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:
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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.
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Merchant Fulfilled orders will start importing into ShipStation in the Awaiting Shipment status.
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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.
Connection Requirements:
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Your Amazon Marketplace store connected to ShipStation.
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Amazon Buy Shipping API enabled by ShipStation.
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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.
To enable the Amazon Buy Shipping API in ShipStation:
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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.

To hide services you do not plan to use:
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Go to
Settings > Shipping > Carriers
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Click the Services link for the Amazon carrier to show the selected services.
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Deselect any services you do not wish to use.
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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.
The ShipStation integration with Amazon Buy Shipping API supports the following standard features:
Common ShipStation Features
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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.
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Currently, we do not support adding multiple Amazon Buy Shipping API accounts to one ShipStation account.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Here are some common issues, potential causes, and troubleshooting tips.
Issue |
How to troubleshoot or resolve |
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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:
|
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 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. |