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.
Connection Requirements:
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Your Royal Mail account number.
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Your Royal Mail Online Business Account username.
This is your Royal Mail OBA email address used on the OBA login page.
Note
Non-OBA accounts are not currently eligible to connect to ShipEngine.
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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).
International Requirements:
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VAT and EORI numbers are required.
These are added in the Tax Identifiers Object when creating your international label.
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Royal Mail provides the CN23 form when required.
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Royal Mail generates a commercial invoice when required. Include this invoice with your shipment.
Label Requirements:
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Ship From Address with Name and Company Name included.
Close Shipments Daily
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.
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:
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Select the Royal Mail tile:
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Fill out the registration form with your Royal Mail account information, then click the Connect button.
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Review the Submit Registration information, then click the Ok Got it button.
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.
To locate your OBA account number:
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Log in to your Royal Mail OBA account.
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Click the Access Online Business Account button.
This will take you to your OBA account Welcome page.
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Click the Access Online Business Account button provided on this screen.
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.
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Find your Account Number under the Invoices tab.
ShipEngine's integration with Royal Mail supports the following standard features:
ShipEngine's integration with Royal Mail allows for the following additional features:
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Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
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SMS and email notifications |
To enable SMS and email notifications, you must include this additional info in the request:
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 integration can be used to create domestic shipping labels.
The carrier integration can be used to create international shipping labels.
ShipEngine will submit international customs information electronically to the carrier.
The carrier integration 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.
Additional carrier insurance can be purchased through ShipEngine.
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.
The carrier integration can be used to create multi-package shipments, where multiple individual packages are linked together into a single shipment record with a master tracking number.
You can connect this carrier integration to ShipEngine multiple times using different account information, and choose which account will be used to create each shipment.
Custom forms will print with the label for your international shipments.
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ShipEngine does not provide CN22 forms, only CN23. However, CN23 forms are sufficient for both low and high-value shipments.
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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.
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By default, Royal Mail shipments do not have a confirmation type selected.
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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.
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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.
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Address line has a character limit of 35.
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Only Label Message 1 is supported. It has a character limit of 20.
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You must set pickups (daily and other schedules) within Royal Mail, not in ShipEngine.
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While ShipEngine does return a tracking number for shipments that include tracking, ShipEngine does not receive Royal Mail tracking events. All tracking must be done on the Royal Mail tracking page. ShipEngine tracking webhooks and the Branded Tracking Page cannot be used with Royal Mail services.
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To create return labels, Royal Mail must approve you for at least one of the following services:
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Tracked Returns 24 - TSN
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Tracked Returns 48 - TSS
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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.
Here are some common issues, potential causes, and troubleshooting tips.
|
Issue |
How to Troubleshoot or Resolve |
|---|---|
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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 What to do: Resend the API call, and map |
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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. |
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Error: Error 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. |
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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. |
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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 integration can be used to create domestic shipping labels.
The carrier integration can be used to create international shipping labels.
ShipEngine will submit international customs information electronically to the carrier.
The carrier integration 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.
Additional carrier insurance can be purchased through ShipEngine.
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.
The carrier integration can be used to create multi-package shipments, where multiple individual packages are linked together into a single shipment record with a master tracking number.
You can connect this carrier integration to ShipEngine multiple times using different account information, and choose which account will be used to create each shipment.
