A cracked panel is not always a manufacturing defect, and a defect is not always the courier’s fault. Telling them apart quickly is what decides whether a claim is approved in a day or argued about for a week. These are the five things to photograph before you open the parcel.
1. The outer carton, unopened
Photograph all six sides before cutting the tape. Crushed corners, a punctured side, or a re-taped seam are the strongest evidence of transit damage. Once the box is open, that evidence is gone.
2. The parcel’s weight label
If the shipping label shows a weight clearly below what the order should weigh, the parcel was opened in transit. This is the single most useful photo in a claim, and almost nobody takes it.
3. Where the damage sits on the panel
Damage from a drop during handling usually radiates from a corner or an edge. A panel defect usually shows as a line, a cluster of dead pixels, or a uniform tint — it does not start at the frame.
4. The flex cable and connector
A bent cable, a torn FPC, or a scratched connector means the panel was flexed during handling, not during manufacturing. Photograph it flat, in focus, next to something for scale.
5. The protective film
If the film is intact and the damage is underneath it, the panel left the factory that way. If the film is scratched or peeled, the damage happened after packing. This one photo resolves most disputes on its own.
What to do next
Do not install the panel. Send the photos with your order number and we will confirm whether it is a transit claim or a warranty claim, and tell you which one applies before you spend time on a return. Installing the panel first almost always makes the claim harder to prove.