Estimate a Rate

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You may find it useful to quickly estimate a rate so you can, for example, add shipping charges to your customer's shopping cart. Estimates work by providing a subset of the information required to create a label using the /v1/rates/estimate endpoint. You can use this method to allow customers to quickly compare rates across services, carriers, and more without having to fill in all the information required to create a label.

NOTE:

Limtations of Rate Estimates

This endpoint does not support multi-package shipments or filtering using the rate_options property. You can filter by carrier using the carrier_ids property.

When requesting an estimate, we recommend including the following for the best results:

• Postal Code To
• Postal Code From
• Weight
• Dimensions (optional, but recommended)

Example Request

POST /v1/rates/estimate

POST /v1/rates/estimate HTTP/1.1
Host: api.shipengine.com
API-Key: __YOUR_API_KEY_HERE__
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "carrier_ids": [
    "se-123890"
  ],
  "from_country_code": "US",
  "from_postal_code": "78756",
  "to_country_code": "US",
  "to_postal_code": "95128",
  "to_city_locality": "San Jose",
  "to_state_province": "CA",
  "weight": {
    "value": 1.0,
    "unit": "ounce"
  },
  "dimensions": {
    "unit": "inch",
    "length": 5.0,
    "width": 5.0,
    "height": 5.0
  },
  "confirmation": "none",
  "address_residential_indicator": "no"
}

IMPORTANT:

Only an Estimate!

Rate estimates are not exact quotes. They do not include things like insurance_amount and may not include other items such as fuel surcharges, customs charges, or other carrier fees.