Shopify Shipping insurance is not a Shopify policy. Per Shopify’s Help Center, it is coverage administered by Shipsurance that you can add to labels bought in Shopify admin, up to $5,000 per shipment, at $0.89 per $100 of coverage on domestic shipments and $1.29 per $100 on international ones, as of November 2026. Stores on Grow, Advanced or Plus that use Shopify Payments also get up to $200 of included coverage per eligible label. I am Trevor Fenner at Ecommerce Paradise, and this guide pulls the coverage, costs and claim rules from Shopify’s Help Center and the carriers’ own pages so you can decide whether to pay for it.
Disclosure: some links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Terms change, so check the provider before you buy. This is general information, not financial or legal advice.
Shopify Shipping Insurance at a Glance (as of November 2026)
There are three layers of protection on a Shopify label: the carrier’s built-in liability, the coverage Shopify includes on some plans, and extra insurance you can buy. This table shows what each page lists.
| Layer | Amount | Cost | Who files the claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify included coverage | Up to $200 per eligible label (Grow, Advanced, Plus with Shopify Payments) | Included | Shipsurance |
| Shopify purchased coverage | Up to $5,000, in $100 steps | $0.89 per $100 domestic, $1.29 per $100 international | Shipsurance |
| USPS included coverage | Up to $100 on Ground Advantage, Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express | Included | USPS, if no added insurance |
| UPS included coverage | Up to $100, or $50 on Ground Saver | Included | Through Shopify admin |
| DHL Express | Limited by value or weight, amount not shown | Included | Through Shopify admin |
The short version is that cheap, light orders under $100 are mostly covered already, and the decision gets real once an order passes $200. The rest of this guide explains each layer and how to price it for your store.
What Shopify Shipping Insurance Is
Shopify’s shipping insurance help page describes it as protection against loss, theft or damage for shipments sent with labels bought through Shopify. It names Shipsurance as the insurance administrator for this coverage. Shopify does not handle the claims itself, which matters when something goes wrong, because your claim goes to Shipsurance and not to a Shopify support agent.
The shipment must originate in the United States, and the product must comply with Shipsurance’s terms of service. The page also says coverage is only available in specific geographic regions and tells you to check your location’s requirements, but it does not list the countries. If you ship from outside the US, confirm eligibility in your own admin before you plan around it.
Included Coverage by Plan
Shopify includes up to $200 of coverage on each eligible label for stores on the Grow, Advanced or Plus plan that use Shopify Payments. Managed Markets labels on those plans get the same $200. Basic-plan stores in Managed Markets do not get included coverage, but they can buy it.
The page says included coverage does not stack across services, so each eligible shipment is capped at $200 in included coverage. If you are comparing plan prices, my Shopify pricing guide covers what each plan costs and why this perk is only one small part of the choice.
What Extra Coverage Costs
You can add coverage in $100 increments up to $5,000. Shopify lists $0.89 per $100 for domestic shipments and $1.29 per $100 for international ones. Its own example is $1.29 times three, or $3.87, for $300 of international coverage. For orders over $200 you can insure the full shipment value or a custom amount.
The table below applies those rates to common order values. These are my example calculations, and they assume you buy the full amount with no credit for included coverage, because the page does not explain how included coverage and purchased coverage are billed together.
| Coverage bought | Domestic premium | International premium |
|---|---|---|
| $100 | $0.89 | $1.29 |
| $300 | $2.67 | $3.87 |
| $500 | $4.45 | $6.45 |
| $1,000 | $8.90 | $12.90 |
| $2,500 | $22.25 | $32.25 |
| $5,000 | $44.50 | $64.50 |
In percentage terms the domestic rate is 0.89% of the insured value and the international rate is 1.29%. On a $1,200 domestic order you would insure $1,200 for $10.68, which is 12 steps of $100 at $0.89. That cost needs to fit inside your margin, and I show how to test that further down.
USPS: Included Coverage and Claims
Shopify’s USPS page lists included liability coverage of up to $100 on Ground Advantage, Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express, and up to $200 on Priority Mail International and Priority Mail Express International. It says you can buy additional shipping insurance when you purchase a label.
USPS says on its insurance page that domestic included insurance needs a USPS Tracking barcode, and that purchased insurance goes up to $5,000 with fees starting at $2.80 based on declared value. USPS does not list per-$100 rates on that page, so I cannot compare it with Shopify’s rate beyond that starting fee.
