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Metrics type: Key Metrics • Category: Shipping & Courier

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At a glance

Real-time count of carrier claims open against shipments routed via ShipTheory. Because ShipTheory is an aggregator (it does not pay claims itself), every claim sits with the underlying sub-carrier (Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, Parcelforce, Yodel) under that carrier’s process and SLA. Resolution timelines vary materially by carrier; the card pools them.

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Calculation

Calculated automatically from your ShipTheory data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

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Worked example

The UK home & garden merchant. Reading taken at 09:00 GMT on 12 Mar 26. The card reads 42; 32 are aged past 7 days. Five things to notice:
  1. Royal Mail dominates the aged queue (16 of 32) but their 30-day statutory window means most are within process. Operationally “aged Royal Mail claim” is normal until day 30; only escalate beyond that. Set per-carrier thresholds in workspace settings to suppress noise.
  2. DPD is the benchmark. 4 claims, all under 4 days, none aged. DPD’s claims process is the cleanest in the UK mass-market mix; if their claim count is climbing relative to volume, something specific is happening on that lane.
  3. Evri at 11 aged claims is the actionable middle. Big enough to chase, slow enough to age. Evri’s claim process accepts merchant-side photo evidence and bulk submissions; consolidate aged claims into a weekly batch escalation.
  4. Lost (28 of 42) vs Damaged (14 of 42). UK pattern. Lost claims dominate at Royal Mail and Evri (smaller-parcel networks with more handover hops). Damaged claims dominate at DPD and Parcelforce (larger parcels, more visible damage). Read Failed Deliveries alongside.
  5. 42 claims at average GBP 32 = GBP 1,344 outstanding. Material for a small mid-market merchant; the financial exposure is the operative number for finance.

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Sibling cards merchants should reference together

Open claims is a queue depth; pair with these to size the impact and find the cause.

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Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in ShipTheory’s own dashboard: ShipTheory Dashboard → Claims. The page lists open claims with sub-carrier, status, age, claim amount, and last-carrier-update timestamp. Closest like-for-like view: Status: Open + Pending, All Carriers. The portal also surfaces the carrier’s claim-status webhook events for diagnosing why a claim has not moved. Why our number may legitimately differ from ShipTheory’s portal: Cross-connector reconciliation:

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Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Why does Royal Mail take so long? 30 calendar days is statutory before they investigate a “lost” claim. Lost-mail processing in the UK postal service goes through a defined investigation cycle that respects national service obligations. The card alert at >7 days is generic; for Royal Mail, raise to >30 days to suppress noise. Why does Evri’s process take longer than DPD? Evri’s distributed courier model means investigation requires contacting individual self-employed drivers (or their depot lead), which adds days. DPD operates a centralised in-house network with faster claim adjudication. Expect 2 to 3x longer cycle on Evri vs DPD. A claim was rejected. Why? Common rejection reasons. (1) Photo evidence not provided within carrier’s window for damage (Royal Mail 5 days, DPD 7 days, Evri 14 days, varies). (2) Lost claim filed before statutory minimum days of “no scan”. (3) Excluded item (perishables, hazardous, no-cover items per carrier list). (4) Cover exceeded (parcel value above carrier’s standard cover, no extended purchased). Read the rejection note in the portal. My customer says delivered but parcel never arrived. Lost or fraud? UK pattern. File a “delivered but missing” claim through the carrier; carrier checks GPS scan vs delivery point. If GPS does not match, carrier pays out. If GPS matches but customer disputes, you choose: refund customer goodwill and absorb cost, or wait for carrier investigation (often 14 to 30 days, often inconclusive). The card flags status; resolution depends on carrier evidence. Can I file claims via API in bulk? Yes. ShipTheory’s Claims API supports POST. Most operators integrate with their support tool to auto-file claims when a “lost parcel” tag is set; high-volume merchants run nightly batch jobs. Why is my open-claim count rising during peak? UK Christmas peak (mid-Nov to 23 Dec) plus January remnants. Carriers run hot, courier capacity at limit, more parcels lost or damaged. Open-claim count typically rises 50 to 100% during peak and unwinds through January and February as the queue resolves. Plan budgets accordingly. Industrial action, what happens to claims? Royal Mail strikes specifically pause claim filings (Royal Mail does not investigate during strike weeks); claim count climbs without status changes. Once strikes end, the queue clears in 4 to 8 weeks. Set workspace alerts to suppress during known strike windows. 3PL operations, does my 3PL file claims for me? Some do, most do not. Ask. ShipTheory accounts attached to a 3PL warehouse may have the warehouse staff filing on the merchant’s behalf via shared dashboard access; the card reflects all filings on the connected account regardless of who filed.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Open Claims is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across ShipTheory 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.