> ## 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. # Exception Rate, ShippyPro > Exception Rate for ShippyPro 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:** [Shipping & Courier](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Share of ShippyPro shipments that recorded any non-progress tracking event during transit, pooled across every carrier ShippyPro orchestrated. Address invalid, attempted-no-answer, held at depot, customs hold, damaged, lost. The early-warning signal that predicts a falling [OTD Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/on-time-delivery-rate) at 24 to 72 hours, with the wrinkle that each of the 100+ supported carriers has its own exception taxonomy and ShippyPro normalises them. | | | | ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(shipments WHERE EXISTS(tracking_event WITH event_type IN exception_set)) / COUNT(shipments)` over the trailing 30 days. Each shipment scores once even if it threw multiple exceptions. | | **Delivery success criterion** | Not directly applicable. Exceptions surface during transit, not at terminal status. | | **On-time threshold** | Not applicable. The OTD card answers "did it arrive on time"; this card answers "did anything go wrong on the way". | | **Returns / RTO** | Outbound only by default. Easy Return shipments and RTS events appear separately ([Returned to Sender](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/returned-to-sender)). | | **Service level scope** | All carriers and services pooled. Per-carrier breakdown lives in [OTD by Route](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/otd-by-route) and [Rate-Shop Winner Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/rate-shop-winner-distribution). | | **Exception-event categories (normalised)** | (1) **Address** (invalid postcode, missing civic number for IT, missing CAP) \~30 percent. (2) **Recipient** (attempted-no-answer, refused, redirect to PUDO) \~26 percent. (3) **Depot/network** (held at depot, missed cutoff, ferragosto hold) \~24 percent. (4) **Customs / border** (cross-border to UK/CH/non-EU) \~12 percent. (5) **Damage / lost** \~8 percent. The mix is more border-heavy than ShipTheory because of cross-border share. | | **Currency** | Not applicable, this is a rate. | | **Time window** | `30D vsP` (rolling 30 days vs prior 30 days). | | **Alert trigger** | `>3%` critical, `>1%` warn, driven by `sentiment_key: exception_rate`. EU/IT benchmark on a balanced mix is 1.2 to 2.0 percent; cross-border-heavy accounts run 1.8 to 2.5 percent structurally because of customs events. Above 3 percent typically signals a sub-carrier or border event. | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your ShippyPro 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 Italian DTC fashion brand (BRT, DHL Express, Poste Italiane, GLS). Reading taken at 09:00 CET on 12 Mar 26 for the trailing 30 days (10 Feb 26 to 11 Mar 26). | Exception category | Shipments affected | % of total | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | ---------- | | Address (CAP missing, civic number missing, address-line invalid) | 138 | 0.86% | | Recipient (attempted-no-answer, refused, PUDO redirect requested) | 122 | 0.76% | | Depot / network (held at BRT/Poste depot, missed cutoff, weather hold) | 110 | 0.69% | | Customs / border (UK/CH cross-border declaration issues) | 56 | 0.35% | | Damage / lost | 38 | 0.24% | | **All exceptions (this card)** | **464** | **2.90%** | Total shipments in window: 16,000. Exception rate: **2.9 percent**. The card reads **2.9 percent** on the dial; the alert at `>3%` is **just under** the trip line. Five things to notice: 1. **Per-carrier exception rates differ structurally.** The 464 exceptions break down approximately: BRT \~150, Poste Italiane \~180, DHL Express \~50, GLS \~84. Poste Italiane's exception rate per parcel is the highest of the four; this is structural for a Posta 4 service, not a degradation. Pair with [OTD by Route](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/otd-by-route) to see where exceptions translate to OTD damage. 2. **Customs exceptions cluster on UK/CH lanes post-Brexit.** The 56 customs exceptions are almost entirely UK-IT and CH-IT cross-border, where commercial-invoice data is incomplete or HS codes are missing. Fix at the label-creation layer: ensure the Shopify or BigCommerce export passes correct `harmonized_code` and `commercial_invoice_value` to ShippyPro. 3. **Address exceptions cluster on Italian addresses with missing CAP or civic number.** Italian addresses require CAP (postal code) and civic number; many checkout flows allow these to be skipped. Install Italian-aware address validation (EgonReg, Loqate IT) at checkout. Typical lift: 50 to 70 percent reduction within 30 days. 4. **The 38 damage / lost cases are claim-eligible.** Each is an [Open Claim](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/open-claims) opportunity; claim processes vary materially per carrier (DHL Express auto-resolves at \~5 working days; Poste Italiane statutory window is 30+ days). Track ageing on [Open Claims](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/open-claims). 5. **Italian holidays distort the depot-hold category.** The 10 to 25 Aug ferragosto window typically lifts depot-hold exceptions by 3 to 5x because Italian carrier networks run skeleton crews. Pre-baseline customer-facing copy on those windows. