Potential refund claims
Find late deliveries on guaranteed services, see what you paid, and keep track of the refunds you claim from the carrier.
Updated October 5, 2026
Some carrier services come with a money-back guarantee: if the package arrives after the committed time, the carrier refunds the shipping charge on request. The Potential claims tab on the Tracking page lists the late ones so you can claim them.
Which shipments are checked
Parcello looks at shipments labeled in the last 60 days, both your Parcello labels and fulfillments created outside Parcello. Return labels aren’t included.
| Carrier | Services treated as guaranteed |
|---|---|
| UPS | Next Day Air Early, Next Day Air, Next Day Air Saver, 2nd Day Air A.M., Worldwide Express Plus, Worldwide Express and Worldwide Saver. For labels created in Parcello, any other service UPS marked as guaranteed when it gave the rate (for example 2nd Day Air on some routes). |
| FedEx | First Overnight, Priority Overnight, Standard Overnight, 2Day A.M., and the International First, Priority, Priority Express and Priority Freight services. |
| USPS | Priority Mail Express, when bought through Shippo. |
| Estes | Guaranteed by 5 PM, Guaranteed by Noon and Guaranteed by 10 AM. Estes LTL Standard is not guaranteed. |
| EFW | Next Day AM, Next Day PM and Second Day, but only if guaranteed service was chosen on the waybill. Parcello can’t see that choice, so each EFW row carries a note. |
Ground and economy services (UPS Ground, FedEx Ground and Home Delivery, FedEx 2Day, FedEx Express Saver and similar) carry no guarantee and never appear. Parcello treats FedEx Freight Priority and Economy as not guaranteed, so FedEx Freight shipments never appear either.
Labels bought through Shippo count under the carrier that delivers them. A shipment with several boxes is checked box by box, since each box has its own tracking number.
How lateness is judged
- Parcello takes the carrier’s commitment: the promised delivery day, and the time when the service has one (for example by 10:30 AM, or the Estes guaranteed time). Without a time, the promise is end of day.
- It takes the outcome in the receiver’s local time: the delivery scan, or the first delivery attempt if that came earlier. A delivery attempt made on time counts as on time, as the carriers’ terms say.
- If the outcome is after the commitment, the shipment is late. A shipment still not delivered once the promised day has passed at the destination is late too.
Example: Next Day Air promised Wednesday by 10:30 AM, delivered Wednesday at 2:12 PM. The row shows “Delivered Wed, Sep 3 at 2:12 PM” and “3h 42m late”.
Rows Parcello leaves out
- Customs or regulatory delays in the scan history (duties due, held by customs, a non-carrier broker): the guarantee excludes them.
- Weather or natural disasters in the scan history.
- Periods when the carrier suspended its guarantee. UPS has suspended it on shipments imported into the United States since October 2, 2025.
Notes shown on a row
Other things that may affect your claim stay in the list as notes for you to judge:
- an address problem in the scan history,
- a security or hazardous goods hold,
- the receiver refused the delivery,
- a change the receiver asked for (hold, redirect, reschedule),
- a delivery appointment the receiver set (Estes),
- a trade show shipment (Estes excludes exhibition freight),
- a promise that fell in peak season (mid-November to early January), when carriers often extend commitments,
- a holiday time extension the carrier announced, already applied,
- for UPS, a note when UPS didn’t mark the service as guaranteed on that route,
- for EFW, the refund share: up to 2 hours late, 50% of the charges; more than 2 hours, the full charges.
The Potential claims table
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Order | Order number, customer, and a Parcello or External badge. |
| Service | The service name, the tracking number (linked to the carrier) and, for one box of a multi-box shipment, which box. |
| Promised | For example “Wed, Sep 3 by 10:30 AM”, or “(end of day)” when there is no time. |
| Delivered | “Delivered …”, “Attempted …” or “Not delivered yet”, how late, and any notes. |
| Paid | The rate quoted when you bought the label, marked “quoted rate”. For Estes, the charges Estes reports. For outside fulfillments, On invoice: check your carrier invoice. For one box of a multi-box shipment, an even share of the shipment’s quote. |
| Status | The claim’s state and its actions. |
Search and the Carrier filter work on this tab too. The tab label shows how many open claims there are.
Track your claims
| State | Meaning | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| Potential claim | Late and not handled yet. | Mark claimed, Not eligible, Dismiss |
| Claimed | You filed it with the carrier. | Denied, Reopen, Dismiss |
| Denied | The carrier refused it. | Reopen, Dismiss |
| Not eligible | You decided it doesn’t qualify. | Reopen, Dismiss |
| Dismissed | Removed from the list. | Restore |
File the claim with the carrier using the tracking number, then click Mark claimed. If the carrier refuses it, click Denied.
Claimed, denied and not eligible rows stay in the list for 45 days after you set them, then drop off. Reopen puts a row back to Potential claim.
Dismiss takes a row off the list, out of the tab count and out of the refund email. To see dismissed rows, add the Dismissed claims filter (Show dismissed claims). Click Restore to bring one back. Dismissing a claim doesn’t affect the Needs attention tab, and the other way round.
The refund email
On the Daily emails card, tick Potential refund claims (separate email). It uses the same recipients, time and time zone as the attention email (see Needs attention and daily emails).
The email lists open claims only, with the promised and actual times, how late, and the estimated refund. Its subject reads, for example, “2 potential refund claims (about $96.40)” followed by your store name. A New marker shows rows that became claims since the previous email. Nothing is sent when there is nothing to claim. Use Send test: refunds to see one now.
Notes and limits
- Parcello doesn’t file claims for you. It finds them and keeps track of what you did.
- Some carrier contracts give up the guarantee in exchange for a discount. If yours does, the carrier will deny these claims; use Not eligible or Dismiss.
- The amount is an estimate. The carrier refunds the transportation charge on its invoice, which can differ from the quote.
- For outside fulfillments, the service comes from the carrier’s tracking, so a new one can take up to an hour to appear.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| “No potential refund claims right now.” | Nothing guaranteed was late in the last 60 days | Nothing to do. |
| A late shipment isn’t listed | The service has no guarantee, the scan history shows a customs or weather delay, the guarantee was suspended, or it shipped more than 60 days ago | Check the service on the label. |
| Paid shows On invoice | The shipment was fulfilled outside Parcello, so there is no quote | Read the charge on your carrier invoice. |