Lost or damaged parcel in Canada: what to do and how to claim

First steps

If tracking says delivered

• Check the delivery photo or signature on the carrier’s tracking page, if there is one.
• Look around the delivery spot: porch, back door, garage, mailroom, parcel locker or front desk.
• Ask the people you live with and your neighbours.
• If you’re the recipient, contact the seller. Carriers pay claims to the sender, so the seller is the one who can claim and refund or reship.

Canada Post won’t pay a loss claim when a photo shows the parcel delivered, and UniUni won’t when its tracking shows delivery unless there’s evidence of the loss. The photo matters.

If tracking has stopped moving

Parcels often go a day or two between scans, especially across the country. Canada Post says most of its late parcels arrive within five business days of the expected date. If there’s been no scan for several business days, ask for a trace. Purolator requires a trace before it accepts a loss claim, and UPS points out that a trace isn’t a claim, so the claim deadline keeps running.

Claim deadlines by carrier

Who files when you used a shipping platform

Every major carrier deals with the account a label was made on, and their terms say so:

• UPS defines the shipper as the account holder, and says a party using someone else’s account isn’t the shipper. UPS pays the shipper of record.
• FedEx says a business that resells FedEx shipping is the shipper of those parcels, and that claims must go to that business.
• Purolator, since March 30, 2026, only lets the party that pays it for the shipment file a claim.
• Canada Post pays claims only to the sender, and refunds go back to the account that paid.

So if you bought the label through Shopify Shipping, a discount platform or ProtonShip, you file the claim with that platform, and the platform submits it. How well that works depends on the platform. At ProtonShip you file from the shipment in your account and we email you at every change. Coverage and claims at ProtonShip

What every carrier asks for

• The tracking number and the shipping label or bill of lading
• Proof of the goods’ value, such as the invoice or receipt; Purolator wants your cost, without retail markup
• For damage, photos of the box, the packing and the item
• The box, the packing and the item, kept until the claim is settled, because the carrier may inspect them

How much carriers pay

UPS, FedEx and Canada Post’s Priority, Xpresspost and Expedited Parcel cover up to $100 a parcel unless a higher value was declared. Purolator covers $2 a pound unless a value was declared, and Canada Post’s Regular Parcel includes no coverage at all. The payout is the value of what was lost or damaged, up to that limit, and none of them pays for knock-on losses such as a missed sale.

Fragile and perishable goods are where claims usually fail. Canada Post accepts no damage claims for ceramics, glass, porcelain or perishables. Purolator ships glassware, ceramics, liquids, perishables and electronics at the shipper’s risk. UPS only takes glass, ceramics and perishables with pre-approval and at the shipper’s risk. Poor packing can void a claim with any of them.