Two exclusions matter. Shopify’s insurance page says USPS First Class Mail is not eligible for the added insurance. For USPS claims without added insurance, Shopify says you submit the claim to USPS online within 7 to 60 days of shipping, and approved claims are paid by check mailed to the address on your USPS online account. USPS itself says lost items should be claimed within 60 days of mailing and damaged ones immediately, no later than 60 days, with the postmarked receipt and proof of value.
UPS: Included Coverage and Claims
Shopify’s UPS page says insurance is included with every UPS label purchase, capped at $50 for Ground Saver and $100 for all other UPS methods. You can add more insurance when you buy the label. The page does not state the cost or maximum for the add-on, and it does not mention UPS Carrier Protection or declared value, so I will not guess at figures for either.
For claims, you submit them in Shopify admin as soon as you find the problem. UPS must receive notice within 60 days after delivery, or within 60 days after the scheduled delivery date for lost packages. Damage claims need three photos, a description and the receiver’s phone number. Ground Saver claims are not eligible if the package was lost or damaged while USPS had it, or if tracking shows it as delivered. Late-delivery refund requests must be filed within 15 calendar days.
The insurance page adds that UPS shipments to Puerto Rico are not eligible for the added insurance. I tried to load UPS’s own declared value page and it did not load, so UPS’s direct limits are not shown here.
DHL Express: Included Coverage and Claims
Shopify’s DHL Express page says DHL’s coverage is limited based on shipment value or weight and points to DHL’s terms of carriage without giving a dollar amount. It says DHL’s liability is strictly limited to direct loss and damage to the shipment. You can add insurance at label purchase, and the page gives no amounts or costs.
The claim window is short: you file within 25 days after package pickup, and claims for late shipments are not supported. DHL Express through Shopify also ships only to international addresses from the continental US, per that page.
DHL sells its own cover too. On its optional services page, DHL Express lists Shipment Value Protection at a $11.55 minimum for up to $700 of coverage, plus $1.65 per additional $100. By my arithmetic that is $16.50 for $1,000. That is DHL’s own product for shipments booked with DHL, and I do not know whether Shopify label buyers can use it, so treat it as a price comparison point only.
Carrier Coverage and Insurance Do Not Stack
This is the rule people miss. Shopify’s insurance page says that if a label has both insurance and carrier coverage, you file with Shipsurance, not the carrier, and that the two do not combine. So a $100 USPS included amount does not add to $200 of Shopify coverage to make $300. Count your protection as the larger of the layers, not the sum.
The page also does not list FedEx details, so for FedEx labels I did not find insurance rules on the pages I loaded. If most of your volume is FedEx, check your own label screen and the carrier before you rely on any coverage.
How to File a Shipsurance Claim
- Open the order in Shopify admin, select the menu button and choose File claim.
- Enter the claim type, the discovery date and the reason.
- Enter a claim amount no higher than the coverage you paid for.
- Choose how you want to be paid and add the contact or address details.
- Enter your email address so Shipsurance can follow up.
- Accept the disclaimer and submit.
You then receive an email with a claim ID and a link to the Shipsurance portal where you can track the claim. Shopify says most shipments can be claimed starting 24 hours after shipping and up to 120 days from the ship date. The page gives a Shipsurance claims email and phone line for questions, and it states Shopify itself does not handle claims.
Cancelling Insurance and Voiding Labels
If you void an unused label within 30 days of purchase, the insurance is cancelled, you cannot file a claim, and you receive a premium credit that applies only to future insurance purchases. That means a voided label does not return the insurance premium as cash.
Is Shopify Shipping Insurance Worth It for Your Store
This section is my opinion. The premium is a tiny share of an order, but it is a real cost that repeats on every shipment, so the test is simple: compare the premium with the chance and the cost of a loss.
Take an order worth $600 that you ship domestically. Coverage for $600 costs $5.34, which is six steps at $0.89. If your store loses or damages roughly one parcel in 200, the average cost of insuring that parcel is $5.34 while the average loss without cover is $600 divided by 200, or $3.00, before reshipping costs. In that example, the premium costs more than the expected loss, but it also removes the bad month where three high-value parcels go missing. The right answer depends on your real loss rate, which only your own order data can tell you, so the one-in-200 figure here is purely an illustration.
A practical way to decide is to set a threshold. One approach is to insure only orders above what included coverage already handles, which on Grow, Advanced and Plus is $200. Another is to insure everything above the carrier’s included amount and skip tiny orders. If you track losses for a quarter, you will know within a few hundred shipments whether the premium paid for itself.
