ChannelAdvisor is integrated with several third party shipping vendors that either provide shipping rate information, which is used during Checkout, or can be used to create shipping labels. You can still use third party shipping providers that are not integrated with ChannelAdvisor by making additional configurations directly with the vendor.

Prerequisites

• Shipping Overview

Tasks to Complete

Complete the following steps to configure 3rd Party Shipping Carriers integrated with ChannelAdvisor:

Configuring Shipworks

ShipWorks is a service that downloads your orders and makes it easy to create shipping labels, manage customers and emails, and update the online status of each order. For details on the steps to configure this integration in your ChannelAdvisor account view the Create Shipping Labels with ShipWorks page.
 

Configuring Integrated Shipping Rate Providers 

When a buyer enters their shipping address information in Checkout, the system uses the rates provided by a third party vendor to retrieve and display the correct shipping rate information for the order. The benefit to having such an immediate integration point is that rates are returned in Checkout providing "real-time" shipping rate information. ChannelAdvisor is integrated with:

• ConnectShip provides rates for UPS, FedEx (except Ground) and USPS. The tools are installed on the ChannelAdvisor network and updated monthly to retrieve any rate changes due to fuel surcharge fluctuations. If any shipping carriers make significant changes to their rates, the ConnectShip tools are updated immediately to retrieve the new rates.
• FedEx: While most 3rd Party FedEx shipping rates are calculated using ConnectShip, the FedEx Ground rates are not supported by this tool. ChannelAdvisor is integrated directly with FedEx to retrieve rates for the FedEx Ground shipping class.

Enabling the 3rd Party Shipping integration with FedEx and ConnectShip can be done on the Account Shipping Rates Settings page or on a specific Classification. When configuring the 3rd Party Shipping integration, you must also choose between Residential or Commercial shipping rates. This setting is configured at the account level, and cannot be over-ridden at the Classification shipping rate level. Select the most common instance for the buyers that purchase from you.

Configuring Non-Integrated Shipping Providers

For any third party shipping vendor that is not fully integrated with ChannelAdvisor you will need make additional configurations directly with the vendor. One task you will need to complete is to provide the vendor with the proper shipping class code for each marketplace you are listing to. You can view a full list of these codes by viewing the Marketplaces Shipping Carrier Class Codes page.