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together Exception rate is the leading indicator. Pair with these to predict OTD damage and to find the operational lever: | Card | Why pair it with Exception Rate | What the combination tells you | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [On-Time Delivery Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/on-time-delivery-rate) | The downstream outcome. | Exception rate leads OTD by 24 to 72 hours. A 1-point exception rise predicts a 1.5 to 3 point OTD dip 2 to 3 days later. | | [OTD by Route](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/otd-by-route) | The per-carrier and per-lane view. | Identifies which carrier is generating the exception cluster; Poste Italiane and cross-border lanes show up here even when the headline OTD looks fine. | | [Late Shipments](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/late-shipments) | The volumetric workload that follows. | Use the exception count to forecast next week's CS-ticket load. | | [Failed Deliveries](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/failed-deliveries) | The subset of exceptions that ended in non-delivery. | High exception rate + low failed = self-resolving; high failed = exceptions escalating. | | [Open Claims](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/open-claims) | Damage / lost exceptions feed claims. | Damage / lost exception count + 7 to 14 days lag = future open-claim count. | | [Rate-Shop Winner Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/rate-shop-winner-distribution) | Exception rate moves with carrier mix. | Poste Italiane share rising = exception rate rising even if no carrier degraded. | | [Label Generation Success](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/label-generation-success-rate) | Adjacent operational signal. | Failed labels never enter the exception denominator; the card may under-read while label-gen is broken. | | Cross-connector: [`shopify.unfulfilled_orders`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/unfulfilled-orders) | Upstream label-data origin. | Shopify checkout addresses missing CAP or civic number produce IT address exceptions. Install Italian-aware validation. | | Cross-connector: [`bigcommerce.unfulfilled_orders`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/unfulfilled-orders) | Same upstream relationship for BC. | Same fix path. | | Cross-connector: [`shopify.refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/refund-rate) | Downstream financial impact. | Sustained exception spikes typically precede refund-rate climbs at 7 to 14 days. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in ShippyPro's own dashboard:** [ShippyPro Dashboard](https://www.shippypro.com/app) → **Tracking → Exceptions** (Italian: *Eccezioni*). The page lists shipments with at least one non-progress event over the chosen window with category, carrier, event timestamp, and resolution status. Closest like-for-like view: *Last 30 Days, All Carriers, All Categories*. ShippyPro also offers per-country lane filtering useful for diagnosing cross-border patterns. **Why our number may legitimately differ from ShippyPro's portal:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ---------------------------------------- | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Carrier event taxonomy normalisation** | Tiny | The 100+ supported carriers have varying event codes; ShippyPro normalises to a unified taxonomy. \~95 percent map cleanly; the residual 5 percent (legacy IT regional carriers, Spanish customs codes) can shift the count by 0.1 to 0.3 points. | | **Auto-resolved exceptions** | Either | Brief depot transit-pauses and short-lived holds may not appear in the portal's default view; the card includes them. Toggle *Include transient* in the portal to match. | | **Sync timing on most recent 1 to 6h** | Ours lower briefly | Tracking webhooks land in real time but the card aggregates on a 4-hour cycle; the portal recomputes overnight. | | **Time zone** | Boundary days | ShippyPro uses workspace timezone (CET/CEST for IT/EU accounts) for daily aggregation; we use UTC for cross-connector arithmetic. | | **Italian holiday smoothing** | Either | The portal historically allowed an "exclude ferragosto" toggle for August. The card does NOT smooth; year-on-year comparisons across August windows should annotate. | | **Returns leg** | Either | Easy Return events excluded by default here; the portal's unfiltered view includes them. | **Internal identity (within ShippyPro):** This card relates to [OTD Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/on-time-delivery-rate) by a leading-indicator relationship: `shippy_pro.otd_rate(t) ≈ baseline_otd - 1.5 × Δ(shippy_pro.exception_rate(t-2d))` A 1-point exception-rate rise typically translates to roughly 1.5 points of OTD drop two days later. Forecast-grade, not contractual. **Cross-connector reconciliation. Direct-carrier connectors vs ShippyPro:** If you also have direct-carrier connectors connected (direct DHL Express, direct Poste Italiane, direct GLS), do **not** sum exception rates. Each direct connector reads from the carrier's API with the carrier's native event taxonomy: * ShippyPro's view uses normalised taxonomy across all carriers. * Direct DHL uses DHL's native event codes which include events ShippyPro buckets differently. * Differences of 0.2 to 0.5 points are normal; larger gaps suggest the two are filtering shipments or events differently. ***
