Shipping labels, live rates and tracking with EasyPost, ShipEngine and AfterShip

Two add-ons in Add-ons › Shipping take care of shipping for marketplaces that sell through the cart:

• EasyPost / ShipEngine connects your account with one of these multi-carrier services. Buyers see the carriers’ real prices in the cart, and you buy a label for each paid order without leaving your site. The tracking number goes on the order and to the buyer by itself.
• AfterShip follows every tracking number. Buyers see the delivery status on their order and get an email when the parcel is out for delivery and when it is delivered.

You can use either one, or both. They are part of the Marketplace plan, like live shipping rates with Shippo, and only admins can open their pages. Each one uses your own account with the service, which bills you for it: check their current prices with them.

EasyPost or ShipEngine

What you need

• An EasyPost or ShipEngine account. With ShipEngine, connect at least one carrier account in ShipEngine first: the carriers you connect there are the ones your site asks for rates.
• Its API key: in EasyPost under Account settings > API keys, in ShipEngine under API Management.
• For live rates in the cart: the shopping cart paid in one payment. Without it, labels still work.

Connect your account

1. In your admin panel, go to Add-ons, open the Shipping tab and click EasyPost / ShipEngine. The page is called Shipping labels and rates.
2. Choose the Provider: EasyPost or ShipEngine.
3. Paste your API key.
4. Decide whether sellers may buy labels (see Who buys labels).
5. Click Save. Your site checks the key with the provider before saving it. If it isn’t accepted, the page says The key was not accepted and why.

The key is kept hidden once saved: leave the field empty to keep it. To switch rates and labels off, choose Off as the provider and click Save.

With ShipEngine, the page shows how many carrier accounts it asks for rates (Carrier accounts quoted). After you connect another carrier in ShipEngine, click Save again so your site picks it up.

Test first. An EasyPost test key or a ShipEngine sandbox key gives real rates, but its labels are samples that can’t be used to ship. The page says so in red while a test key is saved. Change to your production key once you have finished testing.

Live rates in the cart

Once connected, the cart works as described in Live shipping rates with Shippo: buyers give their address, see the carriers’ rates for each seller’s parcel and pick one. The rates come from your EasyPost or ShipEngine account instead. If you had Shippo switched on too, EasyPost or ShipEngine is used.

Rates are only shown for sellers who have filled in their Shipping origin page: where they ship from and their usual parcel. On the same page sellers can give a listing its own weight and size (Listings with their own weight or size). A listing shipped on its own goes in its own size; with other items, the parcel grows to fit the biggest one. When the provider doesn’t answer, the seller’s shipping profile or the listing’s own shipping price applies, as before.

Who buys labels

Labels are always charged to your EasyPost or ShipEngine account. Nothing is taken from the seller: the shipping the buyer paid goes to the seller with the sale, as usual. That is why only admins can buy labels unless you change it.

Setting	What it does
Let sellers buy labels on my account	Off (the default): only admins buy labels, and sellers add their own tracking numbers. On: sellers can buy labels for their paid sales, paid by your account.
Extra a seller may spend on a label	Only while sellers may buy labels. A seller can buy a label up to what the buyer paid for shipping plus this amount. 0 means no more than the buyer paid.

When sellers may buy labels, they can only send to the buyer’s address your site has for the order, and only rates within that limit. A dearer rate shows Above what the buyer paid: the site’s team can buy it. Admins can buy any label, to any address.

Only switch on Let sellers buy labels on my account if you are happy to pay for those labels, for example because your commission covers them. The cost is not deducted from sellers’ earnings.

Buy a label

Labels are bought for one paid sale at a time, from its Ship order page.

1. In My sales, click Ship with a label next to a paid sale. (Without label rights, the button says Add tracking.)
2. Under Ship to, check the buyer’s address. Under Parcel, check the size in cm and the Weight (kg), filled in from the seller’s shipping origin.
3. Click Get label rates.
4. Choose a rate and click Buy label, then confirm. The label is charged to the site’s shipping account.
5. Click Print the label.

The tracking number goes on the order straight away, and the buyer gets the usual email that their order has shipped. The page keeps the label’s carrier, cost and link, so you can print it again later.

A seller’s other items from the same cart checkout go in the same parcel: the page lists their order numbers, and one label covers them all. Rates are kept for 15 minutes; after that, click Get the rates again.

To buy a label for any seller’s sale, go to Orders, open the more-actions menu (the dots) on the paid sale’s row and click Ship order. Only admins see it.

Already shipped it? Sellers who send a parcel another way give the Carrier and the Tracking number at the bottom of the same page and click Save the tracking number. The buyer gets it by email.

AfterShip tracking

What you need

• An AfterShip account, with an API key (in AfterShip under Settings > API keys).
• A webhook in AfterShip pointing to your site, and its webhook secret. Your site refuses every call from AfterShip that isn’t signed with it.

Connect AfterShip

1. In your admin panel, go to Add-ons, open the Shipping tab and click AfterShip.
2. Paste your API key.
3. Copy the Webhook URL shown on the page.
4. In AfterShip, add it as a webhook (Settings > Notifications > Webhooks), and copy the webhook secret AfterShip shows there.
5. Back on your site, paste it into Webhook secret and click Save. Your site checks the API key with AfterShip before saving.

Saved values stay hidden: leave a field empty to keep it. Turn off clears both and stops tracking.

What buyers see

Every tracking number saved on a Ship order page, from a label or typed in by the seller, is added to your AfterShip account. As the carrier scans the parcel, AfterShip tells your site, and the buyer sees a Delivery box on their order with the carrier, the tracking number and the latest status:

Status	What it means
Waiting for the carrier	AfterShip has the number but no news from the carrier yet.
Label created	The carrier has the parcel’s details.
In transit	On its way.
Out for delivery	Arriving today.
Delivery attempt failed	The carrier tried and couldn’t deliver.
Delivered	It has arrived.
Ready for pickup	Waiting at a pickup point.
Problem with the delivery	The carrier reported an issue.
No news from the carrier	The tracking stopped updating.

The seller sees the same status on the sale’s button in My sales.

The buyer gets two short emails, once each: one when the parcel is out for delivery and one when it is delivered, with a View your order link.

Good to know

• Only tracking numbers saved on the Ship order page go to AfterShip. Numbers added another way, for example by ShipStation, aren’t followed.
• AfterShip works without EasyPost or ShipEngine: sellers then use Add tracking in My sales to give the numbers of parcels they send themselves.

Related guides

• Live shipping rates with Shippo — the cart’s live rates and sellers’ shipping origin.
• Shipping profiles — sellers’ own shipping prices, used when no live rate is found.
• Shopping cart — the one-payment checkout live rates work in.
• Manage orders — paid orders and their shipping.
• US sales tax — tax on cart checkout, from the same delivery address.