Royal Mail

ShipEngine's integration with Royal Mail allows you to create domestic and international shipping labels for your small parcels to be delivered anywhere within Royal Mail's extensive delivery network. Royal Mail is available in the United Kingdom.

Tracking updates now supported in ShipEngine!

Our integration with Royal Mail now supports updating tracking events in our platform.

Please review our Track a Shipment guides for details on tracking with the ShipEngine API.

Royal Mail Requirements

Connection Requirements:

  • Your Royal Mail account number.

  • Your Royal Mail Online Business Account username.

    This is your Royal Mail OBA email address used on the OBA login page. Non-OBA accounts are not currently eligible to connect to ShipEngine.

  • Email address (used by ShipEngine to notify you when Royal Mail is fully configured in your ShipEngine account - it can be the same as the OBA email address, or can be a different one).

Shipment Requirements:

  • Ship From Address with Name and Company Name included.

  • Daily sales order summaries.

    Royal Mail requires you to create and print a Sales Order Summary, which you must then hand to the driver who picks up the parcels. You cannot close shipments with dispatch dates in the future, only past or current-date shipments.

    You can generate your Sales Order Summary through the ShipEngine End of Day process. When you make your request to the /v1/manifests endpoint, the response will include a link to download the Sales Order Summary PDF.

International Requirements:

  • VAT and EORI numbers are required.

    These are added in the Tax Identifiers Object when creating your international label.

  • Printed copies of the commercial invoice with required international shipments. Royal Mail provides the Commercial Invoice or CN23 form when required by the shipment.

Connect a Royal Mail Account to ShipEngine

Note

For instructions on programmatically connecting Royal Mail to your account via ShipEngine's API, go to our Royal Mail Guide in the ShipEngine developer documents.

To connect your Royal Mail account to ShipEngine:

  1. Select the Royal Mail tile:

    Royal Mail logo on square tile button that reads, "Connect".
  2. Fill out the registration form with your Royal Mail account information, then click the Connect button.

    Royal Mail registration form pop-up with Connect button highlighted

    Email Address vs OBA Email

    The email address for your Online Business Account must be entered into the OBA Email field.

    The contact email address in the Email Address field is just your preferred point of contact. It can be the same email address or it can be a different one.

  3. Review the Submit Registration information, then click the Ok Got it button.

    Success message for Royal Mail registration form reads "Your Registration Was Submitted"

Royal Mail can take up to 5 business days to approve connecting your account to ShipEngine. Once approved, you will receive an email to let you know you can start shipping.

Should any errors on the registration form cause Royal Mail to reject the registration request, ShipEngine will email you to let you know that corrections are needed. Potential errors could result from your shipping address, OBA email, or Royal Mail account number.

How to Confirm an Active OBA Account

To locate your OBA account number:

  1. Log in to your Royal Mail OBA account.

    Screenshot of Login Page for Royal Mail Online Business Account.
  2. Click the Access Online Business Account button.

    Royal Mail Online Business Account (OBA) screen. ­Access OBA button highlighted

    This will take you to your OBA account Welcome page.

  3. Click the Access Online Business Account button provided on this screen.

    Royal Mail Online Business Account (OBA), Your Account screen. ­2nd Access OBA button highlighted

    If your OBA account is active you will be directed to your online Business account.

    If your account is not active the page will either reload and you will be returned to the same page or you will be directed onto another page headed ‘Sap NetWeaver’.

    If your OBA account is not active please contact Royal Mail to reactivate your OBA account.

    Your Royal Mail OBA Account Number and OBA Company Name will appear above the list of invoices for your account.

  4. Find your Account Number under the Invoices tab.

    Royal Mail ­Online Business Account Company. Company Name and Account Number highlighted

Available Features for Royal Mail

ShipEngine's integration with Royal Mail supports the following standard features:

Additional Features for Royal Mail

ShipEngine's integration with Royal Mail allows for the following additional features:

Feature

Description

Paperless Label Support

You can request a paperless label download link instead of a label PDF when creating a label. Add the display_scheme property to your call with the value paperless or label_and_paperless. You can then email the paperless label to be used when dropping off the package with the carrier.

