Which photos do I need for a damage claim?
Direct answer
Six, in order: the sealed parcel before opening, the parcel label, the contents laid out, the whole item, the fault with a scale reference beside it, and a second angle of that same fault under different light. The first pair ties the damage to the shipment; the last pair shows what the damage is. Without the first pair a claim reads as an item fault.
Why
- The sealed parcel shot is the one buyers skip and the one that decides the claim. It records the state of the packaging before you touched the contents, which is what separates damage in transit from a fault present at dispatch. A claim without it invites the answer that the item was already in that condition when it was packed. Keep the packaging until the claim closes, because a reviewer may ask for a second angle of the same corner.
- The label shot is what ties the parcel to the order. A tracking number, a recipient name and a dispatch date in one frame let a reviewer connect the box in your photographs to the transaction on the platform, which is the link a claim needs before it can consider the damage itself. Photograph the label flat and square to the camera before the box is broken down, since the tracking number is the only field that joins parcel to order. If the label is damaged, photograph what remains and add the carrier's own tracking page beside it, which carries the same number in a form that cannot be smudged. Two sources for one number is stronger than one clear shot of a torn label, and the number is what a claim is indexed against.
- Scale turns a picture into a measurement. A crack photographed with a ruler or a coin beside it reads as a size rather than as an impression, and two reviewers will agree on it. This desk treats a fault photo without a scale reference as a query rather than as evidence, which is why a ruler appears in the required angle set for every category. Use the same scale and distance for every fault so two images can be compared side by side.
- A neutral background and even light remove the two ways a fault photograph misleads. A coloured or reflective surface changes how a finish reads, and direct flash exaggerates every surface irregularity, so a second shot in indirect daylight is requested as a control. The hard-light and soft-light images of the same fault are read together rather than separately, and neither should be adjusted before it is submitted. The set is shot once, at the door, because a fault cannot be re-photographed in its unopened state after the packaging has been discarded or the item has been worn. Keep the files at their original size as well, since a compressed or resized image loses exactly the surface detail that a fault photograph exists to show. Upload the originals and let the platform handle the size. Cropping is acceptable; sharpening is not.
When this answer flips
- The packaging shows crush damage or a puncture in the sealed-parcel photograph, because the claim then moves from an item fault to a transit event and the carrier becomes a party to it.
- The fault is functional rather than visible, such as a mechanism that no longer operates, because a short video of the failure is then read alongside the still set.
- The seller has already accepted the damage in the platform thread, because the set then only has to support the amount rather than establish the cause.
Three things to do next
Sources and checks
- Platform published rule — Published claim requirements, read for the photo types a claim accepts and for the order in which a submission is reviewed once it has been filedno sample
- Public community thread — Claims that turned on packaging evidence, read for the difference that one sealed-parcel photograph made to an outcome that was otherwise identicaln=29
- Editor analysis — Six-shot sequence designed so that a claim can be assembled at the door without returning to the parcel later for an angle that was missed the first timeno sample
Last checked · next review due · status current.