Every Ecommerce brand shipping internationally hits the same wall: a small but expensive share of orders get lost, damaged, stolen, or delayed in transit. Most merchants absorb that cost in their CS budget and refund pool, treating shipping issues as a line on the P&L that only goes one direction.
The Portless and Onward partnership flips that line. Package protection is an opt-in upgrade at checkout that lets customers protect their order against loss, theft, damage, and delays, and through our partnership with Onward, it becomes a revenue stream for the merchant instead of a cost center.
All claims are handled and reimbursed by Onward, and there's zero implementation cost for the merchant. Here's how the partnership is structured, what services you get, and where the revenue comes from.
Portless package protection is an integrated checkout experience, powered by Onward, that lets your customers protect their orders against loss, theft, damage, and delays. Onward is a full post-purchase platform, so what sits behind the protection opt-in isn't traditional shipping protection. It's an order upgrade that bundles claim handling, cashback rewards, and a 90-day satisfaction guarantee into one customer-facing option, which is why adoption runs well above category norms.
When something goes wrong, Onward handles the claim and pays out refunds or reorders directly from the protection premium pool.
You earn a share of the premium on every protected order, your CS team stops fielding shipping complaints, and your customers get faster, cleaner resolutions than any carrier dispute can offer.
This partnership is purpose-built for Portless merchants because the international leg of direct fulfillment creates real exposure to in-transit loss and damage. Onward's post-purchase platform handles that exposure end-to-end: protecting the order, resolving claims, and turning the recovery into a revenue line for the merchant.
Cosara, a fast-growing DTC adult brand selling across global markets, generated $82K in a single quarter from package protection, with two in three customers opting in at checkout.
"We generated $70K in package protection revenue in a single quarter by adding a simple $4 protection option at checkout — plus an additional $12K from cashback. Customers get peace of mind, and we're making a profit on every protected order with zero effort." — Laura McDowell, COO at Cosara
Read the full Cosara case study to see how package protection fit into their broader growth story.
Once you enable Onward in the Portless dashboard, your brand gets five distinct services bundled into a single integration. Each one targets a specific cost line or revenue gap in the post-purchase experience.
Onward appears as an opt-in upgrade at checkout, with the upgrade fee calculated as ~3-4% of the order subtotal and paid by the customer. The merchant pays nothing. About two in three customers opt in when offered, well above the category norm. The framing is the difference: customers see real added value, not a defensive add-on.
If a package is lost, stolen, damaged, or delayed, the customer files a claim directly through Onward. The Onward team resolves it (refund, reorder, or store credit) typically within 24 hours, with a 97% approval rate and an average resolution time under two minutes.
Your team never has to fight with the carrier, and the customer gets answered faster than your CS queue could deliver.
Merchants earn approximately 4% of protected GMV back. The split is 1.25% of GMV through revenue share plus claims reimbursement, and 2.75% of GMV through sponsored cashback that funds customer credit.
For a brand doing $800K in monthly GMV, that's roughly $32K per month in new revenue from a service that costs you nothing to run.
Every protected order earns 5% Onward CashBack in store credit, issued 30 days after purchase. The mechanic drives repeat purchases by routing customers back to your store with a balance to spend. It's a sponsored loyalty program funded entirely by the protection premium, not your margins.
Onward backs every protected order with a 90-day satisfaction guarantee. If the customer isn't happy with the order for any reason, they can file a claim and get a refund, often without needing to return the product. The cost is covered by the premium pool, not the merchant.
The clearest way to see the impact is to look at the post-purchase outcomes side by side. The table below maps the gaps that package protection closes for a typical Portless merchant.
::table
Outcome;Without package protection;With Portless + Onward
Lost or damaged orders;Merchant absorbs the cost or eats CS time fighting with carriers;Onward refunds or reorders within 24 hours, paid from the premium pool
Support ticket volume;Every shipping issue creates a ticket your team has to resolve;~20% fewer support tickets, since Onward handles claims directly
Revenue from protection;$0 — it's a cost line, not a revenue line;~4% of GMV back to the merchant (rev share plus sponsored cashback)
AOV;Customers hesitate at checkout on higher-value orders;~15% AOV lift on protected orders, with 2 in 3 customers opting in
Customer experience;Customers absorb the loss or wait weeks for resolution;Claims resolved in <2 minutes with a 97% approval rate
:table
Package protection delivers the biggest impact for active Portless merchants processing 1,000 to 15,000 orders per month, with revenue between $1M and $15M annually. Brands in this range typically see 2-5% of orders run into shipping issues, and the support load scales with growth. Adding protection at checkout turns that load into a revenue line.
The partnership fits especially well for:
Enabling Onward through Portless takes a few clicks. Inside the Portless dashboard, go to Portless Protect > Package Protection and select Learn More. That triggers an intro from the Onward team, who will walk you through setup and integration.
If you're not yet a Portless merchant and want to see how direct fulfillment from China plus package protection work together, book a demo to see the full model.
It's an integration with Onward's post-purchase platform that lets Portless merchants offer their customers an order upgrade at checkout, covering loss, theft, damage, and delivery delays. Onward handles all claims and pays out refunds or reorders from the protection premium pool, so merchants earn revenue with zero cost.
Nothing. The customer pays a small protection premium at checkout (typically 3-4% of order subtotal). Onward covers all claim payouts from that premium pool, so the merchant has no platform fees, no claim costs, and no financial risk.
Merchants earn approximately 4% of protected GMV — split between rev share plus claims reimbursement (1.25% of GMV) and sponsored cashback (2.75% of GMV). At 10,000 monthly orders and an $80 AOV, that works out to roughly $32K per month.
Onward resolves claims in under two minutes on average, with a 97% approval rate. Refunds or reorders are typically issued within 24 hours, and the merchant is not involved in the resolution process.
Active Portless merchants processing 1,000 to 15,000 orders per month with revenue between $1M and $15M. The partnership is especially valuable for brands shipping high-value goods, brands experiencing meaningful CS volume around delivery issues, and brands looking to monetize the post-purchase experience.
Inside the Portless dashboard, go to Portless Protect > Package Protection and click 'Learn More'. That triggers an introduction email from the Onward team, who will reach out to walk through setup. The existing Shopify integration handles the checkout add-on.
