Reshipment Meaning and How to Reship an Order Efficiently

Let’s face it — mistakes happen, especially when you’re an ecommerce business owner juggling dozens of tasks at once. And there will inevitably be times when shipping an order doesn’t go as planned. 

If you send the wrong order to a customer, or a package arrives damaged or gets lost in transit, you’ll need to replace the items orders and process a reshipment, which requires a process that can reship an order as quickly as possible.

In this article, we’ll cover what a reshipment is, what the requirements are for reshipment claims, and how you can easily reship an order with ShipBob by following a few simple steps.

What is the definition of reshipment?

Reshipment is the process of replacing an order and shipping a new order to a customer a second time after the original shipment was incorrect, arrived damaged, was lost in transit, or any other reason that would require a replacement order.

What are the causes for reshipping an order?

There are several shipping issues that can lead to a business needing to reship an order. In these circumstances, reshipping an order is not only the best course of action to maintain customer loyalty, but it is also the right thing to do. Here are three of the most common shipping errors that warrant a reshipment.

An order arrived damaged

When shipping large quantities, you’re bound to have a few hiccups, including shipping damages. Whether the damage is the result of an error on the merchant’s end (e.g., not enough dunnage to secure the items), a shipping carrier’s mistake, carelessness during last-mile delivery, or some combination of the above, it is the merchant’s responsibility to reship the order so that the customer receives the items they initially orders but free of damage.

The wrong order was delivered

While order accuracy can be optimized with the right fulfillment processes in place to reduce picking errors, it’s also almost impossible to maintain a 100% order accuracy rate, especially if you’re shipping a high volume of orders. But most brands hold an order accuracy rate between 96%-98%, so it’s important to have a process in place for when there is a misshipment — or when an order is delivered wrong. If a customer receives an order meant for someone else, contains the wrong items, or is missing some of the items purchased, reshipment is a must. 

An order is lost in transit

Items can also be lost in transit and never arrive at their destination. There are several factors that can contribute to a package being lost that are outside the business owner’s control, including anything from damaged labels, wrong shipping address,or theft. When a package is lost in transit, it falls to the merchant to communicate with customers and set things right by reshipping the order.

Reshipment best practices

Building customer trust is absolutely critical if an ecommerce business is to maintain its customer base. Even if the issue was beyond your control, you should still invest in making your reshipment process both smooth and reliable to maintain a great customer experience.

Here are a few of the best practices that ecommerce businesses should implement in their reshipment process.

1. Provide shipping insurance for high-value orders

If your orders are of high value, we recommend that you invest in shipping insurance to avoid losing more money. Shipping insurance will reimburse the shipper the cost of any broken, lost, or stolen packages that are not delivered to the final destination or are damaged upon arriving at their destination. 

The cost of shipping insurance can vary depending on the value of the items shipped and on the carrier you ship with. While shipping insurance might not be a must-have if you’re shipping items that do not cost much to replace, it’s generally better to opt for shipping insurance than to forgo it.

2. Keep a digital paper trail

You will need to provide proof of any shipping issues, so make sure you have the relevant paperwork, order details, and screenshots, which will speed up the process. Following this paper trail will be much easier if you utilize an order management system, particularly if that system includes the means to track orders from shipment to delivery. 

By having the tools in place to track ecommerce orders, you can arrange for both you and your customer to be sent confirmation emails, tracking numbers, and other resources when an order is shipped, so you refer to this information u when investigating delivery issues. 

3. Maintain communication with the customer

The only thing worse for customers than receiving a lost or damaged order is hearing nothing from the merchant once the error is discovered. It’s important to go the extra mile to keep your customers in the loop when a customer notifies you of an issue and requests a replacement. Communicating effectively with your will help maintain their trust and loyalty to your brand. 

4. Take every step to prevent future mistakes

While mistakes are to be expected throughout the ecommerce supply chain, there is no reason for those mistakes to be repeated. After discovering a shipping error, merchants should not simply reship the customer’s order, but rather find ways to prevent future errors. Be sure to take the time to investigate what happened and determine at what stage in the supply chain the issue occurred, then take the appropriate actions to make improvements.

How to efficiently reship an order with ShipBob

At ShipBob, we do our best to keep a high order accuracy rate — but if you need a reshipment for any reason at all, we’ve got you covered.

ShipBob specializes in all aspects of supply chain management, from inventory management to automated shipping and ecommerce returns, so no matter what shipment issue you encounter, ShipBob is capable of reshipping your order correctly and quickly. 

