ShipStation API offers two main ways to protect your shipments: Official Parcel Insurance and Carrier-Provided Insurance.
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Official Parcel Insurance Options (Requires enabling ShipStation Carriers; applies to any carrier):
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ParcelGuard – Exclusive to US-based accounts. See our ParcelGuard page for details.
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Total Shipping Protection by XCover – Available to UK, ES, DE, IT, and NL accounts.
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Carrier-Provided Insurance:
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Carrier Insurance – This coverage is supplied directly by your selected carrier, with claims filed through the carrier's own claim process. Availability varies, so please refer to the specific carrier guide.
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This article explainsTotal Shipping Protection by XCover is a shipment insurance option available to all ShipStation accounts based in the following countries:
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🇬🇧 United Kingdom (UK)
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🇪🇸 Spain (ES)
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🇩🇪 Germany (DE)
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🇮🇹 Italy (IT)
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🇳🇱 Netherlands (NL)
To enable Total Shipping Protection, you only need to activate ShipEngine Carriers. Once you have done so, you can start adding coverage to your shipments immediately!
Activate ShipStation API Carriers via the Dashboard
You must activate ShipStation API Carriers via the Shipstation API dashboard. You cannot make an API call to programmatically activate ShipStation API Carriers.
Once you enable ShipStation API carriers, you can add Total Shipping Protection by XCover as the insurance carrier for any shipment via ShipEStation API Carriers or any carrier you have connected to ShipStation API.
Then you can programmatically add insurance to a shipment when you make any of these three calls: calculate shipping costs, create a shipment, or purchase a label.
Supported Currency:
Both GBP and EUR are supported, depending on your region. Use gbp for UK accounts and eur for ES, DE, IT, and NL accounts.
The cost of coverage is based on the amount you assign to the amount property of the insured_value object:
{
"currency": "EUR",
"amount": 200
}
Review our Add Insurance to Shipments page for a complete call example.
The fee for the insurance will be deducted from your ShipEngine balance. Review our Add Funds to your ShipEngine Balance for details on how to fund your balance.
Total Shipping Protection covers shipments that have been lost, stolen, or damaged in transit. Total Shipping Protection will also reimburse you for return shipping costs (when your customer ships back damaged goods) and for the cost to reship new goods to your customer.
Total Shipping Protection covers the full value of domestic and international shipments up to £10,000 / €10,000. Insurance costs are calculated per £100 / €100 of declared value.
Per XCover's terms and conditions, coverage rates depend on the carrier and service you choose for your shipment and whether the shipment is domestic or international.
|
Account country |
Domestic |
Cross-border |
|---|---|---|
|
UK, ES, DE, NL |
1.1% |
1.5% |
|
IT |
1.63% |
3.9% |
If you void a label for a shipment that includes Total Shipping Protection or XCover, the insurance cost will be immediately refunded to your ShipEngine balance.
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Exclusions: Certain types of goods, including perishables, precious metals and stones, cash, and documents, cannot be insured by Total Shipping Protection. See the terms for your country for a full list of goods that cannot be covered:
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Cancellation Terms: If you need to cancel a shipment that you have added insurance coverage to, Total Shipping Protection will refund 100% of the cost of coverage if the shipment has not yet left the originating address (i.e., received by your carrier).
