Picture this: you have just launched your online store, and your first customer places an order. You carefully package their items, print out the shipping label, and send the package on its way with a trusted shipping carrier like USPS.
But then, disaster strikes – the package is lost, damaged, or stolen during transit. Your customer is angry, and you’re out the cost of the items and the shipping fees. What can you do to protect yourself and your customers from these types of incidents?
That’s where Parcel Guard Insurance comes in.
In this article, we’ll explore how to integrate Parcel Guard Insurance with WooCommerce USPS Shipping to ensure your packages are protected every step of the way.
What is Parcel Guard Insurance?
Stamps Parcel Guard Insurance is a shipping insurance service that provides protection for businesses against loss or damage to their shipments during transit.
It is a third-party insurance service that can be used in conjunction with various shipping carriers, including USPS, FedEx, and UPS, to ensure that packages are covered in the event of any unforeseen circumstances. This is particularly important for businesses that ship high-value items, as the cost of replacing these items can be significant.
The insurance coverage provided by Stamps Parcel Guard Insurance varies depending on the value of the shipment and the coverage option selected by the business. Coverage options typically go up to $10,000, with additional coverage available upon request.
In addition to standard coverage, Stamps Parcel Guard Insurance also offers additional services such as signature confirmation, delivery confirmation, and international coverage.
Stamps Parcel Guard Insurance is easy to set up and use, with online registration and payment options available. Businesses can choose to insure individual shipments or opt for a monthly plan that provides ongoing coverage for all shipments within a certain time period.
By providing comprehensive coverage options and a user-friendly platform, it offers peace of mind to businesses and ensures that their customers receive their orders in a timely and secure manner.
Benefits of using Parcel Guard Insurance
There are several benefits to using Parcel Guard Insurance for your eCommerce business:
- Protection: Parcel Guard Insurance provides coverage for lost, stolen, or damaged shipments, giving you peace of mind knowing that your valuable packages are protected.
- Cost-effective: Parcel Guard Insurance offers competitive rates, which means you can save money compared to other insurance options.
- Customizable coverage: You can choose the coverage amount that best suits your business needs, whether it’s for individual shipments or all of your shipments.
- Streamlined claims process: Parcel Guard Insurance has a simple and easy claims process, which means you can get reimbursed quickly for any losses or damages.
- Integration with WooCommerce USPS Shipping: Parcel Guard Insurance seamlessly integrates with the WooCommerce USPS Shipping plugin, making it easy to add insurance coverage to your shipments.
- Reputation: Stamps.com, the company that offers Parcel Guard Insurance, has a solid reputation in the shipping industry, which adds an extra layer of trust and reliability to your shipments.
- Quick and Simple Insurance Claims: You can submit your claim and track its progress online. The typical turnaround time for a claim is 7 working days.
- There is no need for any specialized paperwork or additional visits to the post office: It is no longer necessary to fill out forms. You can accept insurance terms and conditions, submit claims, and check the status of insurance claims all from within the ELEX Stamps.com Shipping Plugin with USPS Postage for WooCommerce’s backend.
Integrating Parcel Guard Insurance with WooCommerce USPS Shipping
We will be using the ELEX Stamps.com Shipping Plugin with USPS Postage for WooCommerce to demonstrate how to integrate Parcel Guard Insurance with WooCommerce USPS shipping.
This plugin enables you to provide real-time pricing through the USPS carrier.
Stamps.com postage can be used to print shipping labels, shipments can be tracked, USPS Flat rate boxes can be configured, price adjustments can be made, custom box packing options can be used, and insurance can be added automatically through integration with Parcel Guard.
To integrate Parcel Guard Insurance, you will first have to download, install, and activate the ELEX Stamps.com Shipping plugin.
After the plugin has been installed and activated, there are two ways to navigate to the plugin’s settings page.
Go to Settings in your dashboard, then click WooCommerce > Shipping > Stamps.com – USPS
OR
In the WordPress administration panel, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins > Stamps.com WooCommerce Extension (USPS) > Settings.
General Settings
Real-time rates: Enable this button to obtain real-time rates from USPS.
Username: Enter your Stamps account username.
Password: Enter your Stamps account password.
Debug Mode: Click the Enable Developer Mode box if you are experiencing issues with incorrect rates, empty shipping options, or no rates at all.
API Mode: For label printing and making purchases, you can toggle between Test and Live mode.
Parcel Guard Terms and conditions: This is where you can actually turn on Parcel Guard Insurance by clicking Accept. Upon clicking accept, you will be redirected to the terms and conditions page, where you can click Accept once again.
Upon doing so, the terms and conditions will be accepted, and parcel guard insurance will be successfully added to your WooCommerce store.
Insurance: The insurance options offered by the plugin include: No Insurance(Default), Customer Choice(On the checkout page, customers can choose to insure their packages), and Mandatory(Insurance is applied to all products automatically).
Based on your needs, you can choose between Customer Choice and Mandatory insurance application to apply Parcel Guard Insurance to your orders.
Saving these settings will apply Parcel Guard Insurance to your orders. After that, the rates and services, label generation, and packaging settings also need to be configured to make the plugin completely functional.
For a step-by-step demonstration of setting up the plugin from scratch, go through the product documentation.
How to file a claim with Parcel Guard Insurance if a shipment is lost or damaged?
Once you have integrated Parcel Guard Insurance with WooCommerce USPS shipping using the ELEX Stamps.com Shipping Plugin, you can file a claim right from the Orders page of your WooCommerce store.
By Navigating to WooCommerce > Orders > Order Details > Stamps.com Shipment Label Section, you can click File Insurance Claim. Doing so will redirect you to the insurance claim form page, wherein you can fill in all of your shipment and damage or loss details along with all the necessary documentation attachments and submit your claim.
How to Check Parcel Guard Insurance Claim Status?
Once you have filed your insurance claim, you can track its progress and check the claim status right from the WooCommerce Orders page. By Navigating to WooCommerce > Orders > Order Details > Stamps.com Shipment Label Section, you can click Check Insurance Claim Status.
Doing so will redirect you to the Parcel Guard Status Claim page, where you will have to enter your claim number, which you will receive upon filing your claim.
To Wrap Up
You can effortlessly integrate Parcel Guard Insurance with WooCommerce USPS shipping by following these steps. In addition, you can submit a claim and check the status of the claim directly from the backend of your WooCommerce store.
The ELEX Stamps.com Shipping Plugin makes it easy to do it all without having to switch between multiple websites and visit multiple offices to fill in lengthy forms to claim your insurance.
We hope this article has given you a deep understanding of Parcel Guard Insurance, its many benefits, and how to integrate it with your WooCommerce USPS shipping method.
If you have any questions regarding Parcel Guard Insurance, please let us know in the comments section below. Happy shipping!
