A package stolen off your porch feels like your problem the moment it happens. Legally, whether it's actually your problem — or the seller's — often turns on a distinction buried in the Uniform Commercial Code that most sellers never mention.
Shipment Contract vs. Destination Contract
Under Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), adopted with local variations across US states, who bears the risk of loss for goods in transit depends on how the sales agreement is classified:
- Shipment contract (the default, under UCC § 2-504): unless the agreement explicitly says otherwise, the seller's duty ends once they hand the goods to a carrier and arrange reasonable transportation. Risk of loss passes to you, the buyer, the moment the carrier takes possession — meaning if it's later stolen off your porch, the legal loss is technically already yours, not the seller's.
- Destination contract (UCC § 2-503, § 2-509(3)): arises only when the agreement explicitly requires delivery to a specific destination. Here, if the seller is a merchant, risk of loss doesn't pass to you until you (or your authorized designee) take actual physical possession — meaning a theft before that point is still the seller's legal loss.
Most standard e-commerce purchases default to a shipment contract unless the seller's terms say otherwise — which is precisely why so many merchants can point to a "delivered" tracking scan and treat the matter as closed.
Where "Proper Tender" Gets Contested
Whether simply leaving a box unattended on a porch satisfies "tender of delivery" under UCC § 2-503 is where individual cases get argued. If a merchant specifically promised delivery into the buyer's hands, or required a signature, an unattended porch drop may not satisfy proper tender at all — meaning the seller could still bear the risk even under an otherwise standard shipment arrangement. If the contract is a standard shipment contract with no such promise, carrier scan data showing drop-off generally satisfies the carrier's own performance obligation, shifting you toward insurance, card protections, or a separate theft claim rather than a seller dispute.
Sellers who advertise something like "guaranteed safe delivery" cannot generally disclaim the risk of loss before your actual physical receipt simply by pointing to standard shipping terms buried elsewhere — a specific delivery guarantee in marketing can outweigh a generic shipment-contract default.
What This Means Practically
- Check whether the seller's terms, or their marketing, promised delivery to you specifically or a signature requirement — this can shift you into destination-contract territory even without you realizing it at purchase.
- If it's a standard shipment contract with a valid "delivered" scan and no such promise, your most likely paths are the carrier's own theft/loss investigation, your homeowner's or renter's insurance, or your card issuer's purchase protection — not necessarily the seller.
- File a police report regardless — many carriers, insurers, and card issuers weight an official report heavily for "delivered but stolen" claims specifically.
- If the seller made a specific delivery promise beyond standard shipping, cite that promise directly when disputing — this is a stronger argument than a general complaint about the theft itself.
Related Kibbo Tools
Sources
- Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School — Uniform Commercial Code, Article 2 (Sales). law.cornell.edu