan would generate a claim.
Service level scope	All Sendle services (Standard, Pro, Saver). The cover ceiling differs by tier and by extended-cover purchase.
Claim trigger	Filed by the merchant via Sendle dashboard or API, typically after a customer reports non-delivery (>10 days no delivery scan) or damage on arrival (with photo evidence within 5 days of delivery). Sendle does not auto-file.
Currency	The open count is dimensionless. Monetary exposure is in `claim_amount` per claim, denominated in AUD or USD per the parcel’s origin country. The workspace base currency is used for the card’s roll-up if multi-region.
Time window	`RT` (real-time, refreshed every poll cycle).
Alert trigger	`>0 unresolved >7d`. Any claim still in `open` or `investigating` status seven calendar days after creation trips the alert. Sendle’s published target SLA is 5 to 10 business days for resolution.
Roles	owner, operations, finance

Calculation

Calculated automatically from your Sendle 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 Australian DTC home-goods brand. Reading taken at 09:00 AEDT on 12 Mar 26.

Claim type	Open count	Avg age (days)	Aged >7d (alert)	Avg claim value
Lost (parcel never scanned at delivery)	7	11.4	6	AUD 78
Damaged on arrival	5	4.2	1	AUD 142
Missing contents (parcel arrived empty/partial)	1	8.0	1	AUD 65
All claim types (this card)	13	8.4	8	AUD 96 avg

The card reads 13 open claims; the alert at >0 unresolved >7d is firing on 8 of them. Five things to notice:

Lost-parcel claims dominate the aged queue. 6 of 8 aged claims are lost-parcels; this is typical because Sendle’s investigation process for lost parcels takes longer than damaged (they need to retrace courier handling). The 11.4-day average sits within Sendle’s 5 to 10 business-day target window, so 6 aged is not unusual.
Damaged claims resolve fastest. Photo evidence at customer end means Sendle can often pay out within 3 to 5 days. Only 1 of 5 damaged claims is aged; that one likely needs additional evidence.
The 13 open claims at average AUD 96 = AUD 1,248 outstanding. Material for a small DTC brand. The financial exposure is the operative number for finance; the count is the operative number for operations.
AU vs US split (if applicable). Multi-region merchants should sub-divide because cover limits and resolution speeds differ. AUD 100 default cover is roughly equivalent to USD 100; cross-region merchants typically have parallel queues that the card pools.
Claim count rising while OTD is stable suggests theft or address-error. If the late count is flat but lost claims climb, the parcels are not being delayed, they are not arriving at all. Sendle’s investigation often traces these to driver mishandling or fraudulent delivery scans; the card flags the financial exposure, the incident-investigation happens at Sendle’s end.

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

Open claims is the financial-exposure tail of operational events. Pair with these to trace cause and impact:

Card	Why pair it with Open Claims	What the combination tells you
Claim Value (open)	The monetary exposure of the queue.	13 claims at AUD 50 each is operations noise; 13 claims at AUD 200 each is a finance escalation.
Exception Rate	Upstream cause. Exceptions become claims.	Climbing exception rate predicts a 7 to 14 day rise in open-claim count.
Failed Deliveries	Failed deliveries that never recover convert to lost-parcel claims.	Failed climb without claim climb = recovery is working. Both climbing = couriers losing parcels.
Returned to Sender	Alternative outcome. RTO is the parcel reversing; claim is the parcel disappearing.	RTO climb without claim climb = address-quality issue. Claim climb without RTO climb = courier-side issue.
OTD by Route	Identifies which zone is generating most claims.	Zone with high claim share + low OTD = network capacity issue in that zone.
Cross-connector: `shopify.refund_rate`	Downstream impact. Lost-parcel claims usually mean the merchant has refunded.	Open-claim spike typically follows Shopify refund-rate spike by 0 to 2 days; merchants refund customer first, file Sendle claim second.
Cross-connector: customer-support tickets	Upstream signal. “Where is my order” tickets predict claim filings.	Use as the leading-edge signal.

Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in Sendle’s own dashboard: Sendle Dashboard → Help → My Claims. The page lists all open and historical claims with status, age, claim type, and amount. The closest like-for-like view is Status: Open + Investigating, All Claim Types. Sendle’s claims process is single-vendor, so unlike multi-carrier orchestrators the portal view is exactly authoritative. Why our number may legitimately differ from Sendle’s portal:

Reason	Direction	Why
Status mapping	Either	Sendle exposes `awaiting_evidence` separately in the portal; the card pools it under “open”.
Real-time freshness	Ours can lag 5 to 15 minutes	The card polls the API at the workspace cadence; the portal reads live.
Auto-resolved claims	Ours can lag	Sendle webhook-fires claim resolution; the next poll cycle reflects it. Sub-15-minute lag is normal.
Multi-region accounts	Either	Merchants with both AU and US Sendle accounts need each connected separately; the card reads only the connected workspace.

Cross-connector reconciliation:

Card	Expected relationship	What causes legitimate divergence
`shopify.refund_rate`	Most lost-parcel claims trace back to a refund.	Replacements instead of refunds; chargebacks routed via payment processor.
Stripe / payment-processor disputes	Some carrier issues escalate to chargebacks.	Different timelines.
Customer support tools	Predicts claim filings 1 to 3 days ahead.	Tickets that resolve via re-delivery never become claims.

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

What is Sendle’s standard cover and when should I buy extended cover? Standard cover is included free: AUD 100 per parcel for AU shipments, USD 100 for US. Extended cover is purchasable at booking, up to AUD 1500 / USD 1500 per parcel, at a small per-parcel fee. Buy extended cover when parcel value exceeds AUD 100 / USD 100; otherwise the merchant absorbs the gap if the parcel is lost or damaged. Why is the resolution timeline 5 to 10 business days? Sendle investigates each claim with the underlying courier (Couriers Please, Aramex partner network, USPS partners). The investigation involves checking scan history, contacting the driver, and confirming evidence. The 5 to 10 day window covers most cases; complex cases (no scan history, cross-border, evidence dispute) can extend to 15 to 20 days. A claim was rejected. Why? Common rejection reasons. (1) Photo evidence not provided within 5 days of delivery for damaged claims. (2) Claim filed before 10 calendar days of “no scan” for lost claims (Sendle’s policy). (3) Cover exceeded (parcel value over AUD 100 without extended cover purchased). (4) Excluded item (perishables, hazmat, glass without proper packaging). Read the rejection note in the portal for the specific reason. My customer says “delivered” but the parcel never arrived. Lost or fraud? Sendle’s standard process: the customer files a non-receipt complaint, the merchant files a “delivered but missing” claim. Sendle investigates with the courier; if the GPS scan does not match the customer’s address, Sendle pays out. If GPS matches but the customer says missing, the merchant can choose to refund the customer goodwill-side and absorb the cost, or wait on Sendle’s investigation. The card flags the claim status; the resolution depends on courier evidence. My open-claim count dropped suddenly. Why? Three usual reasons. (1) Sendle’s monthly batch resolution (some accounts process claim resolutions weekly, others monthly). (2) Bulk auto-rejection due to documentation timeouts (claims past 30 days without merchant response are auto-closed). (3) Connector resync after a dashboard reconnection. Why is “missing contents” a separate claim type? A parcel arrived but contents are partial (one of two items inside, packaging tampered). Sendle treats this differently from “lost” (parcel never arrived) and “damaged” (parcel arrived broken). Photo evidence required, and Sendle often investigates with the courier to identify pickup-vs-handling failure. How does Sendle’s flat-rate model affect claims volume? Lower base claim volume than multi-carrier orchestrators, because Sendle’s contracted couriers are typically reliable on metro routes. The pattern shifts during peak; remote-zone claims spike during AU Christmas peak when contracted regional couriers are stretched. Can I file claims via API in bulk? Yes, Sendle’s Claims API supports POST. Most merchants use the dashboard for one-off filings; high-volume merchants automate via API integration with their customer-support tooling (auto-file claim when ticket is tagged “lost parcel”). Customer waited 10+ days for a parcel, is that automatically a claim? Not automatically. Sendle’s policy requires the merchant to file. Most operators set a customer-support workflow that auto-tags tickets and prompts the operator to file the claim through the Sendle UI. Without merchant action, the claim never opens.

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Open Claims is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Sendle 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 or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.

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The AI OS

At a glance

Calculation

Worked example

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

​At a glance

​Calculation

​Worked example

​Sibling cards merchants should reference together

​Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

​Known limitations / merchant FAQs

​Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

At a glance

Calculation

Worked example

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre