Consumer Claims and Policy Management

Once you've enabled Seel's Guaranteed Delivery service for your store, insurance policies will be generated for eligible orders. While Seel handles all claim processing, it's important for you to understand the claim process, policy management, and billing procedures to protect your rights and those of your customers. 

This guide will explain the customer claim process, policy and appeal management, and the rules for commission splits and billing.

Claim Process for Customers

If your customer needs to file a claim, they must follow these rules and procedures to receive compensation:

Claim Rules

• Package Delays:
  • Domestic Shipments: Submit a claim after the order has been shipped for at least 10 days.
  • International Shipments: Submit a claim after the order has been shipped for at least 30 days, but no later than 90 days from the date of purchase.
• Package Loss: Submit a claim no later than 90 days after product purchase. For porch theft claims, submit within 7 days after the shipping company marks the order as delivered.
• Package Damage: Submit a claim within 7 days after the shipping company marks the order as delivered.

Claim Documentation

• Product Delays: No documentation required. Seel determines compensation automatically based on the tracking number.
• Product Loss:
  • If the tracking shows the product is lost, no documentation is required, and compensation is processed directly.
  • If the tracking shows the product was delivered but the customer did not receive it (porch theft), provide one of the following proofs:
    • Police report
    • On-site video evidence
    • Loss certificate from the logistics company
    • Written documentation from other qualified personnel
    • Seel offers Worry-Free Compensation for porch theft cases below a certain amount threshold, requiring no documentation from the customer for compensation. (The specific threshold is based on historical data from their platform.)
• Product Damage: Provide photos of the product's outer packaging, inner packaging, and the damaged area.
  

Claim Submission

• Email: Customers who purchased insurance will receive an email with a link to the claim process and details of the insurance terms. If they used a phone number instead of an email at checkout, they will not receive this email.
• Order Details Page: Orders with shipping insurance will display a claim link on the order details page, redirecting to the Seel Resolution Center.
• Claim Center Website: Seel Resolution Center

Payment Methods

• PayPal: Supports multi-currency transfers, instant delivery
• Venmo: Supports USD, instant delivery
• Direct Deposit: US bank account ACH transfer, takes 1-3 business days, available for USD orders only
• Tremendous: Virtual Visa credit card

Premium Calculation and Policy Status

Premium Calculation

• The premium amount for an order is calculated and returned by the Seel service provider.
• Premiums are displayed in USD. For non-USD orders, the premium amount is calculated as: order amount at checkout * exchange rate.

Policy Status

Policy statuses include: To be activated, Active, Expired, and Canceled:

• To be activated: The policy is created after the customer successfully pays for the order and remains pending until the policy takes effect.
• Active:
  • The tracking information for the insured package becomes available after shipping.
  • The policy is active if the customer files a claim.
  • If the order is not shipped or refunded within 30 days, the policy automatically takes effect after 30 days.
• Canceled: If the insured product is not shipped and a full refund is issued, a premium refund will be automatically initiated. Once the premium is refunded, the policy is terminated and marked as Canceled.
• Expired: The policy expires 90 days after creation. After this period, the customer cannot request a premium refund or file a claim.

Changes to Insurance Coverage

• Shipping Address Changes: If the shipping address is changed after the order is placed but before the product is shipped, you can agree with the customer to update the address. Here's how changes to coverage are handled:
  • Changing from a Covered Region to an Uncovered Region: If the new shipping address is in a location not covered by the insurance (e.g., changing from the United States to Mexico), the existing policy will still apply. However, frequent changes may restrict your use of the service.
  • Changing from an Uncovered Region to a Covered Region: If the new shipping address moves to a location covered by the insurance (e.g., changing from Mexico to the United States), you cannot purchase additional insurance for that specific order.
• Order Content Changes: Any products added to an order after payment (by editing the order) will not be covered by the existing insurance.

Policy and Claim List Management

To view and manage the policies and claims for customers who have purchased this service, go to the Apps section in your SHOPLINE admin panel, search for Guaranteed Delivery, and click on it to access the app.

Viewing and Managing Policies

To view the list of all policies purchased by your customers, click on the Policy list tab. You can perform the following actions:

• View Policy Details: See details of each policy, including policy number, order number, status, customer name, creation date, coverage value, and premium amount.
• Search for Policies: Enter an order or policy number to search for specific policy information.
• Filter Policies: Filter the list of policies based on their status. Policy statuses include: Pending, Active, Expired, and Canceled.

Viewing and Managing Claims

To view and manage customer claims, click on the Appeal list tab. You can perform the following actions:

• View Claim Details: See details of each claim, including appeal number, order number, policy number, status, claim type, appeal time, and coverage value.
• Search for Claims: Enter an order ID, policy ID, or claim ID to search for specific claim information.
• Filter Claims: Filter the list of claims based on their type and status. Claim types include: Lost, Damaged, and Delayed. Claim statuses include: Pending, Approved, and Rejected.
  
  

Premium Flow and Billing

You will collect all premiums along with the order amount for the products. The premiums will then be split and deducted based on your service settings and the settlement schedule set by Seel.

Commission Rate Explanation

For each order:

• Default Insurance Option: If you have selected the default option on the checkout page to purchase insurance for customers and the customer purchases the insurance service, you will earn a 15% commission on the premium.
• Customer-Initiated Insurance Purchase: If you have not selected the default option on the checkout page to purchase insurance for customers but the customer actively adds the insurance service, you will earn a 5% commission on the premium.

Bill Generation

Once a customer's payment is successful, the premium amount for that order will be included in the commission sharing calculation:

• $50 or More in Accumulated Premiums: The system will initiate a deduction from you on the next business day (T+1). The deduction amount will be: current premium amount - your commission of the premium, deducted from the payment card linked to your SHOPLINE account.
• Less than $50 in Accumulated Premiums: The system will summarize and calculate the orders not yet settled and initiate a deduction from you on the 15th of each month.
• Monthly Premium Threshold Not Met: If your premiums do not reach $50 in a natural month (from the 1st to the end of each month), the system will summarize and calculate the orders not yet settled and initiate a deduction from you on the 1st of the following month. Similarly, the deduction will be made from the payment card linked to your SHOPLINE account for the premium amount in that natural month minus your commission.

Viewing Bills

You can view the details of each bill in the Bills list tab of the Guaranteed Delivery app:

• Review a bill: Click on the eye icon of each bill to view its details on the bill details page.
  
  
  
• Download Bill PDF: Click the Download button in the top right corner of the bill details page to download a PDF file of the payments for that billing period.