Shipping Label Purchase

Scanpacker includes built-in multi-carrier shipping label purchase capabilities, allowing you to compare shipping rates and purchase labels directly within the fulfillment workflow. This eliminates the need for separate shipping software and keeps your entire packing and shipping process in one seamless workflow.

Overview

The shipping label purchase feature provides:

  • Multi-carrier support - Get quotes and purchase labels from major carriers including USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, Canada Post, Royal Mail, Australia Post, and many regional carriers
  • Rate comparison - View and compare real-time shipping rates from multiple carriers before purchasing
  • Fast unquoted purchase - Immediately purchase and print frequently used shipping services for faster processing
  • Automatic tracking - Tracking numbers are automatically captured and added to the Shopify fulfillment
  • Direct printing - Shipping labels and customs forms print automatically to your thermal or standard printers
  • Discounted rates - Access carrier-discounted rates through EasyPost or Shippo integrations

This feature is available on all plans other than our Lite plan. See the pricing page for details.

Supported Carriers

Scanpacker supports shipping label purchase through integration with EasyPost and Shippo, which provide access to dozens of carriers worldwide. Major carriers supported include:

  • USPS - All domestic and international services
  • UPS - Ground, Air, International
  • FedEx - Ground, Express, International
  • DHL Express - International shipping
  • Canada Post - Domestic and international services
  • Royal Mail - UK domestic and international
  • Australia Post - Domestic and international services
  • Plus many more regional and local carriers!

The specific carriers and services available depend on your chosen shipping gateway (EasyPost or Shippo) and your gateway account configuration.

Setup

Choose a Shipping Gateway

Before you can purchase shipping labels, you need to connect Scanpacker to a multi-carrier shipping gateway. Scanpacker supports two popular gateway providers:

EasyPost

  • Popular choice for high-volume shippers
  • Access to USPS Commercial Plus rates
  • Support for all major carriers
  • Homepage, Supported carriers

Shippo

To configure your shipping gateway:

  1. Create an account with EasyPost or Shippo (if you don’t have one already)
  2. In Scanpacker, go to Settings → Carrier Gateway
  3. Select your preferred gateway provider
  4. Enter your API key from your EasyPost or Shippo account
  5. Click Save Changes

Configure Carrier Accounts

After connecting to a shipping gateway:

  1. Log in to your EasyPost or Shippo account
  2. Connect your carrier accounts (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.) within the gateway’s dashboard
  3. The available carriers and services will automatically sync to Scanpacker

Set Default Carrier Services

You can optionally configure default carrier services for domestic and international shipments:

  1. Go to Settings → Carrier Services
  2. Review the list of available services from your connected carriers
  3. Set a service as preferred for domestic or international shipments using the dropdown menu
  4. Default services will be pre-selected when shipping orders, saving time

Configure Parcel Templates

Parcel templates allow you to quickly select common package sizes. To create templates:

  1. Go to Settings → Parcel Templates
  2. Click Add Template
  3. Enter a name (e.g., “Small Box”, “Medium Flat Rate”)
  4. Enter the dimensions (length, width, height) and select the unit
  5. Optionally enter the packaging weight (box/envelope weight)
  6. Click Save

Templates can be selected when shipping orders to quickly populate parcel dimensions.

Configure International Customs Settings

For international shipments, you’ll need to configure default customs information:

  1. Go to Settings → Carrier Gateway
  2. Scroll to the International Shipping section
  3. Enter your default Customs Signer name
  4. Select your default EEL/PFC code (export compliance classification)
  5. Click Save Changes

These values can be adjusted on a per-shipment basis if needed.

Using Shipping Label Purchase

Basic Workflow

The typical workflow for purchasing a shipping label is:

  1. Scan and verify order items as usual
  2. Navigate to the Ship page for the order
  3. Configure parcel details - dimensions and weight
  4. Select a carrier service and view rates
  5. Purchase the label
  6. Create the fulfillment in Shopify with tracking

Let’s walk through each step in detail.

Step 1: Configure Parcel Details

When you arrive at the Ship page, you’ll see the Carrier Service section at the top showing the parcel configuration.

Configure the parcel:

  • Dimensions - Click the dimensions button to select a saved template or enter custom dimensions
  • Weight - Click the weight button to manually enter weight, or use “Recalculate weight” to automatically calculate based on product weights (plus template packaging weight if applicable)

Changes to dimensions or weight will invalidate any previously quoted rates, requiring you to fetch new rates.

Step 2: Select Carrier Service and Get Rates

Click on the carrier service dropdown to view and select from available shipping services:

You’ll see two types of services:

Your Saved Services - These are services you’ve marked as preferred in Settings. Selecting one will show either:

  • The last quoted rate (if you’ve recently quoted this service for this order)
  • “Unquoted” if no rate is available

Get New Quotes - This option fetches real-time rates from all available carriers.

Fetching Quotes

To fetch fresh shipping quotes:

  1. Click Get New Quotes from the carrier service dropdown
  2. Wait a few seconds while rates are retrieved from your shipping gateway
  3. Review the list of available services with their rates and delivery estimates

Each rate displays:

  • Carrier name and service level
  • Estimated delivery time (when available)
  • Price in your shop’s currency
  • Service terms or restrictions

Select a rate by clicking on it. The rate will be quoted (locked in) for purchase.

