Parcel Lost or Damaged in Delivery: Who Is Actually Liable?

In the UK, Section 29 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 puts the risk of loss or damage in transit on the trader (retailer), not the consumer, until the goods "come into the physical possession of" the consumer — as long as the retailer arranged or chose the delivery method. That means if a parcel you ordered from a UK retailer is lost or arrives damaged, your claim is against the retailer, who must then sort it out with their own carrier — not against the courier directly, and you don't need to prove what the courier did wrong.

The EU Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU, Article 20) works the same way for consumer sales contracts: risk of loss or damage passes to the consumer only when the consumer (or someone the consumer nominates, other than the carrier) takes physical possession of the goods. The one exception in both the UK and EU rules: if you personally chose and booked the courier yourself — one the retailer didn't offer as an option — risk passes to you once the retailer hands the parcel to that carrier.

The US works differently and is easy to get wrong. Under Uniform Commercial Code § 2-509, the default rule for an ambiguous contract is a "shipment contract": risk of loss passes to the buyer the moment the seller hands the goods to a carrier, not on delivery — unless the contract explicitly makes the seller responsible all the way to your door (a "destination contract"). verify how your specific retailer's terms characterize the contract, since this can vary and courts read ambiguous terms as a shipment contract by default In practice, most reputable US retailers still replace or refund a lost/damaged order as a matter of customer-service policy, and if you paid by credit card, a "goods not received" or "not as described" dispute under the Fair Credit Billing Act or card-network chargeback rules gives you a separate route that doesn't depend on who bore the UCC risk.

If you shipped the parcel yourself (not a retailer purchase) — for example, mailing an item to someone, or a seller shipped on your own account — you are the shipper of record and must file the claim yourself with the carrier under its own contract-of-carriage terms and liability limits, which are contractual, not statutory, and typically cap compensation to the declared or insured value.

USPS domestic claims: for damaged items or missing contents, file as soon as possible and no later than 60 days from the mailing date. For a package that never shows up as delivered, most services have a minimum wait before you can file — commonly around 7 days for Priority Mail Express and about 15 days for USPS Ground Advantage — with all claims due within 60 days of mailing. verify current wait periods and eligible service classes on usps.com/help/claims.htm, since USPS periodically updates Publication 122

FedEx: for a shipment that is damaged or missing contents, file within 60 calendar days of the ship date; for a total loss (never delivered), the window extends to nine months from the ship date. UPS follows a similar pattern for domestic shipments — commonly cited as a 9-month window for a lost-package claim, though UPS also advises starting the claim within 60 days of the scheduled delivery date for lost or damaged items. verify current FedEx/UPS terms directly, since carrier tariffs and claims manuals change and international shipments carry shorter, different deadlines

If you (not the retailer) picked the courier and it wasn't one the seller offered, UK/EU risk-of-loss protection generally does not apply — you're treated as having taken on carrier risk yourself from the point of handover, though you retain a direct claim against that carrier under its own terms.

In the US, if the seller's terms explicitly state they are responsible only until "tender to carrier" (a valid, common shipment-contract term), the retailer may have a stronger argument that risk passed to you — though this doesn't affect your separate card-network dispute rights, and many retailers still make it right voluntarily to preserve their reputation and marketplace standing (e.g., Amazon, eBay, and most marketplaces have buyer-protection policies that are more generous than the bare legal minimum).

Declared or insured value limits on a carrier claim mean that for high-value items shipped without adequate declared value or additional insurance, your carrier-claim recovery may be capped well below the item's actual worth — check the specific carrier's liability limitation before shipping anything valuable. verify current per-package liability caps with your specific carrier, as these are contractual and vary by service level

A clean case — tracking shows non-delivery or clear transit damage, filed within the deadline, with photo/documentary evidence — is resolved in the consumer's favor at a high rate, whether through the retailer, the carrier, or a card dispute.

Carrier claims are capped by declared/insured value, so a high-value uninsured item may only recover a fraction of its worth even when the claim is approved. Retailer-liability claims under UK/EU consumer law do not have this cap — you're entitled to a full refund or replacement.

This page can help you identify the right party to claim against and the applicable deadline, but it does not predict whether a specific retailer or carrier will approve your individual claim, and it is not a guarantee of recovery.