At a glance
Real-time count of carrier claims open against shipments orchestrated by ShippyPro: lost parcels, damaged goods, mis-deliveries where the merchant has filed a claim with the underlying carrier (BRT, DHL, GLS, DHL Express, Poste Italiane etc.) and is waiting on resolution. Because ShippyPro is multi-carrier, an “open claim” can sit with any one of the 100+ supported carriers; the card pools them.
| What it counts | COUNT(claims WHERE status IN ('open', 'pending_carrier_response', 'awaiting_documents') AND created_at <= now). Real-time read against ShippyPro’s claims module; pooled across every connected carrier. |
| API endpoint | GET /claims (ShippyPro REST API). The card reads claim_id, carrier, status, created_at, claim_amount, currency, shipment_id, last_carrier_update_at. |
| Carrier-resolution scope | All carriers pooled. Each carrier runs its own claims process and SLA: DHL Express auto-resolves loss claims at 5 working days, BRT typically 10 to 20, Poste Italiane 30+. The card does not segment, the time-to-resolution variance is the operational reality. |
| Claim trigger | A claim is filed when the merchant marks a shipment lost, damaged, incorrect_delivery, or delivery_dispute in the ShippyPro UI or via API. Auto-claims (some carriers offer them on delivery_failed events) are also counted. |
| Returns / RTO | Return-to-Sender events do not generate claims; they reverse without dispute. A returned parcel that arrived damaged is a claim. |
| Currency | Open count is dimensionless. The monetary exposure lives in Claim Value (open), denominated in the merchant’s workspace currency (FX-converted at claim creation time). |
| Time window | RT (real-time). The card reads the live claims roster; there is no rolling window. |
| Alert trigger | >0 unresolved >7d. Any claim still in open status seven or more calendar days after creation trips the alert. The seven-day cutoff is generous for fast carriers (DHL Express) and tight for slow ones (Poste Italiane). |
| Roles | owner, operations, finance |
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 (multi-carrier ShippyPro setup), reading taken at 09:00 CET on 12 Mar 26.| Carrier | Open claims | Avg age (days) | Aged >7d (alert) | Status mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRT | 14 | 9.2 | 9 | 8 lost, 4 damaged, 2 mis-delivery |
| DHL Express | 3 | 2.1 | 0 | 2 damaged, 1 lost |
| GLS | 6 | 5.8 | 2 | 4 damaged, 2 lost |
| Poste Italiane | 22 | 19.4 | 21 | 18 lost, 4 damaged |
| All carriers (this card) | 45 | 12.7 | 32 |
>0 unresolved >7d is firing on 32 of them. Five things to notice:
- Poste Italiane dominates the aged-claim queue. 21 of the 32 aged claims sit with Poste; their statutory 30-day window before Poste even responds is structural. Operationally, this is “expected age” not “lost paperwork”. The fix is not chasing harder; it is shifting volume off Poste for high-value parcels.
- DHL Express is the benchmark. Three claims, all under 3 days, none aged. DHL’s 5-working-day auto-resolve on lost parcels is real; their claims SLA is the cleanest in the carrier mix. If your DHL claim count is climbing relative to volume, something in the lane (customs, theft hot-spot) is breaking the typical pattern.
- The 14 BRT claims are the actionable middle. Big enough to chase, fast enough to resolve. Claims aged >10 days at BRT typically need an account-manager nudge to escalate; their default queue runs slow but responds to push.
- Mix of lost vs damaged matters. 30 of 45 claims are
lost(no delivery scan, parcel never arrived) vs 14damaged. Lost claims pay out more often (carriers absorb the loss); damaged claims need merchant-side photo evidence and pay out less reliably. Read Claim Value (open) to see expected vs at-risk. - Aged-claim count is a finance signal as much as an operations signal. 32 aged claims at average value EUR 65 = EUR 2,080 outstanding. If they age past statutory windows (varies per carrier, typically 90 to 180 days), the merchant loses the claim entirely. The card surfaces the queue; finance writes off when aged >180 days.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
Open claims is a queue depth, not a rate. Pair with these to size the impact and find the cause:| Card | Why pair it with Open Claims | What the combination tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Claim Value (open) | The monetary exposure of the open queue. | 45 claims at EUR 25 each is operations noise; 45 claims at EUR 200 each is a finance issue. Always read together. |
| Exception Rate | Upstream cause. Exceptions become claims. | Climbing exception rate predicts a 7 to 14 day rise in open-claim count. A spike in exceptions without a claim follow-on means merchants are absorbing the loss instead of filing. |
| Failed Deliveries | Failed deliveries that never recover convert to lost-parcel claims. | Failed-delivery climb without claim climb = recoveries are working. Both climbing = network is dropping parcels. |
| Returned to Sender | RTO is the alternate outcome to a claim. | RTO and claims are mutually exclusive paths for a non-delivered parcel. Total non-delivery = RTO + claims. |
| OTD by Route | Identifies which carrier/lane is generating most claims. | Carrier with high open-claim share + low OTD = candidate for rate-shop rule change. |
Cross-connector: shopify.refund_rate | Downstream impact. Lost-parcel claims usually mean the merchant has refunded the customer. | Open-claim spike typically lags Shopify refund-rate spike by 0 to 2 days; merchant refunds first, then files the carrier claim. |
