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You can use the Shippo API to add insurance to your shipments programmatically. Shipping insurance helps you avoid losing money on lost or stolen packages. The Shippo API supports two methods for purchasing insurance for your shipment. step 1 icon You can purchase insurance using our built-in insurance service powered by XCover. This is available for ALL of our carriers. step 2 icon You can purchase insurance directly from carriers that provide their own insurance option (FedEx, UPS, and Ontrac). We recommend using Shippo’s built-in insurance because it offers a more comprehensive coverage at a lower price.
noteTo learn more about how XCover works with Shippo, see our XCover help article.

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Insurance for single package shipments using XCover

For shipments consisting of only one package, you can specify insurance directly from the Shipment object.
noteIt’s important to review the XCover coverage details.XCover provides insurance for shipments and parcels up to an amount of $10,000 USD. Depending the source country, this limit can vary.For shipments originating from the US, XCover has a 25% deductible for Jewelry/Watches, Antiques/Artwork, and Glassware/Ceramics.
Make sure to specify the amount and currency, as well as content within the insurance attribute inside ShipmentExtras attribute. The provider will default to Shippo’s insurance provider. 
curl https://api.goshippo.com/shipments/\
    -H "Authorization: ShippoToken <API_Token>"\
    -d address_from="d799c2679e644279b59fe661ac8fa488"\
    -d address_to="42236bcf36214f62bcc6d7f12f02a849"\
    -d parcels=["7df2ecf8b4224763ab7c71fae7ec8274"]\
    -d extra='{"insurance": {"amount": "200", "currency": "USD", "content": "t-shirts" }}'\
    -d async=false
Each valid Shipment object request will trigger a number of Rate objects that contain the shipment insurance information. The field included_insurance_price indicates the insurance fee for the requested coverage. That fee is also included in the rate “amount” as well. 
{
    "status": "SUCCESS",
    "object_created": "2013-12-01T06:24:20.121Z",
    "object_updated": "2013-12-01T06:24:20.121Z",
    "object_id": "5e40ead7cffe4cc1ad45108696162e42",
    "object_owner": "shippotle@shippo.com",
    "address_from": {
        "object_id": "0943ae4e373e4120a99c337e496dcce8",
        "validation_results": {},
        "is_complete": true,
        "company": "",
        "street_no": "",
        "name": "Mr. Hippo",
        "street1": "215 Clayton St.",
        "street2": "",
        "city": "San Francisco",
        "state": "CA",
        "zip": "94117",
        "country": "US",
        "phone": "+15553419393",
        "email": "support@shippo.com",
        "is_residential": null
    },
    "address_to": {
        "object_id": "4c7185d353764d0985a6a7825aed8ffb",
        "validation_results": {},
        "is_complete": true,
        "name":"Mrs. Hippo",
        "street1":"965 Mission St.",
        "city":"San Francisco",
        "state":"CA",
        "zip":"94105",
        "country":"US",
        "phone":"+1 555 341 9393",
        "email":"support@shippo.com",
        "is_residential": false
    },
    "address_return": {
        "object_id": "0943ae4e373e4120a99c337e496dcce8",
        "validation_results": {},
        "is_complete": true,
        "company": "",
        "street_no": "",
        "name": "Mr. Hippo",
        "street1": "215 Clayton St.",
        "street2": "",
        "city": "San Francisco",
        "state": "CA",
        "zip": "94117",
        "country": "US",
        "phone": "+15553419393",
        "email": "support@shippo.com",
        "is_residential": null
    },
    "parcels": [{
        "object_id": "ec952343dd4843c39b42aca620471fd5",
        "object_created": "2013-12-01T06:24:21.121Z",
        "object_updated": "2013-12-01T06:24:21.121Z",
        "object_owner": "shippotle@shippo.com",
        "template": null,
        "length":"5",
        "width":"5",
        "height":"5",
        "distance_unit":"in",
        "weight":"2",
        "mass_unit":"lb",
        "value_amount": null,
        "value_currency": null,
        "metadata": "",
        "line_items": [],
        "test": true
    }],
    "shipment_date": "2013-12-03T12:00:00.000Z",
    "extra": {
        "insurance": {
            "amount": "200",
            "currency": "USD",
            "content": "t-shirts"
        },
        "reference_1": "",
        "reference_2": ""
    },
    "customs_declaration": "",
    "rates": [
        {
            "object_created": "2013-12-01T06:24:21.121Z",
            "object_id": "545ab0a1a6ea4c9f9adb2512a57d6d8b",
            "object_owner": "shippotle@shippo.com",
            "shipment": "5e40ead7cffe4cc1ad45108696162e42",
            "attributes": [],
            "amount": "5.50",
            "currency": "USD",
            "amount_local": "5.50",
            "currency_local": "USD",
            "included_insurance_price": "1.05",
            "provider": "USPS",
            "provider_image_75": "https://cdn2.goshippo.com/providers/75/USPS.png",
            "provider_image_200": "https://cdn2.goshippo.com/providers/200/USPS.png",
            "servicelevel": {
                "name": "Priority Mail",
                "token": "usps_priority",
                "terms": "",
                "extended_token": "usps_priority",
                "parent_servicelevel": null
            },
            "estimated_days": 2,
            "arrives_by": null,
            "duration_terms": "Delivery in 1 to 3 business days.",
            "messages": [],
            "carrier_account": "078870331023437cb917f5187429b093",
            "test": false,
            "zone": "20"
        },
        ...
    ],
    "carrier_accounts": [],
    "metadata": "Customer ID 123456",
    "messages": [],
    "test": false
}
You can then create the shipping label by POSTing to the Transaction endpoint as usual: 
curl https://api.goshippo.com/transactions\
    -H "Authorization: ShippoToken <API_Token>"\
    -d rate="cf6fea899f1848b494d9568e8266e076"
    -d label_file_type="PDF"
    -d async=false