Step 3: Purchase and Fulfill

Once you’ve selected a quoted rate:

  1. The ship page will display the selected service and quoted price
  2. Review the items being shipped
  3. Click Create Fulfillment

Scanpacker will:

  • Purchase the shipping label from your gateway
  • Capture the tracking number
  • Create the Shopify fulfillment with tracking information
  • Automatically print the label (if autoprint is enabled)
  • Print any required customs forms for international shipments

One-Call Purchase (Advanced)

For some carriers and services, you can skip the quoting step and purchase immediately:

  1. Select a preferred carrier service from your saved services (without getting quotes first)
  2. Click Create Fulfillment
  3. Scanpacker will attempt to purchase the label in a single API call

This is faster but doesn’t show you the rate before purchase. Not all carrier/gateway combinations support one-call purchase. If it fails, you’ll be prompted to fetch quotes instead.

International Shipping

Customs Information

When shipping internationally, customs information is required. Scanpacker automatically includes:

  • Item descriptions - Product names from Shopify
  • HS tariff codes - From product variant settings in Shopify
  • Country of origin - From product variant settings in Shopify
  • Item quantities and values - Based on what’s being shipped
  • Customs signer - From your organization settings (or specified per shipment)
  • Export compliance code - Your EEL/PFC setting

Setting Product Customs Data

To ensure accurate customs declarations:

  1. In Shopify Admin, go to Products
  2. Edit a product and select a variant
  3. Scroll to Inventory section
  4. Set the Country/Region of origin
  5. Set the HS (Harmonized System) code
  6. Click Save

Repeat for all internationally shipped products.

Per-Shipment Customs Adjustments

While shipping an international order, you can adjust customs information before purchasing:

  1. On the Ship page, the system detects international destinations automatically
  2. Customs information is pre-filled based on your defaults and product data
  3. If you need to change customs details, contact support (per-shipment overrides may require custom implementation)

Customs Forms

For international shipments, your shipping gateway will generate required customs forms:

  • Commercial Invoice (for shipments > $2500)
  • CN22 forms (for small international shipments)
  • Other forms as required by destination country

These forms are automatically printed to your configured printer (if autoprint is enabled) or can be downloaded from the purchased labels list.

Purchased Labels

Viewing Purchased Labels

All purchased labels are displayed on the Ship page before fulfillment is created:

For each label, you can view:

  • Carrier and service name
  • Tracking number
  • Purchase date/time
  • Label format (PDF or ZPL)
  • Associated customs forms

Reusing Labels

If you have unused purchased labels for an order (e.g., you purchased a label but didn’t create the fulfillment), they will appear in the Purchased Labels section. The tracking numbers are automatically included when you create a fulfillment.

Printing Labels

Labels are automatically printed when you purchase them (if autoprint is configured for shipping labels). To reprint a label:

  1. Find the label in the purchased labels list on the order’s Ship page
  2. Click the download or print link
  3. For ZPL labels with a Zebra thermal printer, the label sends directly to your printer
  4. For PDF labels, they can be printed via browser or downloaded

Troubleshooting

Address Validation

If the shipping address has changed since rates were quoted, Scanpacker will detect this and prompt you to get fresh quotes. This prevents using stale rates that may no longer be valid.

Failed Purchases

If a label purchase fails, you’ll see an error message explaining the issue. Common causes:

  • Insufficient gateway account balance - Add funds to your EasyPost or Shippo account
  • Invalid address - Check the shipping address in Shopify
  • Service not available - The selected service may not support the destination
  • Gateway API issues - Temporary issues with the shipping gateway; try again

Rate Not Available

If a previously quoted rate is no longer available:

  1. Parcel dimensions or weight were changed
  2. The shipping address was modified
  3. The quote expired (usually after 24 hours)

Solution: Click “Get New Quotes” to fetch fresh rates.

Weight Calculation

If the automatically calculated weight seems incorrect:

  1. Check that product variant weights are set correctly in Shopify
  2. If using a parcel template, verify the packaging weight is correct
  3. Manually enter the weight using the weight dropdown

Printing Setup

To print shipping labels automatically:

  1. Install Scanpacker Printer Connect on a computer with printer access
  2. Go to Settings → Printer Setup
  3. Select a physical printer for the “Shipping Label” print type
  4. For ZPL support with Zebra printers, ensure you’ve configured a Raw printer
  5. Go to Settings → Automated Printing
  6. Enable autoprint for Shipping Labels and Customs Forms

See the Printing and Automated Printing documentation for more details.

Best Practices

Organize Workflows

  • Set default services for your most common shipping scenarios to save time
  • Create parcel templates for your standard box sizes
  • Enable autoprint for labels to speed up the shipping process

International Shipping

  • Keep product data updated - Ensure HS codes and country of origin are set for all products
  • Review customs forms - Check that automatically generated customs information is accurate
  • Test international shipments - Process a test international order to verify customs forms print correctly

Cost Management

  • Compare rates - Always fetch quotes to compare carrier rates and choose the most cost-effective option
  • Monitor gateway balance - Keep your EasyPost or Shippo account funded to avoid failed purchases
  • Review shipping costs - Periodically review which carriers and services provide the best value

Speed Optimization

  • Use one-call purchase for frequently used services if supported
  • Pre-configure defaults to minimize manual selection
  • Batch similar orders when possible (though labels must be purchased individually)

Demo Mode

Scanpacker includes a demo shipping gateway for testing the shipping label workflow without connecting a real gateway or purchasing actual labels:

  1. Go to Settings → Carrier Gateway
  2. Select Demo as your shipping gateway
  3. Demo carriers and services will be created automatically
  4. You can now test the shipping label workflow with fake quotes and labels

Demo mode is useful for:

  • Training new staff on the shipping workflow
  • Testing your printer setup before going live
  • Evaluating the feature before subscribing to a shipping gateway

Need Help?

If you have questions about shipping label purchase or need help with setup, please contact support@scanpacker.com.