| Cross-connector: customer support ticket volume (Zendesk, Intercom) | Upstream signal. “Where is my order” tickets predict claim filings 1 to 3 days ahead. | Use as the leading-edge signal for inbound claim load. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in ShippyPro’s own dashboard: ShippyPro Dashboard → Claims & Disputes → Open Claims (Italian: “Reclami Aperti”). The portal shows the same roster with carrier filter, age column, and claim-amount column. The closest like-for-like view is Status: Open + Pending, All Carriers. ShippyPro also shows the carrier’s last response timestamp, useful for diagnosing “why has this claim not moved”. Why our number may legitimately differ from ShippyPro’s portal:| Reason | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Status mapping | Either | ShippyPro’s portal sometimes shows awaiting_documents separately; the card pools it under “open”. If the portal toggles “all open states” the totals match. |
| Real-time freshness | Ours can lag 5 to 15 minutes | The card polls the claims endpoint at the workspace cadence; the portal reads live. Persistent gap >30 minutes = check connector health. |
| Auto-resolved claims | Ours can lag | DHL Express auto-resolves on day 5; ShippyPro receives the resolution webhook within minutes; the card reads the next poll cycle. Today’s count can include claims the portal already shows resolved. |
| Multi-workspace setups | Either | Workspaces with multiple ShippyPro accounts (different country LegalEntities) need each connected separately; the card reads only the connected workspace. |
| Statute-aged claims | Ours sticky | Claims aged >statutory window (carrier-dependent, 90 to 180 days) should be written off but sometimes remain open in ShippyPro. The card reads what is open; finance writes off externally. |
| Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence |
|---|---|---|
shopify.refund_rate | Most lost-parcel claims trace back to a refund issued to the customer. | Merchants who replace instead of refund; chargebacks routed through the payment processor not Shopify; gift orders with no refund. |
| Stripe / payment-processor disputes | Some carrier issues escalate to chargebacks before claim filing. | Different timelines; chargeback can pre-date the carrier claim. |
| Customer-support tools | ”Where is my order” ticket volume predicts claim filings. | Tickets that resolve via re-delivery never become claims; tickets that escalate do. |
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
Why are my Poste Italiane claims always aged >7 days? Structural. Poste Italiane’s statutory response window for lost-parcel claims is up to 30 calendar days from filing. The 7-day alert threshold is generic; for Poste-heavy merchants, raise it to 30 days for Poste-only claim type. Operationally, “aged Poste claim” is normal until day 30; only escalate beyond that. A claim resolved on the carrier side but the card still shows it open. Why? Webhook latency. ShippyPro receives a resolution webhook within minutes for major carriers (DHL, GLS, BRT) and the next poll cycle reflects it. Smaller carriers post resolutions via email-confirmation only; ShippyPro relies on merchant marking them resolved manually. If a resolved claim sits inopen more than 24 hours, mark it resolved in the portal.
How do I segment lost vs damaged claims?
The card pools them. Use ShippyPro’s portal filter to break out, or pair with Failed Deliveries which flags lost-only. Damaged claims need photo evidence within 48 hours of delivery scan; merchants who miss that window lose the claim.
Multi-currency claims, how is the count affected?
Count is currency-blind, one claim is one. The monetary impact lives in Claim Value (open), which FX-converts at claim creation time using the workspace base currency. A multi-country merchant on euros base will see GBP and CHF claims converted at filing-day rates.
Why did my open-claim count drop suddenly?
Three usual reasons. (1) Bulk auto-resolution by a carrier (DHL Express runs weekly batches). (2) Manual write-off by your finance team marking aged claims as resolved-not-paid. (3) Connector reconnect sometimes resyncs status from carrier source-of-truth. Check audit log in the portal.
Should I file claims for every late shipment?
No. Filing has a per-claim labour cost (~10 to 15 minutes for documentation upload) and small-value lates often resolve as on-time on retry; over-filing strains your carrier account-management relationship. Most operators file claims at lost-status threshold (no scan in >7 days) or damage threshold (customer photo evidence). The card reflects what you have filed; under-filing is invisible here, watch Exception Rate for the upstream signal.
How does ShippyPro vs direct-carrier claim filing differ?
ShippyPro’s claims module submits the claim to the carrier on your behalf and tracks status via a uniform interface; carriers still process claims under their own SLA and rules. The card reads ShippyPro’s view; the carrier’s portal remains source-of-truth for payment release. For high-value claims (>EUR 1000), most operators also escalate via direct carrier account contact.
What about EU customs claims (parcels stuck at border)?
ShippyPro tracks these under the same open status with a different sub-reason. Customs claims rarely pay out (the carrier did not lose the parcel; customs held it); the merchant typically pays customs duty/delay surcharge instead. These claims clog the queue but do not cost the carrier directly. Read Shipments by Destination for cross-border lane health.