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Amazon Buy Shipping API

Details about ShipStation's Amazon Buy Shipping API integration. Includes requirements, how to enable, features, notes, and troubleshooting tips.

The Amazon Buy Shipping API allows you to create labels for Amazon merchant fulfilled orders that have imported into ShipStation either from a connected Amazon store or ChannelAdvisor store.

Once enabled, the following will occur in your ShipStation account:

  • You will see Amazon Buy Shipping API as a carrier in your Services drop-down menu and list any services you have available through the Buy Shipping API.

  • Merchant Fulfilled orders will start importing into ShipStation in the Awaiting Shipment status.

  • Merchant Fulfilled Prime orders will be automatically tagged with an Amazon Prime Order tag.

    Automatic tagging does not apply to orders imported from ChannelAdvisor, but you can create an automation rule to do this for you. Review the ChannelAdvisor and Amazon SFP section of our Amazon Merchant Fulfilled Orders article for details.

Amazon Buy Shipping Requirements

Connection Requirements:

  • Your Amazon Marketplace store connected to ShipStation.

  • Amazon Buy Shipping API enabled by ShipStation.

  • Amazon merchant fulfilled orders imported from either an Amazon Marketplace or ChannelAdvisor store.

If you need help connecting your Amazon store, please review the Amazon Marketplace article.

Amazon Buy Shipping API Must Be Enabled by ShipStation

Contact ShipStation's Support team to enable the Amazon Buy API on your ShipStation account. You will then be required to accept the Amazon Buy Shipping API Terms & Conditions.

Enable Amazon Buy Shipping API in ShipStation

To enable the Amazon Buy Shipping API in ShipStation:

  1. Connect your Amazon.com seller account to ShipStation.

  2. Contact the ShipStation Support team and request the Amazon Buy Shipping API be enabled for your account.

ShipStation will use your Amazon.com store API credentials to integrate Amazon Buy Shipping API. That means there is no additional setup for you to do within ShipStation. However, you must log in to Amazon and agree to terms and conditions for any shipping carrier you intend to use.

If you want to use your own carrier account rates for Amazon Buy Shipping API, you'll need to connect your carrier accounts within Amazon's Shipping portal.

Once enabled successfully, you will see Amazon Buy Shipping as a carrier in your Services drop-down menu, along with any services you've configured with Amazon.

Services drop-down, partial list of Amazon Buy Shipping services.

To hide services you do not plan to use:

  1. Go to Settings > Shipping > Carriers.

  2. Click the Services link for the Amazon carrier to show the selected services.

  3. Deselect any services you do not wish to use.

  4. Click Update.

Your Services drop-down will now only show the selected services.

Amazon Orders Imported via ChannelAdvisor

If you'll be using your ChannelAdvisor account to import Amazon orders into ShipStation, you must still connect your Amazon store to ShipStation, but you can set it to Inactive so it doesn't appear in your Store list or attempt to import orders.

Available Features for Amazon Buy Shipping API Integration

The ShipStation integration with Amazon Buy Shipping API supports the following standard features:

Key: Green checkmark. Supported feature. Yes. = Supported; Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No. = Not Supported; Grey dash icon. Not applicable. = Does Not Apply

Common ShipStation Features

Feature

Supported?

Domestic Shipping

Green checkmark. Supported feature. Yes.

International Shipping

Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No.

Electronic Customs Submission

Grey dash icon. Not applicable.

Return Labels

Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No.

Estimated Rates

Green checkmark. Supported feature. Yes.

Carrier Insurance

Green checkmark. Supported feature. Yes.

Tracking

Green checkmark. Supported feature. Yes.

Automatic Tracking

Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No.

End of Day (Electronic)

Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No.

End of Day (PDF)

Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No.

Label Branding

Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No.

Label Messages

Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No.

Multi-package Shipping

Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No.

Multiple Accounts

Red X mark. Unsupported feature. No.

The carrier integration can be used to create domestic shipping labels.

The carrier integration can be used to create international shipping labels.

ShipStation will submit international customs information electronically to the carrier.

The carrier integration can be used to create domestic return labels.

ShipStation will display estimated shipping rates for the carrier based on the connected account information and shipment details.

Additional carrier insurance can be purchased through ShipStation.

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.

When tracking is available, ShipStation will automatically track the shipment status and update the tracking status on the Shipments tab. This feature allows for other advanced ShipStation features like delayed notifications and the Branded Tracking Page.

ShipStation can perform an End of Day process for the carrier and creates an End of Day PDF file that can be printed and provided to the carrier. The End of Day process can be mandatory or optional, based on the carrier and your account with them. The file may or may not be submitted electronically, see End of Day (Electronic).

ShipStation can print the store's logo on shipping labels created for this carrier. Label branding may not be available for all shipping services.

ShipStation can include information that will be displayed on the label as a label message. Label messages may not be available for all shipping services.

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 ShipStation multiple times using different account information, and choose which account will be used to create each shipment.

