Short answer
Shipping insurance is coverage that reimburses the value of a package if it is lost, stolen or damaged between the store and the customer. It can come from the carrier, from a third-party insurer, or from a shipping protection app that adds an optional fee at checkout.Carriers include some liability by default, often a modest declared value per package, and sell extra coverage on top. Third-party policies cover a store's whole shipping volume. Checkout protection apps let the customer pay a small fee per order, and the app handles claims for protected orders. The difference matters, because each version decides who files the claim and who the customer deals with.
For support, insurance only helps if the team knows which kind the order has. Maya's sneakers on order #1081 arrived crushed. Did she buy protection at checkout? Is the claim filed by the store, by the app, or by her? Does the store reship now or wait? The policy needs to be written down and easy to find, because customers ask exactly these questions on the worst day of their order.
The habit that causes trouble is selling protection at checkout and then treating unprotected customers as if a lost parcel were their fault. Most customers see shipping as the store's responsibility, insurance or not, and a refusal reads as the store blaming them for the carrier.
Types of shipping insurance
| Type | Who pays | Who files the claim |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier declared value | the store, per shipment | the store, with the carrier |
| Third-party store policy | the store, across all shipments | the store, with the insurer |
| Checkout protection | the customer, as an add-on | often the customer, through the app |
| Self-insured | the store absorbs losses | nobody, the store just replaces |
The store's protection policy goes into Aide's knowledge, so a question like "is my order covered?" gets the answer the store actually stands behind. Because Aide checks the order and its carrier status first, a damaged or missing parcel gets a reply based on what really happened, while claims and replacements stay with staff, who see the whole order in the same thread. See how live order tracking feeds those answers.