Shipping Insurance for High-Ticket Stores
High-value orders are where the numbers shift. A $2,500 item costs $22.25 to insure domestically, which is 0.89% of the order, and a single uninsured loss costs you far more than ten premiums. Most of the products on my high-ticket niches list are big or fragile, so also check packaging, signature rules and carrier weight limits before you rely on insurance alone.
In the dropshipping model, the supplier usually ships the order, so you may never buy a label through Shopify at all. In that case Shopify Shipping insurance does not apply, and the supplier’s policy and terms decide who pays for a loss. My guide to finding suppliers includes the questions I would ask about damage and lost freight before signing anything.
When a Different Shipping Tool Makes Sense
Shopify’s labels are convenient, but they are not the only option. Third-party label tools sell their own insurance. Shippo’s pricing page, for example, says you pay postage, your plan fee and optional insurance. I did not verify other tools’ insurance prices for this article, so check each vendor’s page before you compare.
If you want to compare label tools in more depth, my Shippo vs Pirate Ship comparison includes an insurance section.
My Shippo vs Stamps.com comparison covers a third option. If you want to try Shippo alongside your store, its pricing page lists a free plan for up to 30 labels a month.
Shipping Insurance Is Not Business Insurance
Shipment insurance covers one parcel. It does not replace a product liability policy, a general liability policy or cyber coverage. For those, read my ecommerce insurance guide, which covers product liability, cyber and business owner policies. Set up the company properly first, using my business formation guide, because insurers and carriers will ask for your business details.
Insurance also does not stop disputes. If a customer files a chargeback because a package never arrived, the shipment claim and the card dispute run on separate tracks, and you need proof of delivery for both. Keep tracking, photos and signature records for every high-value order. If you are on Shopify, you may be paying other charges that eat into the margin you are trying to protect.
My Shopify fee breakdown lists them by plan, so you can see the whole cost of an order before you add insurance on top.
What I Could Not Verify
- Per-carrier maximums for added insurance on USPS, UPS and DHL Express labels: not shown on the Shopify pages I loaded.
- UPS declared value and Carrier Protection: UPS’s own page did not load.
- FedEx insurance rules on Shopify labels: not shown on the pages I loaded.
- The list of countries and regions where coverage is available: not listed on the page.
- How included coverage and purchased coverage are billed together: not explained on the page.
For any of these, open the label purchase screen in your admin and read the coverage line before you buy, because that screen is the current source of truth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Shopify offer shipping insurance?
Yes, through Shipsurance for labels bought in Shopify admin. Shopify’s Help Center says you can buy up to $5,000 of coverage, and that Grow, Advanced and Plus stores using Shopify Payments get up to $200 included per eligible label. Shopify does not handle the claims itself.
How much does Shopify shipping insurance cost?
Shopify lists $0.89 per $100 of coverage for domestic shipments and $1.29 per $100 for international ones, as of November 2026. For example, $300 of international coverage is $3.87. You buy it in $100 steps.
Is shipping insurance included with Shopify Shipping?
Partly. Carriers include some liability, such as up to $100 on most USPS services and up to $100 on UPS, or $50 on Ground Saver. Shopify adds up to $200 per eligible label on Grow, Advanced and Plus with Shopify Payments, but the layers do not combine.
How do I file a Shopify shipping insurance claim?
Open the order in Shopify admin, choose File claim, and complete the claim type, date, reason, amount and payout details. Shipsurance emails you a claim ID and a tracking link. Most shipments can be claimed from 24 hours after shipping up to 120 days from the ship date.
What does Shopify shipping insurance not cover?
Shopify’s page excludes USPS First Class Mail and UPS shipments to Puerto Rico from the added insurance, and products must comply with Shipsurance’s terms. The shipment must also originate in the United States. Read the terms for anything unusual before you ship it.
Related Articles
If you are working out shipping costs and risk, these guides cover the pieces around insurance:
- Shopify Fees in 2026: Every Charge, Rates by Plan and Real Examples
- Shippo vs Pirate Ship in 2026: Which Shipping Software Is Right for Your Ecommerce Store?
- Shippo vs Stamps.com in 2026: Which Shipping Software Is Right for Your Business?
- Ecommerce Insurance Explained: Product Liability, Cyber, BOP and Shipping Coverage (2026)
- Dropshipping Shipping Policy: What to Include and Sample Wording (2026)
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
