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With ShipStation as a shipping service, orders (including eCommerce orders) are placed in DEAR, fulfillment managed through DEAR, shipment information is synced with ShipStation to generate shipping labels, printable in DEAR. Information is synced every 15 minutes. 


If you would prefer to manage orders in DEAR, but fulfilment via ShipStation, we recommend connecting DEAR as a ShipStation custom store instead. 


ShipStation supports three kinds of integration, this article covers connecting ShipStation as a Shipping Service

  • ShipStation store integration - This connects ShipStation store as an eCommerce channel. Orders are passed to DEAR for stock management. See ShipStation Store for more information. 
  • ShipStation Custom Store - we recommend this if you are using eCommerce channels integrated with DEAR. ShipStation pulls orders from DEAR (including eCommerce orders), fulfillment and shipping label printing takes place in ShipStation, then shipping information and stock movements are synced back to DEAR. See ShipStation Custom Store for more information. 
  • Connect ShipStation as a Shipping Service - similar in function to custom store. Order (including eCommerce orders) are placed in DEAR, orders can be fulfilled either through DEAR or exported to ShipStation for fulfillment, shipment information is synced with ShipStation to generate shipping labels, printable in DEAR. We recommend this if you are using eCommerce channels integrated with DEAR and need to filter sale orders before export. 


Take extra care to make sure weight units, dimension units and currency match those of your ShipStation account to ensure correct shipping rates in DEAR.  


NOTE: ShipStation API does not support consignment consolidation but does support individual package label generation. Labels will be generated for each individual packages.

Prerequisites

  • Familiarity with Processing a Sale
  • Familiarity with Product and Service Management
  • Only one ShipStation account can be connected to DEAR.
  • ShipStation account settings currency MUST match with DEAR base currency, set via Settings → General Settings

  • ShipStation account settings units MUST match with DEAR default units, set via Settings → General Settings.

  • Users will need the following permissions:

    • User will need the Integrations → Shipment - ShipStation permission enabled to access the integration settings. 
    • User will need the Sale → Sale Task – Pack view: Sales List & Tasks permission to enter package information and shipping instructions. 
    • User will need the Sale → Sale Task – Ship view: Sales List & Tasks permission is required to generate the shipping label.


Table of Contents


Connect ShipStation as a Shipping Service

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Connect ShipStation as a Shipping Service:

  1. Go to Integration → ShipStation.
  2. Click + to make a new connection. Only one ShipStation account can be connected to DEAR.
  3. Enter your API key and API secret key (you can get these from the API settings on your ShipStation account).
  4. Click Connect ShipStation as a Shipping Service.
  5. You can then proceed to choose the parameters of your settings.

Integration Settings

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Connecting ShipStation will take you to the integration settings page. From there, click the Shipping Service tab. Some ShipStation Integration settings can be customised from the Setup tab. If you make any changes to the default settings, make sure to click Save Changes upon completing them. 


If more than one shipping service is connected, you can click Set Default to set ShipStation as your default service and Disconnect from ShipStation as a Shipping Service from this tab. 


Enable export of sales to ShipStation

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ShipStation can be connected in Shipping Service mode both with and without exporting orders to ShipStation.


Export Sale Orders to ShipStation exports orders from DEAR (including eCommerce orders), fulfillment takes place in ShipStation, then shipping information and stock movements are synced back to DEAR. Shipping Labels can be printed in either DEAR or ShipStation. Orders can be filtered before export. We recommend this if you are using eCommerce channels integrated with DEAR. 


NOTE: Export of sales from ShipStation Shipping Service is incompatible with ShipStation Custom Store mode. Custom store mode must be disconnected for export of sale orders from this mode to function.


Without export of Sale Orders to ShipStation connects ShipStation as a Shipping service without exporting orders from DEAR. Orders (including eCommerce orders) are placed in DEAR, orders can be fulfilled either through DEAR or exported to ShipStation for fulfillment, shipment information is synced with ShipStation to generate shipping labels, printable in DEAR.