Additional Details about the Amazon Buy Shipping API Integration

  • Adding the Amazon Buy Shipping API to your ShipStation account is free. However, ShipStation will charge a $0.20 fee for each Amazon Buy Shipping API label created within ShipStation. This is billed on a monthly invoice.

  • Currently, we do not support adding multiple Amazon Buy Shipping API accounts to one ShipStation account.

  • If Amazon determines the selected service will not guarantee the shipment's arrival in the required time frame, Amazon will return the alert "Selected service is not compatible with other settings" and prevent you from creating the label for that order. In these cases, you will need to select a faster service.

    Rate error popup alert indicating selected service cannot be used for the shipment

    Important

    Give yourself enough time to pick, pack, and ship your orders!

    The last pick-up time for each shipping service will impact the availability of the shipping service when you purchase a shipping label using services from the Amazon Buy Shipping API. You may not see your preferred shipping services if the label purchase time is less than an hour from the last carrier pick-up time you defined.

  • End of Day forms (sometimes called shipping manifests) are not currently supported in ShipStation for shipments created with Amazon Buy Shipping API services. These shipments will display in Shipments > End of Day, but cannot be closed or printed through ShipStation.You can print End of Day forms via Amazon's shipping portal.

  • ShipStation cannot create multi-package shipments via the Amazon Buy Shipping API. Any multi-package shipments must be created directly through Amazon Seller Central.

  • Amazon will use the Ship To address they have on file for the order. Editing the Ship To address in ShipStation will not affect the address Amazon uses for the label.

  • If using ChannelAdvisor to import your Amazon orders, the Amazon Buy Shipping API integration will only function for orders from a single Amazon account.

    ShipStation will use the most recently created Amazon store when determining which credentials to submit to Amazon for ChannelAdvisor orders. See ChannelAdvisor and Amazon MFO for more details.

Amazon Buy Shipping API Troubleshooting Tips

Here are some common issues, potential causes, and troubleshooting tips.

Issue

How to troubleshoot or resolve

Error: Selected service is not compatible with other settings (package type, weight, size)

This error message may appear when getting rates or creating labels with Amazon Buy Shipping API. It can occur for a few different reasons, but the most common are:

  • The selected shipping service does not support the package type, weight, or dimensions you've entered for the shipment.

  • The selected shipping service would not get the package to the customer in time for the Prime guaranteed delivery date.

Error: Resource Not Found

This error message will occur if ShipStation is able to communicate with Amazon but Amazon isn't able to find the order in the Amazon account ShipStation is trying to access.

This error message is most commonly seen when using a ChannelAdvisor store connection that is importing orders from multiple Amazon accounts. ShipStation relies on an existing Amazon store connection that contains the Amazon credentials needed to communicate with the Amazon Buy Shipping API. ShipStation cannot determine which specific Amazon store a ChannelAdvisor order originated from, so it will always attempt to use the credentials from the most recently connected Amazon store. This error message will display if the order in question does not belong to that Amazon store.

To resolve this issue, you will need to create a new Amazon.com store connection in ShipStation that is linked to the Amazon account you will be shipping Merchant Fulfilled orders for. Then, make the store inactive so you can process the orders imported through ChannelAdvisor.

If shipping Merchant Fulfilled orders for multiple Amazon stores, we recommend you use ShipStation's direct Amazon integration to import those orders instead of ChannelAdvisor.

Error: Amazon Requires an email address to be specified on every label. Please specify an email address on your Amazon store in your ShipStation Account Settings > Selling Channels.

The email address must be a verified email address for Amazon to officially recognize it.

Go to Settings > Selling Channels > Store Setup and click Edit next to your Amazon store. Under the Branding Tab, you should see text underneath the email field to Verify this Email Address. Click the link and follow the instructions to verify the address.

A verified email address will display the text "This email address has been verified for your account" under the email field.

Prime orders stuck in Pending Fulfillment status.

If your Prime orders are still in Pending Fulfillment status, click the import button to refresh the store. If the orders do not move into the Awaiting Shipment status, contact our support team for further assistance.

The carrier integration can be used to create domestic shipping labels.

The carrier integration can be used to create international shipping labels.

ShipStation will submit international customs information electronically to the carrier.

The carrier integration can be used to create domestic return labels.

ShipStation will display estimated shipping rates for the carrier based on the connected account information and shipment details.

Additional carrier insurance can be purchased through ShipStation.

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.

When tracking is available, ShipStation will automatically track the shipment status and update the tracking status on the Shipments tab. This feature allows for other advanced ShipStation features like delayed notifications and the Branded Tracking Page.

ShipStation can perform an End of Day process for the carrier and creates an End of Day PDF file that can be printed and provided to the carrier. The End of Day process can be mandatory or optional, based on the carrier and your account with them. The file may or may not be submitted electronically, see End of Day (Electronic).

ShipStation can print the store's logo on shipping labels created for this carrier. Label branding may not be available for all shipping services.

ShipStation can include information that will be displayed on the label as a label message. Label messages may not be available for all shipping services.

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 ShipStation multiple times using different account information, and choose which account will be used to create each shipment.

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