Exceptions analytics

An exception is any shipment event that interrupts normal delivery — a customs hold, a bad address, a refused parcel. The Exceptions dashboard gathers every shipment in the Exception (and related Failed Attempt) statuses so you can find patterns and fix root causes instead of firefighting individual orders.

To open it, go to Shopify admin → Apps → Parcel Track → Analytics → Exceptions. Like the other dashboards, it’s filterable by date range, carrier, and destination country, and the data can be exported as CSV.

Key metrics

Exception rate

The percentage of shipments in the selected period that hit an Exception status.

Why it matters: Exceptions are the most expensive shipments you have: each one risks a refund, a reshipment, a support conversation, and a disappointed customer. The rate tells you whether problems are noise or a trend.

How to act on it: Establish your baseline over 90 days, then investigate any sustained rise by segmenting with the type, carrier, and destination breakdowns below.

Exceptions by type

Exception counts grouped by cause:

• Customs — the shipment is held for inspection, duties, or missing documentation.
• Address issue — the carrier can’t deliver due to an incomplete or incorrect address.
• Refused — the recipient declined the parcel.
• Return to sender — the shipment is on its way back after failed delivery or refusal.

Why it matters: Each type has a completely different fix. Customs problems are a documentation and duties question; address issues are a checkout-validation question; refusals often trace back to unexpected fees or slow delivery.

How to act on it: Fix the largest category first. For customs, review your declared values and HS codes for the affected destination. For address issues, enable address validation at checkout and contact customers quickly while correction is still possible. For refusals and returns, check whether surprise customs charges or long waits (see Order-to-delivery time) are the underlying cause.

Exceptions by carrier

The exception rate for each carrier you use.

Why it matters: On identical routes, carriers can have meaningfully different exception rates — driven by their customs brokerage quality, last-mile partners, and address-handling processes.

How to act on it: Compare carriers on the same destination country. If one carrier’s exception rate is consistently higher on a route, shift test volume to an alternative and re-measure after 30 days.

Exceptions by destination

The exception rate per destination country.

Why it matters: A handful of destinations usually generate a disproportionate share of exceptions, most often for customs reasons.

How to act on it: For high-exception countries, review your customs paperwork, consider a carrier with stronger local presence, or adjust shipping options for that market.

Building a proactive support workflow

Reaching out before the customer notices a problem turns a bad delivery into a good service story.

1. Enable exception notifications so customers are automatically emailed the moment a shipment hits an Exception status — see how notifications work.
2. Check the Exceptions dashboard each morning, filtered to the last 24 hours.
3. Triage by type: address issues first (they’re time-sensitive and fixable), then customs holds, then refusals and returns.
4. For address issues, contact the customer immediately to confirm the correct address and relay it to the carrier.
5. For customs holds, tell the customer what’s happening and whether duties are due — silence is what generates chargebacks.
6. Export the month’s exceptions as CSV and review recurring causes with your team or supplier.

Tip: Watch the Failed Attempt status alongside exceptions in the Shipments dashboard — repeated failed attempts often become Return to sender exceptions a few days later. Acting on the first attempt keeps the parcel moving. For last-mile specifics, see last-mile delivery.