How to add a Magento store to ShipStation, what features are available, other need-to-know details, and troubleshooting tips.
Magento provides a fully customizable shopping cart for ecommerce sellers, ranging from small businesses to enterprise retailers. ShipStation automatically syncs and updates your Magento orders, helps you sell on multiple stores, and supports Magento's invoice-after-shipping feature.
Connection Requirements:
An active store using Magento.
Magento 1.x: The Magento username and API Key.
Magento 2.0 - 2.2.x: The Magento username and password.
Magento 2.3+: The ShipStation API Key generated by the Auctane-ShipStation plug-in file.
Installation of the ShipStation-Magento plug-in file on your store webserver. The plug-in is available to download from the ShipStation connection modal.
Scope of Support
Installing the plug-in file to your webserver is beyond ShipStation's scope of support. We recommend you contact your store developer or Magento Solutions Partner if you need assistance with the plug-in installation process, as the process can differ based on the unique Apache server configuration.
Order Import Requirements:
Include a Ship To address.
Include at least one physical product.
Connecting a Magento store to ShipStation first requires setup within your Magento account. The steps will vary depending on which version of Magento the store is using (instructions for both included below). Once you have completed the steps in your Magento account, you can then follow the steps to connect the store in ShipStation.
Magento 1.x approaching end of support.
Magento has announced that they will be ending support for Magento 1.x at the end of June 2020. At that point, no further security or maintenance updates will issued for Magento 1.x. We recommend upgrading your store to use Magento 2.x to ensure no interruptions for your customers. For more details, please review Magento's announcement.
Before you can connect your Magento 1.x store to ShipStation, you'll need to install and enable Auctane extension file. We also recommend you create a new Magento user specifically for the communication with ShipStation. Follow the steps below for a step by step guide:
Download the Auctane-ShipStation module for Magento 1.x and install it using Magento Connect.
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In your Magento Admin site, select System > Web Services > SOAP/XML-RPC – Users.
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Click Add New User.
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Fill in the required user details.
You'll enter the Username and API Key into ShipStation in a later step.
Note
You generate your own API Key for the user. Usually, these are 40-character strings that include both letters and numbers, but you can make yours whatever you wish.
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Click Save User.
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Go back to System, then choose Configuration.
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Find the ShipStation section and click General Settings.
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Click the small arrow to display available settings.
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Set the following settings as desired:
Setting Name
Description
Values
Price Export Type
Controls whether ShipStation will receive the price and cost based on what the currency your customer saw at checkout, or the price and cost based on your account currency.
Store Price: Storefront-specific currency (the price your customer sees at checkout).
Base Price: Default account currency (price before conversion to customer currency).
Import Discounts
Controls whether coupons and discounts are sent from Magento to ShipStation.
Yes
No
Export custom attributes as custom options
Controls which Custom Attributes will be sent to ShipStation as Item Options.
One of these can also be mapped as Warehouse Location when you're connecting the store in ShipStation.
Varies: List of Custom Attributes created in your Magento account
Import Child Products
Controls how ShipStation will receive bundled products.
Yes: Both the main bundle SKU and the individual bundle component SKUs will be received.
No: Only the main bundle SKU will be received.
Child Only: Only the bundle component SKUs will be received.
Click Save Config to update the settings.
Before you can connect your Magento 2.0 - 2.2.x store to ShipStation, you'll need to install and enable Auctane extension file. We also recommend you create a new Magento user specifically for the communication with ShipStation. Follow the steps below for a step by step guide:
Download the Auctane-ShipStation module for Magento 2.x and extract the contacts to your Magento Folder.
Log in to the Magento Admin site as your Administration User.
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Click System on the left, then Cache Management under Tools.
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Select Flush Magento Cache.
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Click System, and choose Web Setup Wizard from the left navigation panel.
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Select Component Manager or Extension Manager and continue with Manage your components.
Go to the Auctane_API module from Listing and select the Enable option from the Actions column.
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Click Next.
Important
We recommend making a backup of existing Code, Media and Database files.
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Click Enable.
Click Systems, then All Users.
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Create a new admin user to be used with ShipStation only. You'll need the Username and Password later to connect with ShipStation.
Tip
This step is optional but keeps ShipStation working even if you need to change your primary admin user's password in the future.
Before you can connect your Magento 2 site to ShipStation, you'll need to install and enable Auctane extension file, as well as generate an API Key that will be used by ShipStation to communicate with your store. Follow the steps below to do that:
Download the Auctane-ShipStation module for Magento 2.x and extract the contacts to your Magento Folder.
Log in to the Magento Admin site as your Administration User.
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Click System on the left, then Cache Management under Tools.
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Select Flush Magento Cache.
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Click System, and choose Web Setup Wizard from the left navigation panel.
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Select Component Manager or Extension Manager and continue with Manage your components.
Go to the Auctane_API module from Listing and select the Enable option from the Actions column.
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Click Next.
Important
We recommend making a backup of existing Code, Media and Database files.
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Click Enable.
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In your Magento Admin site, go to the Stores > ShipStation > General Settings then click Generate and save api key. Copy the generated ShipStation Api Key.
After you've set up the Auctane module in your Magento site and created the admin user, you're ready to connect the Magento store to ShipStation.
Log in to your ShipStation account.