Paperless / QR Code supported for the following services:

  • Tracked Returns 24 - TSN

  • Tracked Returns 48 - TSS

SMS and email notifications

To enable SMS and email notifications, you must include phone and email address values in the corresponding fields in the request:

"advanced_options": 

{

          "NotificationPhone": "5555555555", 

        "NotificationEmail": "example@email.com"     

 },

Saturday/Weekend Delivery

To ensure your parcels are delivered on Saturday when you create Royal Mail shipments on a Friday, select one of theSpecial Delivery Guaranteed services when you configure your label.

See the Royal Mail page on Special Delivery for more information and restrictions.

Customs Requirements for GB shipments to Northern Ireland

ShipEngine merchants will no longer be presented with customs requirements for Royal Mail shipments sent from GB to Northern Ireland.

Sales order summaries are required for each of your day's shipments.

Royal Mail requires you to print a Sales Order Summary for your day's shipments. This is how Royal Mail invoices your label fees to your account. Failure to do this can result in extra charges on your bill.

You can generate your Sales Order Summary through the ShipEngine End of Day process. When you make your request to the /v1/manifests endpoint, the response will include a link to download the Sales Order Summary PDF.

Customs Forms

Customs forms will print with labels so you do not need to print them separately. Labels print with the CN23 form, which will work for both low and high-value shipments.

The carrier can be used to create domestic shipping labels.

The carrier can be used to create international shipping labels.

ShipEngine will submit international customs declarations electronically to the carrier.

The carrier can be used to create domestic return labels.

When an API call is made to the Rates endpoint, ShipEngine will return estimated shipping rates for the carrier based on the connected account information and shipment details.

Shipment insurance, provided by the shipment's selected carrier, can be added to the shipment in ShipEngine. This insurance would be in addition to any default coverage already provided by that carrier.

Shipping labels created for this carrier will include a tracking number that can be used to view the shipment status on the carrier's tracking website. Tracking may not be available for all shipping services.

Shipment manifests and End of Day documents are submitted electronically to the carrier by ShipEngine.

Shipment manifests and End of Day documents are generated as PDF files that can be printed along with shipping labels. Because these documents are not electronically submitted, physical copies must be provided to the carrier.

ShipEngine can print your brand logo on shipping labels from carriers that support this feature. Add your logo in the ShipEngine Dashboard.

ShipEngine can include additional information on a shipping label that is specified in the label request, if supported by the carrier.

This carrier can be used to create multi-package shipments, where multiple labels are created for a single shipment and the individual packages are linked together in a single shipment record with a master tracking number.

You can connect this carrier to ShipEngine multiple times using different accounts and choose which account will be used to create each shipment.

Royal Mail Customs Declarations

Custom forms will print with the label for your international shipments.

  • ShipEngine does not provide CN22 forms, only CN23. However, CN23 forms are sufficient for both low and high-value shipments.

  • If there are too many different content types to fit on one page, the CN23 automatically extends to an additional page.

Shipping to the Channel Islands

Royal Mail requires customs declarations for Channel Islands shipments. However, Royal Mail will not produce these forms if the country code is GB.

Change the country code to IM, GE, or JE, and then the proper forms will be included with the label.

Additional Details about the Royal Mail Integration

  • By default, Royal Mail shipments do not have a confirmation type selected.

  • Channel Islands: Royal Mail requires customs docs for shipments to Guernsey and Jersey. Please use the country code GE and JE, respectively, and include the customs docs with the label. The shipment's customs docs will not work with GB as the country code.

    Isle of Man (IOM) shipments do not require customs, and there is no option to select IOM as a country code.

  • ShipEngine cannot return estimated rates for Royal Mail services, as Royal Mail does not currently allow third-party apps, like ShipEngine, to connect to their Rates API.

  • Address line has a character limit of 35.

  • Only Label Message 1 is supported. It has a character limit of 20.

  • You must set pickups (daily and other schedules) within Royal Mail, not in ShipEngine.

