What to Ask For When a Customer Says Their Order Arrived Damaged

When an order arrives damaged, the fastest path to a resolution isn’t asking “what happened?” and waiting for an answer — it’s asking for the three specific things Shopify’s own claims process needs, in one message. Get those, and you can file directly in Shopify Admin or route to the carrier without a second round of back-and-forth. This guide covers that one message, how the claim itself actually gets filed, and where an AI conversation should stop and a person should take over.

The One Message That Gets You Everything Shopify’s Claims Form Needs

Shopify’s own shipping-claims process is specific about what it wants: photos of the damage to the product, the shipment packaging, and the shipping label attached to the packaging with the tracking number clearly visible (Shopify Help Center: Submitting shipping claims). Most support conversations get this in pieces, over three or four messages, because the first ask is just “can you send a photo?” — vague enough that the customer sends one blurry shot of the item and nothing else.

Ask for all three at once, named specifically:

“So sorry to hear that — I can get this sorted quickly. Could you send three photos in this chat: the damage on the item itself, the outside of the box or packaging it arrived in, and the shipping label with the tracking number visible? That’s everything I need to get a claim moving.”

A realistic reply looks like: “ok here — the box was crushed on one corner and the item inside is cracked” followed by photos. If the label photo is missing, that’s the one to follow up on specifically — it’s the piece people forget, and it’s the one the claims form actually requires.

Filing the Claim in Shopify Admin

Once you have what’s needed, where the claim actually goes depends on the carrier and how the label was purchased, and Shopify handles this differently depending on which one applies:

• Shipments with Shipsurance coverage — filed directly in Shopify Admin (Orders → the order → the fulfillment card menu → “File shipping claim”), with included coverage up to $200 USD on eligible U.S. shipments on certain plans.

• USPS, FedEx, and Canada Post — claims go directly to the carrier and aren’t tracked inside Shopify.

• UPS, DHL, and Royal Mail — Shopify Support assists and provides a reference ticket ID for the claim.

Which path applies is determined by the label and carrier on that specific order, not something to guess — check the fulfillment details in Shopify Admin before telling a customer what happens next.

Who’s Actually Liable: Merchant, Carrier, or Insurance

That last row is common and worth planning for rather than discovering mid-conversation: not every label carries coverage, and “there’s no claim to file” is a different answer than “the claim was denied” — the customer’s resolution shouldn’t wait on a claim outcome that was never going to exist.

The Response, Once You Have What You Need

With the photos and the claim path identified, the resolution conversation is short:

“Thanks for sending those over. I can see the damage clearly — I’m going to get a replacement sent out to you on priority shipping, no need to return the damaged item. You’ll have a shipping confirmation within [timeframe].”

Whether that’s a replacement, a refund, or store credit follows the same logic as any other resolution decision — see our store credit vs. refund decision framework if the item isn’t a straightforward replace. A damaged item is rarely the moment to offer credit instead of making it right directly; save that conversation for change-of-mind returns, not the store’s own shipping problem.

This is also a different problem from a product that develops a fault after weeks or months of normal use — that’s a warranty claim, not a shipping-damage one, and it’s covered separately in our guide to Shopify warranty management.

What Counts as Verified Damage (and Why That’s Not the AI’s Call)

Collecting the photos and getting them into the right hands is one job. Deciding whether they show genuine shipping damage — as opposed to, say, a return of a different, older item, or damage that happened after delivery — is a different one, and it belongs to a person, not an AI conversation.

This distinction matters more as claim volume grows: a support conversation can gather everything Shopify’s claims process asks for in a single exchange, which is real, useful automation. Whether that evidence actually gets a claim approved is decided by Shopify Support, the carrier, or Shipsurance — not by the conversation that collected it, and not by anything examining the photo automatically.

Setting This Up With AeroChat

None of the above requires more than what AeroChat already does for Shopify support conversations — worth being precise about what maps to which part:

• Answer: the AI can ask for the three specific photos by name and explain why each one matters, instead of a vague “can you send a photo?” that gets an incomplete reply.

• Retrieve: Shopify sync pulls up the order and its fulfillment details in the conversation, so the customer isn’t asked to repeat the order number or what they bought.

• Channel: on WhatsApp specifically, the customer can send the photos directly in the same thread — that’s a property of the channel, not an AI capability.

• Escalate: once the photos are in, the conversation hands off to a person to judge whether the damage is genuine, identify which claim path applies, and file it — AeroChat doesn’t review or approve the photos itself, and doesn’t file the claim in Shopify Admin on its own.

The value here is specifically in the intake: getting the right three photos in one exchange instead of three, so whoever files the claim isn’t starting from scratch.

Frequently Asked Questions

What photos should I ask for when an item arrives damaged?

Shopify’s own claims process asks for three: the damage on the product itself, the outside of the shipping packaging, and the shipping label with the tracking number visible. Asking for all three in one message avoids the back-and-forth of following up for whichever one gets missed.

Who is responsible for a damaged package — the seller or the courier?

It depends on how the label was purchased and covered. If the shipment had Shipsurance coverage, that claim is filed in Shopify Admin. Carriers like USPS, FedEx, and Canada Post take claims directly. UPS, DHL, and Royal Mail claims go through Shopify Support. If there was no coverage on the label at all, the cost falls to the merchant to resolve directly.

Can an AI chatbot approve a damaged-item claim automatically?

No. AI support can collect the right photos and order details in one conversation, which is most of the delay in a typical claim. Deciding whether the damage is genuine and filing the actual claim is a person’s call, made through Shopify Admin, the carrier, or Shipsurance.

What if there’s no insurance on the shipping label?

Then there’s no claim to file with a carrier or insurer, and the resolution is the merchant’s own call — typically a replacement or refund handled directly, rather than something to wait on a claim decision for.