What To Do If Your Amazon Package Is Stolen
What should you do if your Amazon package is stolen by porch pirates? Many packages are taken from porches or front doors before the recipient has a chance to collect them. Learn how to take action to report a stolen package — and prevent porch pirates from stealing your mail deliveries in the future.
If you’ve had a package stolen from your porch, you’re not alone. Porch piracy is still a common problem, especially in the U.S. Package theft resulted in more than $8 billion in losses in 2023.
When facing an Amazon package stolen from your doorstep, it’s crucial to act swiftly to report the theft and explore your replacement options. First, don’t panic. Amazon has a big customer service team, ready to help sort out your stolen package issue.
Try these steps on how to report a lost or stolen Amazon package. Then take measures to prevent package theft from happening to you ever again.
Someone stole my Amazon package — now what?
If you are a victim of porch piracy, here’s what to do if your Amazon package turns up missing.
Step 1: Track the Amazon lost packages.
Before you contact Amazon to report a missing package, there are some steps you should take to confirm that your package was stolen first.
Amazon sometimes marks a package as delivered before it actually arrives. If that’s the case, the package could show up at your front door within 48 hours.
After you’ve waited 48 hours, search your porch and surrounding area carefully. Drivers sometimes hide deliveries to minimize the risk of a stolen Amazon package. Courier companies may drop packages in unexpected places on your property, like the back porch or behind your potted plants. Your delivery person may have shared a picture of your package’s location, so check your order history.
If the Amazon package is still nowhere to be found after 48 hours, contact your courier (for example, UPS, Fedex, etc) immediately. Your package could still be in the hands of the shipping company. Ask them to track your package with the tracking number.
If the courier confirms that the package was successfully delivered to your home, then you can move onto the next step: checking in with your neighbors.
Step 2: Check with your neighbors.
Before reporting a stolen package issue to Amazon, double check with your neighbors first. Perhaps they saw something or captured a video of your package delivery on their home security cameras. They could also be holding your package to protect it from being stolen.
RELATED POST: How to Stop Porch Pirates from Stealing Packages
Step 3: Contact the seller or retailer.
If you are now entirely sure that your Amazon package was stolen from the porch, you can contact Amazon directly to request a refund or replacement item. Chat with customer service to let them know the details of the issue. Amazon retailers should be able to send out new packages or issue refunds to the customer.
For third-party orders, contact the Amazon seller directly as part of Amazon’s A-Z Guarantee. Give the seller a day to respond to your chat. After that, proceed with the claim process for the missing or stolen package. Be sure to file the claim within 90 days of ordering.
Sometimes the seller will not be willing to resolve the issue by sending a new package or a refund. In that case, Amazon will decide whether to issue the refund or replacement item. This decision depends on your answers to the claim process questions. And if Amazon denies your package claim, you can appeal.
If both Amazon and the retailer deny your claim, you still have options.
You might still be able to get reimbursed in other ways. Here are a few options you could try.
File a claim with the shipping company.
If the seller is shifting the responsibility to the shipping company, know that you can also file a claim with them. UPS, FedEx, USPS, and DHL all provide an online claims process for reporting your Amazon lost package.
Claim high-value items with your insurance company.
Let’s say you’re missing a big-ticket purchase like a TV or laptop. If filing a claim with the sellers or shipping companies doesn’t work, see if your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy covers stolen packages.
Keep in mind that this is only helpful if the refund is worth more than your deductible. The claim process can be a hassle, and your insurance company could end up increasing your premiums in the end. It’s probably not worth the trouble to recover a single inexpensive package.
Use the purchase protection features on your credit card.
If your credit card company offers a purchase protection plan, you can contact them to get reimbursement for your stolen items. But make sure that you purchased the item entirely with that credit card. Notify the card issuer first of this problem so they can accommodate your claim.
RELATED POST: How to Prevent Holiday Package Theft
Step 4: Report the theft to the police.
It can be a headache to keep filing claims for Amazon lost packages if it keeps happening whenever you get a delivery. To avoid this from happening again, report the incident to the local police. This helps them stay aware of crime patterns happening in your neighborhood. The police can heighten their surveillance around your area to spot porch pirates and prevent them from stealing further.
How to prevent package theft
To help protect yourself from porch pirates in the future, consider taking some preventive measures.
Schedule an in-person delivery
If you want to be 100% positive your package will be delivered safely, the best way is to receive it with your own hands. Most couriers offer an option to make a signature required for delivery. If your day-to-day schedule makes it difficult to stay home for deliveries, you might consider asking your neighbor to receive the package for you. You could also change your shipping address to your office.
Use a lockbox
Amazon offers lockers so you can easily pick your packages up at your convenience. Choose this option if you really can’t receive your packages personally. That way, you don’t have to worry about your Amazon package being vulnerable on your porch.
Insure your high-value packages
For high-value items such as smart devices, you can usually pay a few extra bucks for delivery insurance. Retailers or courier companies offer these services for extra security.
Install security cameras
Last but certainly not least, home security cameras are always a good idea if porch piracy is prevalent in your neighborhood. Cameras can help identify the individual who stole your packages. You can use the recording for proof when filing a reported case to the police.
Better yet, choose a system with live security camera monitoring, like Deep Sentinel. Then, there’s always someone watching your front door, ready to intervene at the first sign of porch piracy.
Check out Deep Sentinel in action, stopping a porch pirate in their tracks:
Need a Solution that Prevents Crime?
Deep Sentinel is the only security technology that delivers the experience of a personal guard on every customer’s home and business. Visit deepsentinel.com, call 833.395.1386, or request a free security consultation below: