For ecommerce sellers, a stolen package is rarely the customer’s problem — it’s yours. Shoppers expect a refund or a free replacement when a parcel vanishes from the doorstep, which means porch piracy lands directly on your margins. In 2026 it remains one of the most underestimated costs in online retail.

The scale is staggering. Package theft is now a roughly $37 billion annual problem in the U.S., with consumers absorbing about $15 billion and retailers more than $22 billion. Roughly 1 in 4 households reports a stolen delivery each year, and thieves grab an estimated 250,000+ deliveries on an average day. The average stolen package is worth about $144 — enough to wipe out the profit on several clean orders.

There is some good news: reported thefts fell about 13.4% between 2024 and 2025 as prevention tools spread. About 88% of shoppers now use at least one anti-theft measure — but that still leaves tens of millions of deliveries unprotected. Here’s how online sellers can shrink the risk.

Note: the figures below are indicative and vary by region, carrier and product category.

Why porch piracy is an ecommerce problem, not a customer one

When a package is marked delivered but stolen, most customers open a « where is my order » ticket and expect you to make it right. Each incident costs you the refund or replacement, the support time, the second shipping label, and often the customer’s trust. Multiply that across a busy season and theft quietly becomes one of your largest leakage points.

The exposure is highest on high-value items, apartment and urban deliveries, and the holiday peak — exactly when your volume and acquisition costs are also at their highest.

7 ways to protect ecommerce deliveries in 2026

1. Offer delivery to a pickup point or locker

Letting customers route orders to a carrier locker, access point, or retail counter removes the doorstep entirely. It’s the single most effective fix for repeat-theft addresses and apartment dwellers.

2. Make signature or photo confirmation easy to choose

Offer signature on delivery for high-value orders and photo-on-delivery as a default. Proof of delivery both deters thieves and gives you evidence when you dispute a fraudulent claim.

3. Use carrier delivery controls

UPS, FedEx and USPS all let recipients reschedule, reroute, add delivery instructions, or require a signature. Surface these options in your post-purchase emails so customers self-serve before a parcel is left unattended.

4. Send proactive delivery-window alerts

« Arriving today between 2–4 p.m. » messages let customers plan to be home or alert a neighbor. The shorter the window a package sits outside, the lower the theft risk.

5. Add shipping protection at checkout

Package protection — whether carrier declared value or a third-party plan — turns a margin hit into a covered claim. Offering it as a low-cost checkout add-on shifts risk off your P&L while reassuring buyers.

6. Set a clear, fair stolen-package policy

Decide in advance how you handle theft claims and publish it. A consistent policy speeds up support, limits abuse, and prevents one-off decisions that erode margin or goodwill.

7. Flag high-risk orders and addresses

Watch for repeat claim addresses and high-value orders shipping to known theft hotspots. For these, default to signature, a pickup point, or split shipments rather than leaving a parcel on the step.

What it costs to do nothing

Stacked together, these explain why even a modest theft rate can outweigh the cost of prevention tools.

Conclusion: build theft prevention into the buying journey

Porch piracy won’t disappear in 2026, but it is increasingly manageable. Sellers who offer pickup points, proof of delivery, proactive alerts and checkout protection convert a recurring margin drain into a controlled, often covered, cost — while giving customers a safer experience.

Ready to give your buyers safer, trackable deliveries? Ship smarter with HereWeShip and protect every order from doorstep to delivery.