Shipstation ⛭
Connect Shipstation to Salesorder.com to automate transactions with multiple shipping vendors.
Need to know
Shipstation is a low-cost, cloud-based app that acts as an intermediary between Salesorder and popular shipping vendors. It’s a single two-way highway to process shipping transactions with tens of popular national and international carriers. For example, select courier, send shipping method, receive a tracking number, and print shipping label(s).
Shipstation is reasonably straightforward to learn and use. It takes just under five minutes to connect and get started. Here’s the journey followed by the steps you’ll need to complete:
Get a trial of Shipstation.
Add and configure the Shipstation Plugin in Salesorder.
Configure Shipstation settings.
Test Shipments are being sent to Shipstation and updated in Salesorder.
Get a free trial
Shipstation offers a free trial, so apart from your time, there is no risk. Just head over to shipstation.com.
Make sure you click on the confirmation link in the email you’ll get from Shipstation. You will not be able to log in to Shipstation if you overlook this.
On the Trial confirmation page, there is a ‘Getting Started’ video. Be sure to watch this.
Add and configure the Shipstation Plugin in Salesorder
In Salesorder go to Setup>Configuration>General>API and make sure the ‘Details’ look similar to this:
Enable API | 🗹 |
API Key | 1680DAC69DE6165C44C5 (random number) |
API Password | 7mij1b5k3w32 (random number) |
In Salesorder go to Setup>Plugins>Plugin Store. Scroll down to locate the ‘Shipstation integration’ plugin.
Click ‘more info’, then click ‘Register’ and enter your email address.
Click Install now.
Click on the link to the Plugin Configuration page.
Username | Enter something simple and memorable i.e. Salesorder. You’ll need this when you configure settings inside Shipstation. |
Password | Add one, you’ll need this when you configure settings inside Shipstation. |
Error notification email | When there’s a problem, we’ll send you mail here. |
Include Customer notes | This is optional. Send notes from the Shipment Document in Salesorder to the Courier label. This will work only if the Courier allows. |
Multiple Shipments per Order | ☑ |
XML RPC password | Don’t change this |
Module URL | Copy this to your clipboard. You’ll need this when you configure settings inside Shipstation. |
Configure Shipstation settings
.
Login to your Shipstation account
Click on ‘Connect a Channel’ on the Welcome page.
OR
Click on the spanner on the top left of the screen then...
Click on the left-hand menu ‘Selling Channels>Store Setup.
AND
On the Store Setup page, click on ‘Connect a Store or a Marketplace.
IN BOTH OF THE ABOVE JOURNEYS...
Enter ‘Custom Store’ into the search box at the top of the page.
Click on ‘Custom Store’
Follow the instructions below:
URL to Custom XML page | Paste the Module URL (see above) here. |
Username | The username you set up above |
Password | The password you set up above |
Unpaid Status | Don’t change |
Paid Status | Change to ‘ready to ship’ |
Shipped Status | Don’t change |
Canceled Status | Change to ‘void’ |
On-Hold Status | Don’t change |
When you’ve completed (and checked) the above, click ‘test connection’.
If you don’t get a success message, recheck your settings in both apps.
If you’re still having problems, we’re here to help.
Click on ‘Connect’
Your store is now connected.
There are other settings in Shipstation you might want to review. To do this...
In Shipstation>Settings>Selling Channels>Store Setup you will see a list of Stores.
Click on your ‘Edit’ next to the name ‘Custom Store’
Here you will see the settings for your Store
For example on the ‘Store Settings’ tab, you can change ‘Custom Store’ to the name of the Salesorder selling channel, for example, you could call this ‘Salesorder’.
Test Shipments are being sent to Shipstation and updated in Salesorder?
To check the fundamental shipping workflow between the two systems is working you’ll need to create and send Shipments from Salesorder to Shipstation.
Once this is working you can refine and optimize this workflow and other related workflows. Shipping can get complicated, as there are many variables to consider such as weight, size, shipping methods, rates, the terms you offer your customers, when and how they are applied, and how the whole shipping process comes together. We won’t get into this here. This is covered in the Shipping documentation.
To test the fundamental shipping workflow is working end to end follow these steps:
Go to Salesorder and create a Sales Order.
Add and allocate some stock to the Order.
Create a Shipment from the Sales Order.
Pick and Pack the Shipment so as the Shipment status is ‘ready to ship’ here’s how...
| Situation | Method |
|---|---|
If you’re not using the Warehouse Management System (WMS) | Use the Pick, Pack and Ship Actions on the Sales Order List |
If you are using the Warehouse Management System (WMS) without Barcode hardware. | Use the Pick, Pack and Ship Actions on the Goods Out tab on the Warehouse Manager. |
If you are using the Warehouse Management System (WMS) with Barcode hardware. | Use Goods Out, Pick and Pack workflows on the Barcode Scanner |
When the Shipment is ‘ready to ship’, Shipstation will automatically retrieve it from Salesorder.
Now go back to Shipstation and click on ‘Orders’
You should see the Shipment.
If you do not, wait up to five minutes.
If the Shipment does not appear, we’re here to help.
When the Shipment is displayed on the ‘Orders’ view, you can now complete the next steps in Shipstation i.e. Print Shipping labels.
If you’re using the WMS go back to the ‘Goods Out’ tab, check the box to the left of each Shipment Ref# and then click ‘Ship Orders’
If you’re using Salesorder go to the Shipments List and click the Action ‘Confirm Shipped’
Passing shipping carriers and methods to Shipstation
To keep things simple, In the above example, we bypassed this step. In case you’re wondering how to preset shipping carriers and their respective shipping methods in both systems you’ll need to follow these instructions:
Setup your Carriers in Shipstation
Shipstation - Connect a Shipping Carrier
Setup your Shipping Carriers in Salesorder
Setup Shipping Carriers
You'll need to setup records for the commensurate list of carriers and their available shipping methods. These values are passed via the integration to the carrier's systems when you request rates.
You set up your Shipping Carrier(s) in Configuration>Shipping Carriers.
Add the name of the carrier, plus the shipping methods separated by a semi colon (;), e.g. Express;Next Day;Overnight.
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