How To File An Insurance Claim With USPS To Get Your Refund For A Damaged eBay Item

How to File Insurance Claim with USPS And Get Your Money Back For A Damaged Or Lost Item.

You sold that item on eBay and you are feeling pretty happy that you got your item packaged and shipped out on time only to receive a message the item has been damaged in shipping. Now you ask yourself the question, “How do I file an insurance claim with USPS?”


USPS Insurance Cost vs. The Risk of Damage
Get Proof That Your Item Was Damaged
File a USPS Claim Online
Proof of Value
Evidence of Insurance Purchased
Package Information
Estimated Repair Costs
Official USPS Claim Form When Not Filing Online
USPS Package Not Moving?
How Long Does an Insurance Claim Take?
How Long Do I Have to File a Claim with USPS?
Does Buyer or Seller File USPS Claim?
Opening an insurance claim with USPS

USPS Insurance Cost vs. The Risk of Damage
$50.01 to $100 is $2.05
$100.01 to $200 is $2.45
$200.01 to $300 is $4.60
The price per additional $100 of insurance, valued over $300 up to $5,000, is $4.60 plus $0.90 per each $100 or fraction thereof
Priority Mail Service is covered up to $50 at no extra charge

You can start your damage claim by going directly to USPS.com. At the homepage, you will go to the dropdown menu “Help” and choose “File a Claim.” Here is where you will start a new damage claim.

After you choose to start a claim, you will need to enter the tracking number and shipping date of the item that you sold. If you printed your label through eBay, you can go back to your sold items on eBay and copy and paste the tracking number into the claims form.

While you are looking at your sold item on eBay, you will also be able to find the shipping date of your item. You will need to provide this on the form as well. After you enter the tracking number and the shipping date, it will open up a claim page to fill out.

Proof of Value
Proof of value will be required to resolve your USPS Mail Claim. You will be able to get that information on the sales page through eBay. The proof is simply how much you sold the item for. If you made the sale outside of eBay, you will need to upload a receipt or proof of how much you sold your item for.

The same would go for any item that you shipped even if it wasn’t a sale through eBay. You would need to upload a receipt of the cost of the item. This will provide the necessary proof to USPS that the item is worth what you say it is worth.

Evidence of Insurance Purchased
USPS claim
Insurance companies are good at taking your money, but things get a little sticky when they have to pay the claim. They want proof that you insured your package in order for them to reimburse you.

If you purchased your shipping label through eBay, this will be auto-populated on the file claim form online. You can also look at your label history on eBay and it will show on the label receipt if you purchased insurance.

This will be required to finish your claim. Believe me, they don’t want to pay out any claims that they don’t need to. So be sure and provide proof that you purchased insurance for your item before shipping it.

Package Information
When you start a good dialogue with your buyer concerning the damaged item, be sure and tell them to keep all original packaging and contents (including the box, bubble wrap, styrofoam, and paper).

If USPS questions how you packaged your item, this will be proof. As an added proof for myself, I take photographs as I am packaging it. That way, if the buyer happens to toss the contents of the package, I will still have proof I packaged it properly.

USPS may want to pick up the damaged item to do their own inspection of damage, especially if the item is worth a lot of money. Remember, they don’t get excited about paying out damage claims.

Ask the buyer to keep the original item and packaging until the claim is resolved, unless, of course, USPS decides to pick up the damaged item from the buyer. This will cover you if photographs are not sufficient enough for USPS to resolve your damage claim.

[shakerbodymars]

More than half of this video is saying that we need to purchase insurance. The actual how to starts at 4:16

[jonnylakerd]

I don't know if something is changed. But my brother had two packages that were destroyed with over $1, 000 worth of stuff.
His friend that shipped the stuff had insurance on it. The United States postal service denied the one box and offered 25% of the value on the other box. How is this not done through a third party? Who gets the arbitrarily decide value, especially when they're the ones who destroyed the product in the first place.
This would be like your house insurance company burning your house down and then offering you 25% of its value.

[Loosh]

Do you need the buyer to send you photos of the damage so that you can submit those with the claim?

[truepatroit]

I had priority insurance with usps and just got refunded because it was broken. But they didn’t refund shipping cost. I fully refunded my customer. But I was stuck with shipping cost of 23.00. That doesn’t seem fair to me.

[MimisTreasureCottage]

They won't refund the cost of shipping, so the seller is still out money.

[TheOneJoeStarr]

Do you file the USPS claim before or after you accept the return/refund the buyer's money?

[juanmedina]

This needs to be updated. Things have changed in the last 4 years since this was uploaded.

[libertynjustice]

I shipped a $450 dollar item and paid extra insurance through EBay. The item arrived damaged. I just discovered if you go to sold items, find your item, click on more actions, there is a drop down to file a claim. I think this is a new thing EBay is doing. EBay has a third party insurance company it is using. You file the claim through EBay, not USPS. It looks pretty simple.

[Xoletta]

Why didn't you show how to do it on the computer so we can follow along? It's asking me how much insurance I paid, but I didn't pay anything 'extra' - so am I supposed to put zero? The insurance was included in the cost of the Priority Mail postage, because it was under $50.

[realjsample]

Can you still collect the insurance that usps offered if your lost package was refunded by the third party seller?

[buschmanten]

Thank you for all the information, just wondering after the claim is approved how exactly do you get paid, do they mail you a check or credit your ebay account, thanks again

[skipbass]

do usps refund electronics?i sent a work product to a shop to get a knob fixed .wrapped it up really good, the guy emails me and says the screen lights up but no writing or programs come up?

[TriWaZe]

Did this very thing and after a week my status just changed to "Denied - A letter has been sent detailing the reason"

[michaeldenzer]

How about if I have no reciept? For damaged item I sold

[kamalranabhat]

I had a shipping on 16th feb and package leftfrom usa on 25th feb to Maldives they promise to deliver 7 to 10 business day still my item is not here in Maldives post office I order 400 dollar items but it has a insurance so when should I file a claim for the insurance and dose they refund all the money with shipping charges?

[joegalloway]

Does the insurance cover stolen packages or the buyer trying to scam you? (example: the buyer lies about the condition of the product to try and get there money back)

[jessthemess.]

I've used usps several times and they made me bring the damaged item to a post office and in the end still denied my claim?

[AmeerUSA]

Do you report the actual value of the item or the value display to the customer?

[PeteBuchwald]

Thank you for this information. Very helpful!!

[Thetimecapsuletx]

I’m on an iPad and I can’t download their form.