Buyer Protection FAQ
1. What does Buyer Protection cover?
Buyer Protection is a service provided by Seel (a 17TRACK partner). It covers delayed, damaged, and lost items that meet the following criteria.
Delay: United States domestic packages not delivered before the 15th day following order fulfillment (i.e., the date when the order is shipped by the merchant) or international packages not delivered before the 30th day following order fulfillment are considered delayed. The compensation for delayed packages is $5 USD.
Damage: Buyer Protection covers item damages to the point that the item(s) are unusable, clearly fractured, shattered, bent (if not bendable), crushed, etc., but does not cover cosmetic damage (scratches, dents, etc.), manufacturing damages, packaging errors, or unsealed items. The compensation for damaged items will be up to the value paid for the purchased item(s).
Loss: United States domestic packages not delivered before the 30th day following order fulfillment (i.e., the date when the order is shipped by the merchant) or international packages not delivered before the 60th day following order fulfillment are considered lost. The compensation for lost packages is the value paid for the purchased item(s).
Buyer Protection also includes carbon-neutral shipment for all domestic shipments.
Note: Total compensation for one cover is up to the value actually paid for the item(s).
2. What products are excluded from Buyer Protection?
Buyer Protection does not cover the following categories of items：
Automobiles and motorcycles
Jewelry (valued in excess of $1,500)
Boats and yachts
Live animals
Cash
Lumber
Ceramic, marble or granite tiles, slab blocks, countertops, or statues
Negotiable papers
Cigarettes and other tobacco products
Perishable commodities
Raw cotton
Pharmaceutical drugs
Fine arts (valued in excess of $10,000 per piece)
Precious stones and metals
Flowers
Scrap metal, steel metal and steel metal products; automotive engines; general used automotive merchandise made of metal
Glass windows, plate glass, and similar goods
Securities
3. How does Buyer Protection benefit me?
Enabling the Buyer Protection widget on the cart page gives customers the option to add Buyer Protection that covers product loss, damage, and delay. Buyer Protection gives shoppers peace of mind, eliminates shipping-related complaints, and turns late deliveries into repeat customers.
4. How does Buyer Protection work for shoppers?
After enabling the Buyer Protection widget, it will be inserted onto your cart page. (see image)
When checking out, shoppers can add Buyer Protection for a modest fee to protect their order against damage, loss, or delay. With Buyer Protection, if a shopper’s order is damaged, delayed during delivery, or lost in transit, Seel will compensate the shopper with a partial or full refund in the form of a prepaid Visa card via email once the package status is verified.
6. How does Buyer Protection resolve shoppers’ shipping issues?
The customer experience of Buyer Protection is as follows:
Shopper orders from the merchant with Buyer Protection opted in.
Shopper receives an email with their Buyer Protection coverage details, as well as instructions on how to report an issue.
If their package is damaged or lost during transit or is delayed, they can report the issue via the Seel Claim Portal.
Seel will assess the issue using policy rules/guidelines to determine if the reported order issue qualifies for a payout.
If the reported issue does qualify, a refund will be automatically sent to the shopper in a prepaid credit card via email.
If the reported issue doesn’t qualify, an email will be sent to the shopper to notify them of the denial and the reason.
Throughout the user journey, shoppers can always check out their cover details and status via 17Track’s branded tracking page (see below screenshot).
To qualify for the payout, shoppers need to follow the issue reporting requirements:
Issues of loss, where the package is not delivered, must not be reported sooner than 30 days after the order fulfillment date for domestic shipments and 60 days for international shipments.
Issues of damage, where the package is delivered, must be reported within 15 days after the delivery date.
Issues of delay, where the package is delivered, must not be reported sooner than 15 days after the order fulfillment date for domestic shipments and 30 days for international shipments.
All issues must be reported within 90 days of the order date.
7. How much does Buyer Protection cost?
For orders where all items have a combined retail value under $100 USD, Buyer Protection is only $0.98 USD. For orders where all items have a combined retail value over $100 USD, Buyer Protection is calculated from 1.5%-5% of the cart total based on proprietary risk factors (for example, if an order was $150 USD with a 1.5% rate, then Buyer Protection would cost $2.25 USD).