See Exporting sale orders to ShipStation for more details. 


Shipping Label settings

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Default Ship From Address: If a shipping location does not have an address specified, this address will be used instead. Available options for this field are the default company address or the default location for your business. 


Use Tax Rate From: This setting determines which tax rule will be applied to the shipping charge. Option 1 is to use Default tax rule for all customers and select from the drop-down of available tax rules (Tax Rule for Shipping). Option 2 is to use Customer tax rule, which is determined from customer details.


Weight Units in ShipStation: This sets the weight units to be used in ShipStation. This MUST match the weight units set under Settings → General Settings in DEAR.


Dimension Units in ShipStation: This sets the dimension units to be used in ShipStation. This MUST match the dimension units set under Settings → General Settings in DEAR.


Currency in ShipStation: This sets the currency to be used in ShipStation. This MUST match the currency value set under Settings → General Settings in DEAR.


Additional Shipping Margin: If margin value is set to Relative, it means that margin will be calculated using a percentage amount. If set as Absolute a fixed amount will be applied on top of the shipping cost. (E.g., Additional Shipping Margin = 20. If Relative is selected, a margin of 20% will be added to the shipping rate. If Absolute is selected, 20 units of the ShipStation currency will be added to the rate.)


Send Notification on Shipping Label Generation: Enable to trigger an internal notification on the generation of a shipping label. 


From Contact on Shipping Label: This is auto-filled with your company name by default, but can be changed. This will appear on the shipping label.


From Company on Shipping Label: This is auto-filled with your company name by default, but can be changed. This will appear on the shipping label.


Print Shipping Labels: At the Ship stage, you can use the shipping service to generate a shipping label for the carrier and receive a tracking number. This can be enabled or disabled. Please see Printing Shipping Labels for further information. 


Preferred carriers/services

This multi-select dropdown field allows you to choose one or more preferred carriers. Preferred carriers will appear at the top of any selection field for carriers. 


Sale order export settings

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These settings are only applicable when Export Sale Orders to ShipStation is enabled. 


Use Stock Locator instead of Location as Warehouse

This setting controls the value that DEAR sends to ShipStation for the Warehouse field. This can either be the Location or the Stock Locator value for the product in DEAR. 


Export sales fulfilled externally

This setting controls whether DEAR should export Amazon sales fulfilled via FBA to ShipStation. This only affects FBA sales fulfilled through DEAR's native integration with Amazon FBA - sales fulfilled through Amazon FBA NOT integrated with DEAR will not be affected. 


Import shipping costs

When this setting is enabled DEAR obtains the shipping cost value from ShipStation and automatically creates and authorises an invoice entry under the Additional Charges section of the invoice tab in DEAR. 


Apply tax on shipping costs

When enabled, tax selected in Use Tax Rate From setting will be applied to shipping costs. When disabled, a dropdown menu will display where user can select Zero tax rule to apply.


NOTE: Shipping costs can only be added to the invoice in DEAR when invoice has not yet been authorised. If invoice has been authorised shipping costs will not be added. 


Capture ship to company as

When labels are printed in Shipstation, Ship to Company and Ship to Contact are passed with the sale order. If Ship to Company is left blank, you can:

  • Leave blank when when Ship to Company is not specified: The field is left blank on the ShipStation shipping label when Ship to Company is not specified. 
  • Use customer name when ship to company not specified: Customer name is printed on ShipStation shipping label when Ship to Company is not specified. 


Estimate shipping rate settings

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Estimating shipping rates using ShipStation takes place during the sale quote or sale order part of the sales process. Some carriers require shipping package dimensions to be included in order to return an estimate, while others do not. 


This optional setting section allows you to set a predefined package dimension to be used to retrieve shipping rates. Note, the predefined package dimension will be used for estimates only, the real package dimensions can be entered during the ship stage to generate the true shipping rate and shipping label.