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Insurance for single package shipments using carrier insurance

You can purchase insurance directly from a carrier by specifying your provider within the insurance attribute inside ShipmentExtras attribute. This is available only for FedEx, UPS, and Ontrac.
cURL
curl https://api.goshippo.com/shipments/\
    -H "Authorization: ShippoToken <API_Token>"\
    -d address_from="d799c2679e644279b59fe661ac8fa488"\
    -d address_to="42236bcf36214f62bcc6d7f12f02a849"\
    -d parcels=["7df2ecf8b4224763ab7c71fae7ec8274"]\
    -d extra='{"insurance": {"amount": "200", "currency": "USD", "content": "t-shirts", "provider":"FEDEX" }}'\
    -d async=false

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Insurance for multi-piece shipments

For multi-piece shipments you can choose to purchase specific insurance amounts for each package. This can be done through the extras attribute when creating your Parcel object within the Shipment request. The following example shows a request to add insurance to each parcel in a multi-piece shipment using carrier provided insurance. To add insurance using XCover, omit provider from your request.
cURL
curl https://api.goshippo.com/shipment/\
-H "Authorization: ShippoToken <API_Token>"\
-H "Content-Type: application/json"\
-d '{
    "address_from": "d799c2679e644279b59fe661ac8fa488",
    "address_to": "42236bcf36214f62bcc6d7f12f02a849",
    "parcels": [
        {
            "length": "5",
            "width": "5",
            "height": "5",
            "distance_unit": "cm",
            "weight": "2",
            "mass_unit": "lb",
            "template": "",
            "metadata": "Box1",
            "extra": {
                "insurance": {
                    "amount": 25.00,
                    "currency": "USD",
                    "provider": "FEDEX"
                    }
            }
        },
        {
            "length": "5",
            "width": "10",
            "height": "15",
            "distance_unit": "cm",
            "weight": "6",
            "mass_unit": "lb",
            "template": "",
            "metadata": "Box2",
            "extra": {
                "insurance": {
                    "amount": 50.00,
                    "currency": "USD",
                    "provider": "FEDEX"
                    }
            }
        },
        {
            "length": "2",
            "width": "8",
            "height": "9",
            "distance_unit": "cm",
            "weight": "5",
            "mass_unit": "lb",
            "template": "",
            "metadata": "Box3",
            "extra": {
                "insurance": {
                    "amount": 45.00,
                    "currency": "USD",
                    "provider": "FEDEX"
                    }
            }
        }
    ],
    "async": false
}

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Handling shipment-level and parcel-level insurance

If both shipment-level and parcel-level insurance are specified, the parcel-level insurance will take precedence. Parcels without parcel-level insurance will have the shipment-level insurance amount applied to that parcel. If only shipment-level insurance is specified, then the shipment insurance amount will be applied to each parcel and not divided amongst parcels.

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Canceling or refunding insurance

Please see our page on Refunds for more info on refunding insured shipments.