Here’s how ShipBob handles reshipments in some common circumstances.

1. If your customer received the wrong items or needs a reshipment

For orders that were picked incorrectly, ShipBob will either generate a return label to return the incorrect items and generate a new order to send the correct items at our expense, or credit up to $100 of value per order, depending on what the merchant prefers. 

When an order swap occurs, ShipBob will credit the manufacturer’s value of the products in the order and create reshipments to the proper recipients at our cost. 

To ensure a speedy resolution, you will need to include an issue description, the package’s ShipBob Shipment ID, the shipping cost, and the usual shipping cost (with a few order IDs for reference) in an email to our support team. 

2. If your customer received damaged items

At ShipBob, we understand that damage to a customer’s order can happen during transit, which is why ShipBob offers courtesy shipping insurance for all orders up to $100 of the order’s retail value. 

If your shipment was insured, you can contact our support team to file a claim according tothese guidelines. While ShipBob does not cover the cost of reshipping damaged orders, we are more than happy to assist merchants in reshipping these orders within 90 days of the order’s original ship date. 

From the ShipBob dashboard, you can create a reshipment and ship out the item to the recipient again bycopying the order andmodifying it if needed.

3. If the order is lost in transit

If you haven’t received any updates regarding an order’s location or delivery within 20 days of its original ship date, you will need to file a claim with ShipBob’s support team. 

To do this, all you need is the Order ID and the retail invoice for the specific order, as well as communication from the end customer confirming that they never received their order for orders over $100. 

Although ShipBob does not cover the cost of reshipping a new order, the ShipBob dashboard makes it easy for merchants to create a shipment by simply copying the old order and sending it.

How ShipBob’s Merchant Care team handles reshipment issues

A 3PL should always act as a partner and not just provider, and they are only as good as its customer support team. ShipBob’s Merchant Care team is here to make sure you are get the best possible support that you and your team deserve.

In every case, we will be receptive to questions, feedback, and concerns and proactive in resolving any issues. We address all cases as they are brought to our attention and appreciate your patience while we work on solutions.

ShipBob’s Merchant Care team is widely accessible to our partners through a number of means. The “Help” button at the bottom-right corner of your ShipBob dashboard allows you to search through Help Center articles, and our dedicated support staff is available to assist you when you call (312) 313-1104 between the hours of 9AM–5PM CST Monday through Friday, or within two hours when you email us.

“At my previous 3PL, nothing seemed to come easy. Even getting a reshipment was nearly impossible. I felt like I had to babysit them. Everything was done on spreadsheets and it was very difficult to get the fulfillment data I needed. I felt like I couldn’t grow until I moved to ShipBob. My CPA even said to me, ‘Thank God you switched to ShipBob.’”

Courtney Lee, founder of Prymal

Conclusion

Reshipment can be a pain, but it shouldn’t sink your business. In fact, the need to replace an order can serve as a chance to showcase incredible customer service that sets you and your business apart from your competitors. 

Partnering with ShipBob can help support your customer service operation by providing full visibility into the entire fulfillment process, as well as best-in-class merchant support.

To ensure you’re given the best support from your fulfillment provider, we closely measure ‘support cases per order,’ which is a big indicator on how well we’re performing as your logistics partner. This metric provides you with information you can use to prepare your customer service team for future growth based on the projected case volume per number of orders. 

To learn more about how ShipBob can help you maintain a great customer experience, get in touch with our team by filling out the form below.

Reshipment FAQs

Every business owner needs to reship an order or two at some point, and ecommerce merchants have a lot of questions about this! For those new to reshipping, or who are figuring out how to reship with a logistics service provider, here are our answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about reshipping.

What does reshipment mean?

Reshipment is the process of shipping an order to a customer a second time, after the first shipment of that order was subject to some sort of shipping error. While some of these errors are preventable, others are completely out of the merchant’s control, meaning that reshipment is an unavoidable part of running an ecommerce business.

What are the main reasons for a reshipment?

There are a number of reasons to reship an order. If a customer received the wrong items in their package, if the customer received the wrong package altogether, if the package’s contents are damaged, or if their package is lost in transit and never arrives, a reshipment is necessary.

What is the reshipment process?

The reshipment process begins when the shipping error is identified, either by the merchant or the customer. If you are self-fulfilling and partnering with a carrier, you will need to absorb the cost of reshipping the order to the customer and coordinate the reshipment yourself. If you partner with a 3PL like ShipBob for fulfillment and/or shipping, contact them, and they should have resources available to help you reship the order.