Scroll or search for the Magento tile and click it.
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Use the Select Magento Version drop-down to select your Magento version.
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Enter the required credentials, based on the version selected above.
Magento 1.x: Enter your Magento Username and API Key.
Magento 2.0 - 2.2.x: Enter your Magento Username and Password.
Magento 2.3+: Enter the ShipStation Api Key generated in the ShipStation module settings within Magento.
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Enter the Store URL of your store in the connection window. Use HTTPS if possible. (e.g. https://www.mystore.com)
In Magento 1.x: locate the Store URL in
System > Configuration > General - Web > Secure(or Unsecure for HTTP configuration).In Magento 2.x: locate the Store URL in
Stores > Configuration > General > Web > Base URLs (Secure)(or Base URLs for HTTP configuration)
Multiple Magento Stores
If you manage multiple stores in Magento and want the ShipStation store connection to be store-specific, you must modify your Store URL using the Store View Code.
Skip to the Connect Multiple Stores section below for detailed instructions.
Click Test Connection to see if the steps you followed worked correctly.
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Adjust your custom status mappings, if needed.
ShipStation will automatically fill in the most common Magento status mappings, but if you're using any custom status mappings, update them in the provided status fields.
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Choose an option in the connection window for Warehouse Location Attribute, Invoice after shipping, Product Weight Units, and Enable Partial Shipping.
The Warehouse Location Attribute field requires you to have configured this as a custom attribute in Magento.
If you add this as a custom attribute at a later time, you will need to reconfigure your store connection in ShipStation before the attribute will import correctly.
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Click Connect to make this store active in ShipStation!
After you've completed the connection steps, your store will be connected to ShipStation. You'll be taken to the store's Settings page to adjust the store-specific settings like branding, notification preferences, and product handling.
If you manage multiple Magento stores within a single Magento account and want your connection to be store specific, you can do so by using a special Store URL format that includes your Magento Store View Code parameter.
This will limit ShipStation's order requests to the orders contained in the specified store. You can also connect each store within your Magento account so each store's orders will import into the corresponding store in ShipStation.
First, locate your Store View Code in your Magento Admin panel:
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Go to
System > Manage Stores.Magento 1.x:
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Click the store link un the Store View Name column.
Magento 1.x:
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Copy the code from the Code field.
Magento 1.x:
Next, you'll follow connection steps 1-7 from the Connect to ShipStation section above. When you get to Step 8, follow the instructions to locate your Store URL but use the instructions below to modify the URL format.
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Enter the Store URL into the Store URL field using one of the formats listed below, where [store view code] is the code you copied from your Magento Admin panel.
The structure of the URL will depend on your Magento version and whether your site allows direct access to PHP files.
Magento Version
Store URL Format
Magento 1.x
Magento 2.x
https://[websitedomain.com]/[store view code]/api/auctane/index/store/[store view code]
https://[websitedomain.com]/[store view code]/api/auctane
The Magento setting to Add Store Codes to Urls must be set to Yes. Review Magento's Set Up Multiple Wesites article for more information on where to locate this setting.
Click Test Connection to see if the steps you followed worked correctly.
Complete steps 10-12, as listed in the Connect to ShipStation section above.
Repeat the same process to connect any additional Magento stores in your ShipStation account.
ShipStation's integration with Magento supports the following standard features:
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Common ShipStation Features |
Status Mappings
Sent with Shipment Update
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Additional Features
ShipStation's integration with Magento allows for the following additional features:
Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
Invoice on Shipping |
When configuring your Magento store connection, you can choose whether your store invoices when the order is placed or when the order is shipped. If your store invoiced upon shipment, ShipStation will include an action to invoice the order when we send the shipment update to Magento. |
Partial Shipping |
When configuring your Magento store connection, you can choose to enable Partial Shipping. If Partial Shipping is enabled, the shipment notification ShipStation will send to Magento will include specific product information so that only the products in the shipment will be updated as Shipped on Magento. |
Support Enabled Features
In addition to the features listed above, the following settings can be enabled for your Magento store by the ShipStation User Success team or your Account Manager.
Feature |
Description |
|---|---|
Custom Fields |
Up to three Custom Fields can be mapped for an Magento store. Available custom fields are as follows:
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Suppress Internal Notes |
If enabled, this setting will prevent ShipStation from importing Internal Notes from your Magento store. |
Keep this in mind about ShipStation's integration with Magento:
If selling in multiple currencies, ShipStation will import the price and totals as numbers and will not convert currency values. The currency symbol displayed in ShipStation is based on your account's home country code.
If using ShipStation Classic, Magento orders that have been split must retain their original order number. If the order number is changed, such as by adding a suffix, ShipStation will not be able to correctly update Magento with the shipment information.
Here are some common issues experienced by users, potential causes, and available troubleshooting tips.
Issue |
How to troubleshoot or resolve |
|---|---|
Store Connection Error: We received an error testing the Magento store: Invalid data returned from API |
This may be caused by entering an incorrect username when connecting the store to ShipStation. Reconfigure your store connection in ShipStation and be sure to enter the username created for the ShipStation user in Magento. |
Shipment Notification Error: Order does not exist. |
Reconfigure your Magento store connection in ShipStation. Check that you are using the correct secure or unsecure connection option. |