How to connect Shippo to your ecommerce website
One token, one sender address, and the difference between a test label and a label that will actually move a parcel.
The short version: create a Live API token in Shippo under Settings → API, set your sender address, and connect. Then the flow per order is compare rates, buy the label, print it. The one trap: test tokens produce labels that look real and are refused by carriers.
TL;DR
- • A single API token from Settings → API. Live tokens start differently from test ones — check which you copied.
- • Set a complete sender address once. Shippo rejects labels with an incomplete one.
- • Buying a label is a real financial transaction against your Shippo balance.
- • Parcel weight and dimensions drive the price. Guessing costs you money.
- • Test labels are not accepted by carriers. Switch to live before shipping anything.
Step 1 — Get a live API token
In Shippo, open Settings → API and generate a token. You will see both live and test tokens; they are visibly different and they are not interchangeable.
Copy the live one when you are ready to ship real parcels. A test token will let you build and rehearse the entire flow — rates, label purchase, tracking — without spending anything, which is genuinely useful, but see the warning below before you rely on it.
Test labels will not ship a parcel. They render, they have a barcode, and a carrier will refuse them. If you hand one to a courier you find out when the parcel comes back. Switch to a live token before your first real order — the same discipline as taking a payment gateway out of sandbox.
Step 2 — Set your sender address properly
Every label needs a complete from-address: name, street, city, state or region, postcode, country, phone and email. Shippo validates it, and an incomplete address is rejected at purchase time rather than at connect time — which means you discover it on your first real order, at the worst moment.
Fill it in fully when you connect, not when you are trying to get a parcel out. And treat it as private data: your home address is on every label you print, and it should never appear on a public page of your website.
Step 3 — Rates, then purchase
Shippo splits shipping into two calls, and the split is the safety feature:
- Get rates for the parcel — a shipment with a from-address, a to-address, and the parcel's weight and dimensions. You get back carrier options with prices and delivery estimates.
- Buy the label by purchasing the rate you chose. This is a real transaction against your Shippo balance.
- Print the label and record the tracking number against the order.
Never auto-buy the cheapest rate without a human looking. Cheapest is frequently slowest, and on a parcel a customer paid express shipping for, that is a refund and a bad review rather than a saving.
Step 4 — Weight and dimensions are the whole price
Carriers price on dimensional weight as well as actual weight — a large light box is charged as if it were heavy. Getting this wrong does not fail loudly; it produces an adjustment on your Shippo account after the parcel has already been delivered and you have already banked the order as profitable.
Weigh and measure one packed parcel per product once, and store those numbers with the product. It is twenty minutes of work that stops an entire class of surprise.
The errors you are most likely to hit
| Symptom | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| Carrier refuses the label | It was bought with a test token. Test labels are not valid postage. |
| Label purchase fails | An incomplete sender address — usually a missing phone or postcode. |
| No rates returned | The address failed validation, or the parcel dimensions are missing. |
| Charged more than the quoted rate | Declared weight or dimensions below what the carrier measured. |
| Tracking never updates | Tracking was not registered, or the number was not written back to the order. |
If you do not have the website yet
Everything above assumes you already have a store to connect Shippo to. If you are still taking orders in DMs, that is the part worth fixing first — the integration is the easy half.
A SitesPlaced store is free to build and publish, with 0% commission on every sale, on every plan. Every integration on this page is included — you connect your own accounts and nobody takes a cut in the middle.
On SitesPlaced, Shippo lives inside the order: compare rates, buy, print, and the tracking number is recorded automatically so the customer's Track Order page updates without you doing anything. Step-by-step: connect Shippo.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I get a Shippo API token?
In Shippo under Settings, API. You will see both live and test tokens. Copy the live one for real shipping — test tokens produce labels carriers refuse.
Why is my Shippo label purchase failing?
Most often an incomplete sender address. Shippo validates it and needs the full set including phone and postcode, and it fails at purchase time rather than when you connect.
Why was I charged more than the quoted rate?
Dimensional weight. Carriers price on box size as well as actual weight and re-measure at the hub. Weigh and measure one packed parcel per product and store those numbers.
Can I use Shippo alongside an Indian courier aggregator?
Yes. Shippo covers US, UK and international parcels while Shiprocket, Shipmozo and Rehbar Post cover India. All four are free on every SitesPlaced plan.
Skip the integration work entirely
Build the store free, paste a Shippo token, and buy labels from inside the order. 0% commission on every sale, on every plan.