When Add predefined package dimensions is enabled, this will display a table with height, width, and length. Enter values here, note the units of measure are the same as those defined in the ShipStation integration settings. 


You can also select which carriers should be sent the predefined package dimensions. We recommend only adding carriers that require this to return estimates, carriers that return estimates with the existing information (sending/receiving locations, total order weight) do not need to be sent package dimensions at this stage.


Set default shipping settings

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Default shipping settings allow users to pre-fill carrier, service, and package type with default values rather than making a manual selection every time. Default values can be edited manually from the sale.

  • On the Setup tab, look for the Default shipping settings section. 
  • Enable Use default shipping instructions
  • Select default carrier/service and package type for domestic shipping. 
  • Select default carrier/service and package type for international shipping. 
  • Save your changes.  



Setup

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There are some steps to set up before you can start using ShipStation to calculate rates. These can be skipped if you have done them already.


Set up addresses in DEAR

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To correctly calculate shipping rates, you must first define where you are shipping from. Add addresses to all of your locations to make sure your shipping rates are accurate. Shipping addresses must be valid in order to calculate rates. 


Set up addresses in DEAR:

  1. Go to Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins.
  2. You can add more locations with + or Add more items.
  3. Enter a name and address for each location.
  4. Save your changes.



Set up product dimensions

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To correctly estimate shipping rates using shipping services, the correct dimensions must be added to the product in DEAR. See Product and Service Management for more information about setting up products.

Set up dimensions in DEAR:

  1. Go to Inventory → View All → Products.
  2. Select the product in question and at the bottom of the page, select the Dimensions tab.
  3. Enter the dimensions and dimension units of measure and Save the product.


Using Shipping Rate Estimates

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Once the setup steps are complete, you can begin to estimate shipping rates on sale orders. This takes place at the quote/order stage of a sale. The rate is based from the location specified in the document to the customer's shipping address. Shipping rate quotes can only be generated for real addresses and for products that have dimensions and weight listed. Note that country should contain a three-letter country code. 


If DEAR receives an error during shipping rate estimate generation, an error message will appear with a downloadable .txt file with the error data. If the error is unexpected, the user will also see an email dialog box with attached error data log file which can be sent to the shipping service provider customer support. 


NOTE: If any of your carriers require package dimensions in order to return shipping rate estimates, you can add predefined package dimensions in your Shipping rate estimation settings and select which carriers this applies to. 


Using Shipping Rate Estimates in DEAR

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Shipping rate estimates in DEAR can be calculated at the Quote or Order stage of a sale order.


Get shipping rate estimates in DEAR:

  1. Create a sale order using Simple Sale or Advanced Sale.
  2. Add products to the order.
  3. Click Get Shipping Rates.
  4. Select ShipStation from the drop-down menu.
  5. A dialogue box will appear where you will need to select the CARRIER and SERVICE type, then click OK. Carriers and Services details are imported from ShipStation. The estimated shipping rate is shown next to each service.
  6. Select a service and click OK to add the shipping rate estimate to the additional charges section. You can now continue with the sale process until the Ship stage, where you will generate and print the shipping label.


NOTE: Make sure the shipping service currency is specified correctly in the Integration Settings. The shipping rate is imported into DEAR and, if necessary, a currency conversion applied to convert the shipping rate to the sale order currency. 


Using Shipping Rate Estimates in B2B Portal

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Only one shipping service can be selected to use with B2B Portal. 


Get Shipping Rate Estimates in B2B Portal:

  1. Go to Integrations → DEAR B2B Portal.
  2. In the Setup tab, scroll down to Shipping Service and select ShipStation from the drop-down. Click Save.

  3. During CHECKOUT, the shipping methods from the selected shipping service will be automatically shown for the customer to select from in Step 3: Shipping Method


Exporting sale orders to ShipStation

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ShipStation can be connected in Shipping Service mode both with and without exporting orders to ShipStation. You will need to select Export Sale Orders to ShipStation mode from the Setup tab and configure your Sale Export settings


NOTE: Export of sales from ShipStation Shipping Service is incompatible with ShipStation Custom Store mode. Custom store mode must be disconnected for export of sale orders from this mode to function.


