Shipping Protection
Edition: CS-Cart & Multi-Vendor · Latest version: 1.0.0 · Compatible with: CS-Cart & Multi-Vendor 4.17.2 – 4.21.x, PHP 7.4 – 8.3 · Changelog: view
Shipping Protection adds an optional protection box to the checkout. Customers who tick it pay a small fee, and when their parcel arrives damaged, goes missing or is stolen they file a claim from their account. You decide each claim in one queue: reship, refund or decline. A report shows what the fee earns and what the claims cost.
Shipping protection is a service of your store, not an insurance policy: your store carries the risk, sets the price and decides each claim. Say so in your terms (see FAQ).
Key features
Section titled “Key features”- Protection box above the Place order button with the fee for the current cart, on the switch and in the order summary.
- Fee as a percent of the product value, as value tiers (“from 150 = 4.95”, “from 300 = 2%”) or as a fixed amount, with a minimum, a maximum and an order value from which the box is offered. Downloads and gift certificates do not count.
- Never pre-checked for shipping addresses in the EU, the EEA, the UK and Switzerland (pre-ticked boxes for extra payments are not allowed there). You may pre-check it for other countries; the customer can always untick it.
- A separate line in the checkout totals, the order page, the admin order, invoices and the order e-mails, taxed with the taxes you choose.
- Claims from the customer account (order page, tab Shipping protection): what happened (damaged, lost, items missing, stolen after delivery, wrong item), which items and how many, a description and photos.
- Photos are converted to JPEG (at most 1600 pixels, no metadata such as location) and kept in a folder that is not reachable from the web; administrators see them through the admin panel.
- Claim period in days and the order statuses that allow claims; one open claim per order at a time.
- Claim queue in Orders → Protection claims with status tabs; claim page with items, photos, order data, decision (Open, Reship, Refund, Declined), refund amount, replacement order ID with a “Create replacement order” button, reply to the customer and internal note.
- Report in Orders → Protection report: fee revenue, attach rate, claim rate, refunds, open claims and the net result, by month and by claim type.
- Multi-Vendor: the fee is split over the vendor orders by their product value, vendors see the claims of their orders and can decide them when you allow it. CS-Cart Ultimate: settings per storefront.
What it does not do
Section titled “What it does not do”- It does not pay out money by itself. Refunds go through your payment provider or store credit as usual; the claim keeps the amount for the report.
- It does not create the replacement order automatically. “Create replacement order” opens a copy of the order in the order editor, where you set prices and items.
- It does not send e-mails about claims. Customers see the status and your reply on the order page.
- Orders created in the admin panel do not get protection; edited orders keep the fee they were placed with.
Compatibility
Section titled “Compatibility”- CS-Cart and Multi-Vendor 4.17.2 to 4.21.x (tested on 4.17.2; 4.21.2 template compile and PHP 8.3 checked).
- PHP 7.4 to 8.3, GD (a CS-Cart requirement) for the claim photos.
- Responsive-based themes with the lite checkout. Nova (4.21) uses the same checkout and order page hooks; its templates were compile-checked, not tested live.