Creating a Shipment

The ship screen is one page that holds a whole shipment, with your running batch of shipments alongside it. Everything you need to buy a label is right there, and the parts you don't need stay tucked away until you want them.

We'll walk the screen from top to bottom so you know what each part is for.

The Layout

On a desktop-width screen the page splits in two: the shipment form on the left, the batch rail on the right. On a narrower screen the rail tucks into a bar at the bottom -- tap the total and the batch slides up as a sheet. It's all the same, just arranged to fit.

Above both sits the header and the utility strip. Below the header you're always working on one shipment at a time, and the rail is how you hop between the shipments in your batch.

The Utility Strip

The strip holds the controls that apply across every shipment you're working on, rather than to just the one in front of you.

The From Chip

This shows the origin address your batch is shipping from. Where you ship from sets the zone, and the zone affects the price, so it's worth a quick glance before you run rates. Set it once and it carries over to every shipment you create in that session, including the ones you bring in by CSV.

The Stores Chip

This shows your connected storefronts and the orders waiting to be shipped. If you've got a store connected, this is where those orders come into the ship screen. For setup, see Connecting a Store.

CSV Import

This opens the import wizard, where you can bring in recipients and package details from a spreadsheet all at once. There's more on it in Batch Shipping and CSV Import.

The Shipment Form

Ship To

Type a recipient address in, or search your saved addresses. Street suggestions appear as you type, which saves you keystrokes and catches typos along the way. US addresses are checked against USPS data -- see Address Validation for what each result means and what to do next.

The residential flag is worth a second look. Most carriers add a residential surcharge, so if it's set wrong your rate won't match the bill that arrives later. On US addresses, validation sets it for you.

An address you type in here is a one-time address -- it's used for this shipment and isn't saved. Saving is a separate step you choose, so your address book stays clear of one-off recipients.

Package

Weight and dimensions are both required. Enter the weight along with length, width, and height -- carriers price on dimensional weight as well as actual weight, so rates can't be run without all four. Accurate dimensions also keep you from getting a billing correction after the fact.

Picking a saved package fills in the whole section at once, and it can bring customs item defaults along with it for international shipments. Soft packs -- poly mailers, padded envelopes -- get their own flag, since carriers measure non-rigid packaging differently.

Once you've entered a package you can save it right from this section, which is the easiest moment to build up your saved package list.

Carrier Options

Carrier-supplied packaging lives here. Flat rate boxes and envelopes are priced by the carrier's own rules, so they follow the carrier's sizes rather than the dimensions you entered.

The Collapsible Panels

Extra services, customs, and hazmat sit in collapsible sections below the package details. Each one stays closed until you need it, and once you've set something it shows a one-line summary of where it stands. A shipment with signature and insurance reads "Signature required · $200 insured" while still closed, so you can check it at a glance without opening anything.

Extra Services

This is where signature handling, insured value, and tracking notification emails live. See Insurance, Signature, and Extra Services.

Customs

This one appears for international destinations. You choose whether the declaration comes from the saved package, from items you enter for this shipment, or neither. See Customs Declarations and Commercial Invoices.

Hazmat

This is the dangerous goods declaration, along with the 24/7 emergency contact that regulations require with it. If you start a declaration and don't finish it, the closed summary line will tell you, and rating waits until it's complete -- that way nothing ever goes out undeclared.

Rating and Buying

The rates section sits below the form. You can rate the shipment you're on, or rate everything in the batch at once. Either way you get back a list of services with prices and delivery estimates to shop between.

Change anything that feeds the price -- address, weight, dimensions, extra services -- and the rates for that shipment clear out. Rates come straight from the carrier every time you rate, so rather than show you prices for a shipment you've since changed, we send you back for fresh ones. Rate again and you're all set.

Pick the service you want and buy. Your label is ready right away, and you can print or download it from the shipment record.

The Batch Rail

The rail lists every shipment in your batch and where each one stands -- rated or not, service selected or not, ready to buy or not. Click a line to pull that shipment up in the form.

Your batch totals add up at the bottom: the carrier total across the services you've selected, plus the convenience fee on retail accounts. Buying the batch purchases every ready shipment in one go.

A shipment that isn't ready won't hold up the rest. It waits in the rail with a note about what it still needs, so you can come back to it whenever you like.

Splitting a Shipment

The scissors control in the shipment header splits the shipment you're on into several. It's what you want when an order won't fit in one box: split it, set the package details on each piece, and rate them separately.

The split copies the recipient and origin over to each new shipment, so all you have to change is what's actually different -- usually just the weight and dimensions.

Shipments from Store Orders

A shipment created from an imported store order carries a badge that links back to the order. The recipient and contents come from the store, and you fill in the packaging. Once you buy the label, we mark the order fulfilled and pass the tracking number back to your customer, so you never have to open the store's admin.

FAQs

Why did my rates disappear after I edited the address?

Anything that changes the price clears the rates for that shipment. Rates are pulled live from the carrier each time you rate, so there's never an old one sitting around -- just rate again after your edit and you'll see current prices.

Can I ship to multiple recipients at once?

Yes -- that's exactly what the batch is for. Add shipments one at a time, import them from a CSV, or pull them in from a connected store, then rate and buy the whole batch in one pass.

What happens to unbought shipments in my batch?

They stay right where they are, as work in progress. When you buy the batch, only the shipments with a service selected and nothing outstanding get purchased.

How do I ship one order in two boxes?

Use the scissors control in the shipment header to split it, then set the package details on each resulting shipment. Each one gets its own label and tracking number.

Do I have to save every address I ship to?

No, you don't. An address you type in is a one-time address, used only for that shipment. Saving is a separate step -- handy for the places you ship to often, and easy to skip for one-off recipients.

Why won't my shipment rate?

Usually it's a missing weight or missing dimensions -- length, width, and height are all required alongside weight -- or an unfinished hazmat declaration, an international shipment with no customs declaration, or an address that didn't validate. Each one shows up on that panel's summary line, and if you're still stuck, get in touch and we'll take a look.

Can I print labels in bulk?

Yes. Buying a batch gives you all of its labels together. On OMS, packout prints each label automatically as an order finishes -- see The Packout Flow.