When enabled, this exports orders from DEAR (including eCommerce orders), fulfillment takes place in ShipStation, then shipping information and stock movements are synced back to DEAR. Shipping Labels can be printed in either DEAR or ShipStation. Orders can be filtered before export. 


Once every ten minutes, DEAR will check new sales orders to determine what will be exported. 


Orders where the following conditions are met will be exported automatically:

  • Pack tab is authorised 
  • Ship tab contains info (Tracking # field must be blank)
  • Ship tab can be authorised or unauthorised
  • Invoice tab can be authorised or unauthorised but must have an invoice number.


The system will also check for sale orders that could potentially be exported to ShipStation, but which have one or more problems preventing a successful export (e.g. no shipping address). These orders will be added to the Shipment Log to be exported manually after problems have been resolved. When automatic export of an order fails, this order will also be added to the Shipment Log. 


Sale order export filters

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Sale orders can be excluded from export to ShipStation. This is configured from the Setup tab. Sale orders excluded from export will be added to the Shipment Log with status Skipped


The following Parameters can be used to filter sale order fields:

  • Sales Channel
  • Reference
  • Sales Representative
  • Comments
  • Invoice Memo
  • Carrier
  • Ship To
    • Contact
    • Company
    • City 
    • State
    • Postal Code
    • Country (Two-letter country code - e.g. United States = US)
    • E-mail
    • Phone


Enter an alphanumeric string into the Value field to filter the selected fields. Condition (Equals, Contains, Not Contain, Empty, Not Empty) selects how the filter is applied to the value. 



There is no limitation to the number of filters. Multiple filters are applied by the Join (And or Or) selected by the user. And will join groups of filter and Or will differentiate between groups of filters. 


Example 1: We have the filters set up as follows:

  • Country / Equals / US / And
  • Customer / Equals / John / Or
  • Customer / Equals / Peter


This will exclude all orders being shipped to the US, with either John or Peter as a customer. 


Example 2: We have the filters set up as follows:

  • Country / Equals / US / And
  • Customer / Equals / John / Or
  • Customer / Equals / Peter / And
  • Company Name / Equals / ABC


This will exclude all orders being shipped to the US with John as a customer, and all orders being shipped to the US  with Peter as a customer where company name is ABC. 


Notifications

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Notifications can be sent either via email or internally when sale order export succeeds, sale order export fails, or when an exported order has shipped. This is configured from the Setup tab. 


NOTE: Mailing list and sending of notifications for ShipStation does NOT require a subscription to the Automation module. 


Email notifications: Select a mailing list to send a notification by email to the users on the list. One email is generated for all successfully exported orders, one for all not exported orders, and one for all shipped orders (when shipment is executed in ShipStation). Notification emails will include a list of orders, and also a .csv file attached with the order list. 


Internal notifications: This will send an internal notification to all members of your organisation via the internal notifications dialog. One notification is sent for uccessfully exported orders, one for all not exported orders, and one for all shipped orders. Internal notifications include a link to a list of all included orders. 


Shipment Log

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The Shipment Log contains a log of all orders that could be exported to ShipStation. This includes the results of auto-export, sale orders that have been flagged as potential orders for export, which orders have been flagged by filters to be skipped, and the results of manual export. Sale orders can have the following statuses:

  • Skipped: Sale orders excluded from the export by filters and orders which were identified as having issues before export to ShipStation. Error reason will be displayed in the shipment log. Skipped orders indicate that export was not attempted, and must be exported manually if export is required.
  • Fail: Sale orders which were exported to ShipStation unsuccessfully. ShipStation returns these errors. 
  • Exported: Sale orders which were exported to ShipStation successfully and have generated a ShipStation order. 
  • Shipped: ShipStation order for this sale order has been shipped. 
  • Cancelled: Sale order was voided by user from DEAR.


