XCover Shipping Protection Claims for Shippo, Sendcloud and Catawiki

If you sell through Shippo, Sendcloud or Catawiki and you ticked the protection box, your claim does not go to UPS, DPD or PostNL. It goes to XCover. One insurer-administrator, three platforms, three slightly different sets of deadlines, and one rule that catches more sellers than any other: XCover does not pay for anything that was already damaged before the parcel left you.

This guide puts the three platforms side by side, explains what the claims team is actually checking, and shows how a few minutes of evidence at the packing bench answers the questions that otherwise turn into a "pending" status and then a denial.

Why one XCover claim process covers three platforms

XCover is the shipping protection business of Cover Genius, and it distributes and administers the protection sold inside all three platforms. Shippo's XCover FAQ calls its product Shippo Shipping Protection, Sendcloud's insurance terms call it Sendcloud Shipment Protection, and Catawiki's smart shipping page calls it smart shipping insurance. The underwriter varies: Shippo's US policy wording names Continental Insurance Company, and Catawiki names Helvetia Global Solutions AG.

What stays the same is the review logic. Whoever reads your claim is answering three questions:

1. Was the item intact and properly packed when it left you? If not, the damage is excluded.
2. Did the damage happen in transit? Shippo's wording excludes claims where there is "insufficient evidence" of that, and Sendcloud's terms say the same.
3. What was it worth? Sendcloud reimburses the sales value, Catawiki the final bid, Shippo the order value including shipping, each subject to its own limits.

Tracking answers none of the three. The buyer's photos answer the second one only partly. Your own record from the packing bench is the only document that speaks to the first, and it is the one most sellers do not have.

XCover claim deadlines by platform

Each platform publishes its own cut-offs. All figures below were checked on the platforms' help pages and XCover's policy wording in October 2026.

Sources: Shippo XCover FAQ, XCover policy wording for Shippo US, Sendcloud: how to file a claim at XCover, Sendcloud insurance terms, Catawiki: lost or damaged during shipment and Catawiki smart shipping insurance.

What XCover asks for on a damaged parcel

XCover asks for photos of the damage, the packaging and the label, and it expects the physical evidence to survive until the claim is closed. Each platform words it a little differently:

• Catawiki tells sellers to provide photos of the damaged object, the packaging and the shipping label.
• Sendcloud asks for photo or video evidence of the damage, including packaging, plus your original shipping receipt and tracking number, and says packaging and damaged items must be kept in the form received or the claim may be denied for insufficient evidence.
• Shippo says to hold on to all packaging and damaged items, warns that disposing of evidence too early can result in a denied claim, and its policy wording asks you to get images and video from the recipient immediately.
• For collectibles and trading cards, Shippo's US wording says pre-shipment photographic evidence may be required for valuation.

For the general standard of what a damage photo set should look like, see what the carrier needs after a damaged delivery and the carrier-by-carrier rules in the shipping damage claims hub.

The exclusion that sinks seller claims: damaged before shipment

All three platforms exclude goods damaged before shipment, and Shippo and Sendcloud add packing-based exclusions on top. This is where most denied seller claims live, because without a record from your side, the reviewer has only the buyer's photos of a broken item and nothing showing it was ever whole.

The exclusions, as written in October 2026:

Shippo's US wording goes further than most insurers and spells out its packaging guidelines: at least 2 inches (5 cm) of approved cushioning between the item and all six walls, individually wrapped items spaced so they do not touch, a double-walled corrugated box for items over 10 lb, a box-in-a-box with 6 inches of cushioned clearance for electronics and fragile items, a plain unbranded box for jewelry and high-value items, and 2-inch plastic tape in an "H" pattern across all top and bottom seams. Craft paper, newspaper and clothing do not count as cushioning.

Read that list again as a claims reviewer would. Every rule on it is something that is visible at the packing bench and invisible once the box is closed. If your claim is challenged on packing, the only thing that answers it is a photo or video taken before the flaps went down.

