Shipping insurance and high-value shipments
How declared value covers UPS and FedEx labels, when you need the UPS high-value report, how Shippo shipping insurance and Estes full-value coverage work, and what applies to FedEx Freight.
Updated October 5, 2026
Parcello offers coverage in the way each carrier provides it: a declared value on UPS and FedEx labels, optional shipping insurance on Shippo’s own carrier accounts, and full-value coverage on Estes freight. This article explains which one applies to a shipment and what you see on the order page.
Which coverage applies
| Shipment | Coverage | Where you set it |
|---|---|---|
| UPS or FedEx, on your own account | The carrier’s declared-value coverage | Declared Value on the shipment |
| Shippo, on Shippo’s own carrier accounts | Shippo shipping insurance (optional) | The Shippo insurance checkbox on the shipment, with a default on the Carriers page |
| Shippo, on your own UPS or FedEx account connected inside Shippo | That carrier’s declared-value coverage | Declared Value on the shipment |
| Estes freight | Estes full-value coverage (optional) | The freight details on the shipment, with a default on the Carriers page |
| FedEx Freight | FedEx Freight’s standard liability | Nothing to set: Parcello sends no declared value to FedEx Freight |
Declared value on UPS and FedEx
Every box carries a declared value: the value of what’s in it, worked out from the order’s prices. The shipment’s Declared Value field shows the total for its boxes. Parcello sends each box’s value with the rate request and the label, so the price you see includes the carrier’s declared-value charge and matches what the label costs.
You can change the value:
- Type a new total in Declared Value. Parcello spreads it over the shipment’s boxes.
- Enter 0 to ship without a declared value.
- Click Reset next to the field to go back to the value from the order.
How the value is split across boxes, and how to set a box by hand, is in Box weights and declared values.
The declared value is locked once the label is created. To change it, void the label and create it again.
UPS high-value shipments
UPS has a special procedure for packages with a high declared value. When a UPS shipment has labels and a declared value of $999 or more, a High-value report button appears under the shipment.
It downloads a letter-size PDF with two pages, a Driver Copy and a Shipper Copy. Each lists the shipment’s packages, their declared values, the service and the UPS terms on loss or damage. UPS asks you to:
- Give the packages to a UPS driver or a UPS Customer Center. Authorized shipping outlets and drop boxes don’t accept them.
- Have the driver or the Customer Center representative sign one copy and return it to you.
- Keep the signed copy. It is your proof that UPS accepted the packages, and you need it to file a claim.
The button goes away when you void the label.
FedEx and Estes have no equivalent document; the declared value travels on the label or the bill of lading.
Shippo shipping insurance
Shippo’s own carrier accounts offer shipping insurance that you add per shipment. It applies only to labels bought on Shippo’s carrier accounts. If you connected your own UPS or FedEx account inside Shippo, labels on that account use the carrier’s declared-value coverage instead.
Turn it on by default
On Carriers > Shippo, tick Add Shippo shipping insurance by default on labels bought on Shippo’s carrier accounts. Each new Shippo shipment then starts with insurance on, and you can still turn it off per shipment before creating labels.
On the shipment
On a Shippo shipment, the checkbox Add Shippo shipping insurance for this shipment appears under the ship date when insurance can apply: the selected service is on one of Shippo’s carrier accounts and the shipment has a declared value. In the Service list, each service shows which account it uses (”· Your account” or ”· Shippo account”), and a quote that includes insurance says so with its amount.
When the checkbox is ticked, you see:
- The covered amount: the items in the shipment plus its share of the shipping the customer paid.
- The premium: shown once you click Validate Address & Get Rates, and included in the label price. Before that, the line reads “Get rates to see the premium.”
- The insurance terms, with links to the full terms and conditions.
Ticking or unticking the box clears the shipment’s rates. Click Validate Address & Get Rates again before you create labels, so the label is bought at the price you saw.
Confirm the purchase
When you click Create Labels on an insured shipment, a Confirm purchase window shows the service price, the insurance premium with the covered amount, and the total. Read the terms, then click Confirm purchase. Nothing is bought until you confirm.
Estes full-value coverage
Estes freight shipments can carry full-value coverage for the declared value. It’s off unless you turn it on:
- Carriers > Estes: Add full-value coverage to new BOLs sets the default for new freight shipments.
- On the shipment, Add full-value coverage in the freight details turns it on or off for that bill of lading. When it’s on, the coverage charge is part of the quote.
See Freight with Estes and Bills of lading and Estes pickups.
FedEx Freight shipments have no coverage option in Parcello. See Freight with FedEx Freight.
Notes and limits
- Coverage choices lock with the label. Void and create the label again to change them.
- A shipment with no declared value has nothing to insure, so the Shippo insurance checkbox doesn’t appear.
- Parcello doesn’t handle claims. For a lost or damaged package, contact the carrier, or Shippo for a Shippo label.
Troubleshooting
The Shippo insurance checkbox isn’t there. The selected service is on your own carrier account inside Shippo (it carries the carrier’s declared-value coverage), or the shipment’s declared value is 0.
Create Labels is disabled after I ticked the insurance box. The rates were cleared. Click Validate Address & Get Rates, then Create Labels.
The High-value report button isn’t showing. It appears only on UPS shipments with labels and a declared value of $999 or more.