Buying labels through Shippo

Shippo is a multi-carrier shipping platform with USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and more than 85 other carriers worldwide. Connect it to Scanpacker and you can fetch rates and buy labels from any carrier on your Shippo account, right on the ship page.

This guide covers what’s specific to Shippo. For the shipping workflow itself, see Shipping label purchase.

Setting up

1. In Shippo, check which carriers you want to use. Shippo includes its own discounted carrier accounts, and you can connect your own contracts too.
2. In Shippo, go to the API page in your settings and copy an API token. There are two kinds: a test token and a live token (see Test labels below).
3. In Scanpacker, go to Settings → Shipping Labels, choose Shippo, paste the token, and click Save Changes.

Carriers and services aren’t loaded when you save. They appear in Settings → Carriers and Settings → Carrier Services the first time you fetch rates. So fetch rates for one domestic order and one international order, then choose your default services.

Test labels

A Shippo test token makes test labels. They cost nothing and can’t be posted. We recommend using one for your first few labels, to try the workflow and your printer setup. When you’re ready, replace it with your live token and click Save Changes.

Turn off the carriers you don’t use

Shippo quotes every carrier on your account, including Shippo’s own accounts for carriers in other countries. Those carriers can’t quote your shipments, so each rate fetch comes back with messages like Carrier account shippo_dpd_uk_account doesn’t support one or more shipment options or Shipment origin is out of service area. These messages are harmless, but they hide the ones that matter.

Once the carriers have appeared in Settings → Carriers, turn off the ones you never ship with. Scanpacker then asks only your carriers for rates.

[Screenshot: The Carriers settings page with several Shippo carriers turned off]

Labels and printing

Shippo labels are 4x6 inch PDFs. They print with the 4x6 Shipping Label (PDF) print type, so make sure that print type has a label printer on each station.

International shipments

Scanpacker sends a customs declaration with every international label. As well as the item details from your products, it includes two settings on the Settings → Shipping Labels page, under International Shipping:

• Default customs signer: the name of the person who certifies that the customs information is accurate.
• Default EEL/PFC: the export code for US shipments. Most shipments worth under $2,500 use NOEEI 30.37(a).

The declaration is sent as merchandise, with the parcel returned to you if it can’t be delivered. The terms are DAP (delivered at place), so your customer pays any import duties and taxes.

If the carrier needs a commercial invoice, Shippo makes one. Scanpacker keeps it with the label and prints it with the Carrier Generated Forms print type, so assign a document printer to that print type too.

Things to watch out for

UPS needs rates first. Shippo’s UPS account can’t buy a label in one step. If you choose a UPS service without fetching rates and click Create fulfillment, the purchase fails with Shippo UPS master account currently does not support instalabel. Choose Fetch live rates…, pick the UPS rate, and buy again.

Quotes last 24 hours. Shippo won’t buy from a quote that’s more than a day old. If you fetch rates and come back to the order the next day, fetch them again.

Military addresses. USPS needs a customs declaration for APO, FPO, and DPO addresses. Scanpacker treats these as US domestic addresses and doesn’t send one, so the purchase fails. Buy labels for these orders in Shippo.

Unpaid Shippo invoices. Shippo stops selling labels while an invoice is past due. Every purchase fails until it’s paid.

Voiding a label. Scanpacker doesn’t void labels. To get a refund for a label you won’t use, request it in your Shippo dashboard.

Troubleshooting

Shippo’s messages come through word for word, so the table gives the part of the message to look for.