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple courier connectors) The Exception Rate metric exists with the same structural definition on every shipping connector in Vortex IQ, but underlying event taxonomies differ. Use these for navigation between docs. * [`royal_mail.roy_exception_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/royal-mail/exception-rate) * [`ship_theory.shi_exception_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ship-theory/exception-rate) (multi-carrier UK peer) * [`sendle.sen_exception_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/sendle/exception-rate) (single-carrier AU/US peer) * [`shipbob.sb_health_score`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shipbob/operational-health-score) (3PL composite peer)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why is my ShippyPro exception rate spiking?** Three usual causes, in order of likelihood: 1. **Address-quality regression at checkout, especially on Italian addresses.** A storefront change (new theme, missing CAP validator) typically produces a step-change in IT address exceptions within 7 to 14 days. 2. **Carrier capacity stress (ferragosto, Christmas, Pasqua).** Italian and EU peak windows lift depot-hold exceptions materially. Ferragosto is the worst. 3. **Cross-border customs friction.** Post-Brexit UK-IT lanes, CH-IT lanes, and any non-EU shipment that requires harmonised codes generate customs exceptions when the label data is incomplete. Recently-added cross-border lanes spike this category. **Action:** identify which category is driving. Address = fix at checkout with IT-aware validation; depot/recipient = monitor and communicate; customs = fix label-creation data flow. **My exception rate is 2.9 percent. Is that high?** For a balanced IT-domestic mix, yes; benchmark is 1.2 to 2.0 percent. For a cross-border-heavy mix (>30 percent UK / CH / non-EU), 2.9 percent is closer to the structural floor; benchmark 1.8 to 2.5 percent. Read in conjunction with the cross-border lane share. **How can I reduce ShippyPro exceptions?** Five practical levers: 1. **Install Italian-aware address validation at checkout.** EgonReg, Loqate IT, Subito-Address. Validates CAP, civic number, and address-line completeness against the official Italian post-office database. Typical lift: 50 to 70 percent reduction in IT address exceptions within 30 days. 2. **Fix the harmonised-code and commercial-invoice flow for cross-border.** Most cross-border customs exceptions come from missing or incorrect HS codes; ensure your Shopify or BC export passes correct `harmonized_code` and `commercial_invoice_value` to ShippyPro. Eliminates most customs exceptions on UK / CH / non-EU lanes. 3. **Shift Friday despatch to before lunch.** Italian carriers (BRT, Poste) end Friday collection earlier than UK or AU peers; pull cutoffs to 12:00 to claim the Friday morning collection. 4. **Move medium-value parcels off Poste Italiane.** A few cents per parcel for material exception-rate improvement on the affected slice. 5. **Pre-empt ferragosto with widened ETAs.** Customers seeing accurate "delivered by 22 Aug" expectations on a 10 Aug order will not generate as many "where is my order" tickets as those expecting the original 16 Aug. Reduces perceived exception-rate cost even when operational number is unchanged. **Why does my daily exception rate swing so much?** Small-number noise plus carrier-specific batch events. A single BRT or Poste depot incident can move daily exception rate by 5 to 10 points. **Look at the rolling 7-day or 30-day rate.** **My ShippyPro exception rate is higher than my direct DHL Express rate. Is that real?** Yes, structurally. ShippyPro pools across all carriers including Poste Italiane (highest exception rate); direct DHL only sees DHL Express (one of the lowest). The aggregate ShippyPro number sits well above the direct-DHL number whenever Poste handles a meaningful share. Both are correct; they answer different questions. **Does ferragosto / August materially affect my baseline?** Yes. Italian DTC exception rates typically lift 1.5 to 3x during 10-25 Aug across all Italian carriers. Year-on-year comparisons across August should annotate; quarter-on-quarter comparisons that include August require normalisation. **Should I retune rate-shop based on this card alone?** No. The aggregate tells you something is wrong; [OTD by Route](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/otd-by-route) and [Rate-Shop Winner Mix](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shippy-pro/rate-shop-winner-distribution) tell you which carrier and lane. Pair before retuning. **Are exceptions counted in ShippyPro's monthly billing?** No. ShippyPro's pricing is per-shipment (label printed). An exceptioned shipment requiring re-attempt or RTS does not generate additional ShippyPro fees; the underlying carrier may charge re-attempt or RTS fees per their contract terms. **When does today's exception reading swing most?** After 11:00 CET, when the morning's BRT and Poste tracking events start landing. Before 11:00 the day's data is incomplete. Use 24-hour-old readings for board-grade decisions. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Exception Rate* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across ShippyPro 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.