  • To create return labels, Royal Mail must approve you for at least one of the following services:

    • Tracked Returns 24 - TSN

    • Tracked Returns 48 - TSS

  • Royal Mail's connection pop-up does not validate your input. If you enter incorrect details into the fields, Royal Mail will contact ShipEngine during the “pending” phase. If this occurs, ShipEngine will then contact you so you can re-enter and resubmit it to Royal Mail.

Royal Mail Troubleshooting Tips

Here are some common issues, potential causes, and troubleshooting tips.

Issue

How to Troubleshoot or Resolve

Error: E1233 - Shipment cannot be cancelled due to its current status

What it means: This error message means the shipment was already auto-manifested (EOD/Manifests, RM calls these Order Summaries) on the carrier’s side, and it is no longer possible to void the label. From ShipStation’s perspective, the label is processed.

Auto-manifesting occurs once per week with Royal Mail. For example, it may be set to happen on Friday at 11pm.

What to do:

1. Contact Royal Mail directly to ask if the label can be voided. Please understand that the void may or may not be possible.

2. Contact ShipStation UK's support at support@shipstation.co.uk  if you really need a PDF copy of the EOD/Manifest/Order SummaryContact. We will request this copy on your behalf.

Error: Confirmation value `direct_signature` is currently only supported by FedEx

What it means: Royal Mail enhancement code for the Signed For service now maps to the confirmation type direct_signature.

What to do: Resend the API call, and map direct_signature as the enhancement code for the Royal Mail Signed For service confirmation type.

Error: One or more errors were encountered when attempting to close shipments. Please review the errors below.

What it means: You are trying to close an End of Day (EOD)/manifest from the previous week after the time limit. Every Friday evening (UK time), Royal Mail auto-closes EODs for the previous week, and that means the EOD can no longer be closed in ShipStation.

For example, you'll see this error if you try to close an EOD for Thursday, March 18th on Saturday, March 20th.

What to do: If you require the physical EOD form, contact ShipStation UK's support at support@shipstation.co.uk  and we can try to generate this internally for you.

ErrorError transmitting to OBA. Details: Access Denied (not authenticated)

What it means: If you receive this error message, it may indicate that you have a 'Pre-paid' Royal Mail account. This type of account cannot be accessed via a third-party shipping platform and thus is not supported.

Direct any questions to Royal Mail.

Error: Attempting to divide by zero

What it means: This means you are missing customs declarations information for one of your orders.

What to do: Check the customs declarations for the orders contained in the End of Day to ensure they include all the required information: Description, Quantity, Value, Content Type, Country of Origin.

Error: Royal Mail: The given key was not present in the dictionary

What it means: This error typically means that when you attempted to get a rate or create a label, you selected Small Parcel for an international shipment. The package type Small Parcel is only available for domestic UK shipments.

What to do: Select the Parcel package type.

The carrier can be used to create domestic shipping labels.

The carrier can be used to create international shipping labels.

ShipEngine will submit international customs declarations electronically to the carrier.

The carrier can be used to create domestic return labels.

When an API call is made to the Rates endpoint, ShipEngine will return estimated shipping rates for the carrier based on the connected account information and shipment details.

Shipment insurance, provided by the shipment's selected carrier, can be added to the shipment in ShipEngine. This insurance would be in addition to any default coverage already provided by that carrier.

Shipping labels created for this carrier will include a tracking number that can be used to view the shipment status on the carrier's tracking website. Tracking may not be available for all shipping services.

Shipment manifests and End of Day documents are submitted electronically to the carrier by ShipEngine.

Shipment manifests and End of Day documents are generated as PDF files that can be printed along with shipping labels. Because these documents are not electronically submitted, physical copies must be provided to the carrier.

ShipEngine can print your brand logo on shipping labels from carriers that support this feature. Add your logo in the ShipEngine Dashboard.

ShipEngine can include additional information on a shipping label that is specified in the label request, if supported by the carrier.

This carrier can be used to create multi-package shipments, where multiple labels are created for a single shipment and the individual packages are linked together in a single shipment record with a master tracking number.

You can connect this carrier to ShipEngine multiple times using different accounts and choose which account will be used to create each shipment.