Most “shipping protection” widgets online are illegal. When you charge a customer a fee in exchange for replacing, refunding, or covering a lost or damaged package, that’s insurance—no matter what you call it.
If you make any “if/then” promise tied to a delivery event (“If it’s lost, we’ll reimburse you”), you are selling insurance. Rebranding it as:
Or any other creative name doesn’t change the legal reality. If you don’t hold insurance licenses in all 50 states or have a legally approved carrier program behind you, you’re violating insurance law.
Merchants running unlicensed “protection” programs are exposed to:
And using a third-party app doesn’t protect you. Regulators treat you, the merchant, as the one selling the illegal insurance.
InsureShip is one of the only fully legal shipping-insurance providers operating at scale.
We are:
This isn’t a widget or an add-on. It’s real insurance, regulated, backed, and compliant.
Your vendor’s licensing problems become your legal liability.
If the provider you’re paying for “shipping protection” isn’t licensed, you’re the one regulators go after. You’re the one payment processors ban. You’re the one who ends up refunding every customer who paid the fee.
This is why so many fake-insurance apps vanish, get acquired quietly, or suddenly rebrand - they’re avoiding scrutiny.
If you’re charging customers any kind of optional “protection fee,” there’s a good chance you’re already selling insurance. And there are only a small handful of companies legally authorized to sell shipping insurance in the U.S.
This is your moment to protect your business. Make sure everything you’re offering at checkout is compliant.
If you're using a competitor’s program right now, ask them for two things:
1. A copy of their reinsurance policy
This shows exactly which A-rated carrier is backing their coverage.
2. Proof of active insurance licenses in all 50 states
Not claims. Not marketing statements. Actual licenses.
If they can’t produce both, you’re being exposed to real regulatory and financial risk.
When you partner with InsureShip, you get:
If you want to protect customers and protect your business at the same time, you need a licensed provider.
InsureShip is one of the only real ones.
