Getting Started
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Getting Started
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Getting Started with ShipStation API

Welcome to the ShipStation API documentation!

We’ve recently released v2 of the ShipStation API, which includes several highly requested capabilities, including creating labels in batches, creating return labels, and creating manifests all via our endpoints. Each can be used on its own or in conjunction with other features to build powerful shipping functionality into your application or service.

ShipStation API v2 is currently in an early release stage, which means you can access certain endpoints when you enable the Shipping API add-on in your ShipStation account settings. This add-on is free until January 2025!

If you're new to REST APIs, be sure to read our introduction to REST to understand the basics, as well as our Security & Authentication page.

If you are looking for the ShipStation openAPI (that is, v1), please visit the ShipStation openAPI docs page currently located at shipstation.com/docs.

Enable the Shipping API Add-On

To access the ShipStation API v2 endpoints, you must first enable the Shipping API add-on in your ShipStation account settings.

  1. Log into your ShipStation account.
  2. Go to Settings and choose Add-Ons.
  3. Click the option to try out the Shipping API add-on.

Shipping API add-on on the ShipStation Settings Add-Ons page

Once the Shipping API add-on is enabled, you can go to Settings > Account > API Settings and generate your API key.

New Features with ShipStation API v2

ShipStation API v2 currently offers the following capabilities:

  • Rate shopping via a dedicated rates endpoint
  • List, tag, and cancel shipments
  • Create, download, list, and void labels
  • Create multi-package labels
  • Create and manage batched labels via a batches endpoint
  • Create return labels
  • Create custom package types
  • Create and list manifests via a manifests endpoint
  • Schedule pickups via pickups endpoint

Many more highly requested capabilities are coming in early 2025, including a dedicated address validation endpoint and tracking endpoint.

Rate Shopping

Make sure you ship as cost-effectively as possible by comparing rates across carriers using our Rates endpoint. You can also get rate estimates if you don’t have the full shipment details at hand.

Batches, Multi-Package Labels, and Return Labels

Batch labels, multi-package labels, and return labels are now possible with ShipStation API v2.

  • When using the batches endpoint, you can process labels in bulk and receive a large number of labels and customs forms in bulk responses. Batching is ideal for workflows that need to process hundreds or thousands of labels quickly.
  • Multi-package labels allow you to create multiple labels for a single shipment that contains multiple packages, without first splitting items into separate shipments (selected carrier must support multi-package labels). To create a multi-package label, you add each package’s details to the packages array in a label request’s shipment object.
  • You now have two methods available for creating return labels with the API: set the return label property to true in your create label request, and create a return label for a specific label_id.

Manifests

With the manifests endpoint, you can either specify exactly which label_ids to manifest (this is called an “explicit manifest”) or set criteria for determining which labels will be manifested by carrier ID, warehouse ID, and ship date (this is called an “implicit manifest”). The response body will include links to the manifest documents so you can download and print them.

Schedule Pickups

You can now schedule and manage pickups with supported carriers via the pickups endpoint.

 
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