SHIPMENT GUARANTEE

Ship with confidence

Add the Shipment Guarantee when you buy a label. If the package arrives late, damaged, lost, or, for live shipments, dead on arrival, we pay back the postage plus the value you declared, up to $2,500, straight to your Shipping Balance. See today's availability on the Alerts page.

On-time guarantee, free on every eligible label

If it arrives after the carrier's guaranteed delivery day, we credit the full label price back to your Shipping Balance. No claim to file. We check the carrier's tracking every day. When a package lands after the guaranteed day, the credit shows up on its own.

It covers the services the carriers guarantee themselves:

• UPS: Next Day Air Early, Next Day Air Saver, Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air A.M.
• FedEx: First Overnight, Priority Overnight, Standard Overnight, 2Day A.M.

• The guaranteed day counts from the carrier's first scan, so a box dropped off a day later than the label was bought is due a day later.
• A package delivered on the guaranteed day but after the commit time for that address is checked by hand against the carrier's record, since commit times vary by ZIP.
• Not covered: UPS 2nd Day Air, 3 Day Select, and Ground; FedEx 2Day, Express Saver, Ground, and Home Delivery; USPS. Delays the carrier logs as weather, a wrong address, no one to sign, or a refused package are not covered either.
• Live animals are not covered by the on-time credit. The carriers require live shipments to waive their money-back guarantee. For live shipments, add the Shipment Guarantee below.

Shipment Guarantee: what it costs

Live shipments: $2.50 per $100 of declared value. The first $2.50 covers the cost of the label plus up to $100 for the animals or plants if they arrive late or DOA. Each further $100 of coverage adds $2.50. Example: $300 of fish costs $7.50 to cover.

Non-live shipments: $1.00 per $100 of declared value. The first $1.00 covers the label plus up to $100 for a late, damaged, or lost package. Each further $100 adds $1.00.

The fee is charged with the label. If the label is voided before it ships, the fee comes back with the postage.

Overnight only

The guarantee has to be booked on an overnight service, no exceptions. That includes UPS Next Day Air, FedEx Priority, Standard, or First Overnight, and USPS Priority Mail Express. It is not available on 2-Day, Express Saver, Ground, or Home Delivery. If the rate you picked is one of those, the desk shows this rule when you turn the guarantee on and will not add it.

What you can cover

• Live fish & aquatics: Fish, shrimp, snails, coral, invertebrates. Live-arrival and on-time coverage.
• Other live animals: Reptiles, amphibians, insects, feeders. Live-arrival and on-time coverage.
• Live plants & perishables: Aquatic plants, cuttings, cultures, cold-pack items. Live-arrival and on-time coverage.
• General merchandise: Equipment, supplies, parts, anything not alive. Damage, loss, and on-time coverage.

Live shipments

• Live shipments use the same overnight-only rule as every other guarantee.
• Ship Monday through Wednesday so nothing sits in a hub over the weekend, unless the Alerts page says otherwise.
• We watch weather and carrier network conditions each day and set live coverage to hub & home delivery, hub pickup only, or not available. Hub pickup means shipping to a UPS Access Point or FedEx hold-for-pickup location.
• Check the guaranteed delivery time for the specific address. We pay out against that time.

Packing requirements

• Insulated box (styrofoam liner at least 1/2" thick) inside a sturdy corrugated outer box.
• Fish and aquatics: double-bagged, bag corners banded or taped, enough water and oxygen for 24+ hours, bags packed so they can't shift.
• Heat pack or cold pack sized for the forecast at both ends. Heat packs must not touch the bags.
• Label the box "Live Fish" / "Live Animals" and "This Side Up" where the carrier allows it.
• Non-live items: packed so they survive a 3-foot drop, with nothing loose in the box.
• Only species and items the carrier accepts. Prohibited or undeclared contents are not covered.

Filing a claim

• Open the label on your desk and press File a claim.
• DOA: report within 2 hours of delivery. Record an unbroken unboxing video starting with the sealed box and the shipping label.
• Damage, loss, or late arrival: file within 48 hours of delivery, or within 48 hours of the guaranteed time for a lost package.
• Keep the animals, bags, box, and packing until the claim is decided. We may ask for more photos.
• A package is late if it arrives after the carrier's guaranteed delivery time, per the carrier's own timestamp. Ground, 2-day, and 3-day services are not eligible for on-time coverage.
• We decide claims within 2 business days. Approved payouts go to your Shipping Balance.

Not covered

• Packages refused, not picked up from a hub within 2 hours of arrival, or left outside by the recipient's instruction.
• A wrong or incomplete address, or a missed delivery because no one was there to receive a live shipment.
• Delays from weather, natural disasters, or carrier service alerts announced before the package shipped.
• Shipments that don't meet the packing requirements, or more than the declared value.
• Live shipments sent on a day the Alerts page showed live coverage as not available.

The Shipment Guarantee is a service guarantee from Ships Overnight, not an insurance policy. Questions: spokentechnologies@gmail.com.