Shipping insurance is one of those things that feels optional until you need it. A high-value shipment gets lost, damaged, or stolen — and without insurance, you absorb the loss. EasyPost’s shipment insurance API makes it easy to protect orders directly from your WooCommerce dashboard.
How EasyPost Insurance Works
EasyPost offers its own insurance product (underwritten by a third-party insurer) that can be added to any shipment you create via the API. The premium is typically 1% of the declared value with a minimum of around $1 per shipment — significantly cheaper than carrier-provided insurance for most cases.
The TheForge EasyPost Shipping plugin integrates this directly into the label generation flow.
Adding Insurance to a Label
When generating a label from the WooCommerce order screen, you’ll see an Add Insurance option with a field for the declared value. Enter the item value, and the insurance premium is calculated and shown. Confirm, and the label is generated with insurance attached.
For bulk label generation, you can configure the plugin to automatically add insurance to any order above a configurable value threshold — so high-value orders are always protected without manual intervention.
Offering Insurance at Checkout
You can also offer shipment insurance as an optional add-on at checkout. The customer sees a checkbox — “Add shipment insurance for $X.XX” — and can choose whether to include it. The insurance cost is calculated based on the order total and the EasyPost rate.
This approach lets customers who want the peace of mind pay for it, while keeping checkout simple for customers who don’t.
Filing Claims
If an insured shipment is lost or damaged, you file a claim directly with EasyPost (not the carrier). EasyPost’s claims process is straightforward — you submit the claim with the shipment details and evidence of value, and EasyPost handles it from there.
When to Auto-Insure
A useful rule of thumb: auto-insure any shipment where the item value exceeds the cost of a reasonable self-insurance reserve. For most stores, that’s somewhere between $100–$500 depending on your shipping volume and loss history.
Questions? Visit the ThePluginForge support page.