Catawiki says it outright in its own help pages: it recommends photographing the object in its packaging before shipping, because pictures of how you packed will help assess the claim.

What a pre-shipment record should show

• The order reference and the item together in one view
• The item's condition, including any area that later appears damaged
• The cushioning on all sides, with enough of the box visible to judge clearance
• The inner box for box-in-box shipments
• The closed box with the tape pattern visible
• The label attached to that same box

The general standard for making that recording hold up is in our packing video evidence checklist.

Proof of handoff: the signed pickup report

Sendcloud recommends a pickup report signed by the driver whenever a carrier collects parcels at your location, and says XCover treats a signed pickup report as proof of collection. It matters because of a gap most sellers never think about: the time between sealing the box and the first carrier scan.

Look at the "coverage starts" row in the deadline table. On Catawiki, cover begins when the carrier scans and accepts the package. On Shippo, it begins when the parcel leaves the originating address. Anything that happens on your shelf, in your van or at a drop-off counter before that scan is outside the policy. A signed pickup report, or a drop-off receipt, pins the handoff to a time and a person. A photo of the sealed parcels next to the signed report pins it to those exact boxes.

For a business shipping dozens of parcels per collection, the practical version is a short dispatch record: photograph the stack or cage being handed over, with the pickup report in frame, and keep it with the day's orders.

How to file an XCover damage claim, step by step

Two details trip people up. First, XCover accounts are created automatically on your first protected shipment and must be activated from the confirmation email before you can claim, so activate yours before you need it. Second, on Sendcloud, re-shipping costs are only refunded if you enter them when filing and they were part of the coverage amount.

Copy-ready templates

Keep the claim description factual and chronological. XCover requires a detailed description of the event at minimum, and a clear one shortens the back-and-forth.

How PallasMark handles XCover claims

PallasMark gives every order a sealed packing record you can attach to an XCover claim, whatever you print labels with. Orders arrive on their own from Shopify, WooCommerce, ShipStation, ShipHero or Amazon, or you add them by hand, and the packer scans the barcode on the picking slip or shipping label so the app opens that exact order before the first frame.

• The pack is recorded on the phone your team already has. Video and photos show the item, the cushioning on all sides and the sealed box. Photos carry the company name, order number and upload time (UTC) inside the image.
• Every file is fingerprinted. Each stored file gets a SHA-256 fingerprint, so any edit is detectable, and there is no edit button for recordings anywhere in the product. An XCover adjuster can open the record's public verification page with no account and see the file re-checked on the spot.
• High-value lots can be approved before they ship. For a Catawiki collectible or an expensive Shippo order, you can hold the parcel and send the buyer the sealed recording first. They watch it, then approve or report an issue, and the record keeps how long they watched. A buyer who approved the exact object on video before dispatch has already confirmed its condition. See buyer approval.
• The claim file is one PDF. On request, PallasMark builds an evidence dossier for the order: four stills from each recorded video, the photos, the fingerprints, any buyer approval, and the carrier and tracking number read from your store. You download it and attach it to the claim in your XCover account yourself.
• Handoffs get their own record. Warehouse dispatch and loading records tie photos of the outgoing parcels to a shipment reference, with a location check that shows whether each one was taken inside your facility. Photograph the signed pickup report in the same record.
• The buyer's side can be collected too. If the buyer opens a return, you can ask them to film the damaged item and packaging through a link, so their footage lands next to yours.

The record is the same one you would use for a packing video chargeback, so one capture covers the insurer, the platform and the bank. More on the use case in carrier and insurance claims, and on the sealing itself in tamper-proof video.

For deadlines and photo rules when you claim directly with UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, Royal Mail or Canada Post instead, start at the shipping damage claims by carrier hub, see the UK and Canada rules in DHL, Royal Mail and Canada Post damage claims, and read why claims fail on packaging in shipping insurance claims denied for packaging. If you are weighing XCover against a buyer-paid checkout add-on, see Route package protection vs packing proof.