Add Insurance to Shipments

You can add insurance to a shipment when getting a rate, creating a shipment, or purchasing a label. You’ll set the insurance_provider property at the shipment level and the insured_value property at the package level (for multipackage shipments, you’ll need to do this for every package in the shipment).

Supported values for the insurance_provider property:

Value	Description
`none`	This is the default value for this property and means the package will not be insured. Does not affect reimbursement from carriers that provide default coverage.
`funding_source`	This option will assign the insurance provider available with ShipEngine Carriers to the shipment (currently ParcelGuard). The response will auto-populate the `insurance_provider` field with `parcelguard`.
`parcelguard`	This option will assign ParcelGuard as the insurance provider for the shipment. Using this value is functionally the same as using the 'funding_source' value.
`carrier`	This option will add the carrier’s insurance to the package if the carrier supports it.
`third_party`	This option allows you to indicate the package is insured by a third-party insurance service. Using this value does not add insurance to a shipment. Use this option if you have your own parcel insurance account and wish to identify packages insured externally for reporting purposes.
`shipsurance`	This option is available to ShipEngine accounts that activated Shipsurance prior to July 10, 2024 and wish to continue using the Shipsurance coverage option.

If the insurance_provider field is set to anything other than none, you will also need to set the insured_value of each package in the shipment. For example:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
{
  "insurance_provider": "funding_source",
  "packages": [
    {
      "insured_value": {
        "currency": "usd",
        "amount": 200
      }
    }
  ]
}

Example Request & Response

This is an example of a Purchase Label request for a shipment insured with ParcelGuard.

Request

POST v1/labels

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
POST /v1/labels HTTP/1.1
Host: api.shipengine.com
API-Key: __YOUR_API_KEY_HERE__
Content-Type: application/json
{
  "shipment": {
    "service_code": "usps_priority_mail",
    "ship_to": {
      "name": "Amanda Miller",
      "phone": "555-555-5555",
      "address_line1": "525 S Winchester Blvd",
      "city_locality": "San Jose",
      "state_province": "CA",
      "postal_code": "95128",
      "country_code": "US",
      "address_residential_indicator": "yes"
    },
    "ship_from": {
      "company_name": "Example Corp.",
      "name": "John Doe",
      "phone": "111-111-1111",
      "address_line1": "4009 Marathon Blvd",
      "address_line2": "Suite 300",
      "city_locality": "Austin",
      "state_province": "TX",
      "postal_code": "78756",
      "country_code": "US",
      "address_residential_indicator": "no"
    },
    "confirmation": "none",
    "insurance_provider": "funding_source",
    "packages": [
      {
        "weight": {
          "value": 1,
          "unit": "ounce"
        },
        "insured_value": {
          "currency": "usd",
          "amount": 200
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response

The response will include the insurance_cost property that shows the insurance fee (add to the shipment_cost amount for the total cost of the label including insurance) and the URL to use if you need to file an insurance claim.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
{
    "label_id": "se-test-41817394",
    "status": "processing",
    "shipment_id": "se-41817394",
    "ship_date": "2024-04-03T00:00:00Z",
    "created_at": "2024-04-03T17:30:19.9541821Z",
    "shipment_cost":
      {
       "currency": "usd",
        "amount": 9.89
      },
    "insurance_cost":
      {
        "currency": "usd",
        "amount": 2.18
      },
    "tracking_number": "9999999999999",
    "is_return_label": false,
    "is_international": false,
    "batch_id": "",
    "carrier_id": "se-0",
    "service_code": "usps_priority_mail",
    "package_code": "package",
    "voided": false,
    "voided_at": null,
    "label_format": "pdf",
    "label_layout": "4x6",
    "trackable": true,
    "carrier_code": "stamps_com",
    "tracking_status": "unknown",
    "label_download":
      {
        "pdf": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/downloads/1/s_Tqsu9euEKub6Acc_9UIg/testlabel-2128732.pdf",
        "png": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/downloads/1/s_Tqsu9euEKub6Acc_9UIg/testlabel-2128732.png",
        "zpl": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/downloads/1/s_Tqsu9euEKub6Acc_9UIg/testlabel-2128732.zpl",
        "href": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/downloads/1/s_Tqsu9euEKub6Acc_9UIg/testlabel-2128732.pdf"
      },
    "form_download": null,
    "insurance_claim":
      {
        "href": "https://www.dsiins.com/extclaims/Default.asp?cid=shipengine&psid=0&shipmentid=0"
      }
}

Filing a Claim

How you file a claim will depend on what type of insurance you added to the shipment.

ParcelGuard: Go to the link provided in the shipment response insurance_claim field and follow the on-screen instructions. By following the link from the response, most of the claim fields will be auto-filled with the required shipment details.
Carrier insurance: Follow the carrier’s claims process.

ParcelGuard Refunds for Voided Labels

If you void a label for a shipment that includes ParcelGuard, the insurance cost will be immediately refunded back to your ShipEngine balance.