Sales orders can be filtered by Scheduled for export date and Status, and can be searched by SO#, Fulfillment #, Invoice #, and Customer using the search box in the top right of the page. Skipped or failed orders will have Scheduled for export date as the original date of export. 


Manually export sale orders

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Failed sale orders can be added to the next scheduled export, after any errors (if applicable) are resolved.  Filter the order view to show only orders to be added to the export, then click Schedule Export. You can then select the time period (filtered by shipment authorisation date. Sale orders within the selected filter period will be exported to ShipStation at the next scheduled export. Shipment authorsiation date must fall within the selected period for order to be exported. 


NOTE: Sale orders skipped for export because of user filters will not be added to the manual export. 


Print Shipping Labels

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At the Ship stage, you can use the shipping service to generate a shipping label for the carrier and receive a tracking number. ShipStation API does not support consignment consolidation but does support individual package label generation. Labels will be generated for individual packages.


If DEAR receives an error during shipping label generation, an error message will appear with a downloadable .txt file with the error data. If the error is unexpected, the user will also see an email dialog box with attached error data log file which can be sent to the shipping service provider customer support.


NOTE: Label Printing is not available for international shipping. The countries in the Shipping From and Shipping To addresses must match.


NOTE: ShipStation integration can be connected as a Shipping Service or as a Custom Store. Only one of the types should be enabled, or double labels will be printed.


  1. Use the normal sales process to create a sales order in either Simple Sale or Advanced Sale. 
  2. On the document header, enter the shipping address.
    • NOTE: Make sure the shipping address field is correct as it will be used by external integration for address verification.
  3. The sale process remains the same as far as the Pack tab, which must be authorised.
  4. From here, click the Shipping Instructions sub-tab. This sub-tab is for shipping information that applies all packages. Click Enter Shipping instructions to open a pop-up window.
  5. The pop up window is dynamically generated according to the connected shipping service. Enter the information and save your changes.
  6. This will add the shipping instructions to the display. Click To Package details to continue.
  7.  This sub-tab is for entering package dimensions for all packages within a sale order. Click Enter package details to open a pop-up window.
  8. The pop up window is dynamically generated according to the connected shipping service. Select which boxes to include and enter the weight and dimensions. Save your changes.
  9. This will add the shipment to the display. Continue to the Ship tab.
  10. On the Ship tab, press Copy from Pack. Click Generate Shipping Label to send package information and shipping instructions to the shipping service provider and generate the shipping label and Authorisethe ship tab. 
    • ShipStation API does not support consignment consolidation but does support individual package label generation. Labels will be generated for individual packages.
  11.  The carrier info, including the tracking number, will then be automatically entered into the Ship tab. The Shipping Label will be generated automatically via PDF. You can also print the label by selecting the shipment from the list.





NOTE: The template used to print the shipping label is generated on ShipStation side. DEAR just downloads the pdf from their API, it is not possible to change the shipping label template through DEAR. 


FAQs

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Here are some questions our users have asked about ShipStation Integration. If you are still unable to find an answer to your question, do not hesitate to get in touch with the DEAR Support team.


Q: How can I send multiple packages in a consignment?

A: ShipStation API does not support consignment consolidation but does support individual package label generation. Labels will be generated for individual packages.


Q: I encounter errors when trying to connect ShipStation to DEAR. Why?

A: When you're setting up your ShipStation integration, please make sure that the Login and Password you use in ShipStation belong to a User in DEAR (not ShipStation). This user needs to have access to a Single DEAR Organisation only, otherwise, you will get a 503 error in ShipStation.


Q: We received an error testing the connection to our DEAR store. The error states: 'The remote server returned an error: (300) Multiple Choices Redirect.'

A: If you see error 300, this means the user who is trying to connect ShipStation with DEAR is linked to more than one DEAR organisation. This prevents the data from being exported to ShipStation. You need to use a DEAR login that is linked to a single DEAR Organisation only.


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