Getting Started with ShipGenius

ShipGenius is a shipping platform: tell it where the package is going and what's in the box, and you'll get live rates back from every carrier you have access to. Buy one, and the label is yours. Most new accounts are printing their first label within about five minutes of signing up, and you don't need a credit card to see rates.

We'll walk you through the whole path from a brand new account to a label in hand -- picking a plan, connecting your own carrier accounts if you have them, how the ship screen is laid out, and what to set up first so your second label takes seconds instead of minutes.

Step 1: Create Your Account

Sign up with an email and password, or with a third-party provider such as Google. Signing in with a provider has a nice bonus later on: you can use it as your second authentication factor, so you won't need to set up an authenticator app.

After signing up you'll land on the home dashboard -- there's no setup wizard to sit through. Feel free to look around: browse the ship screen, run rates, explore the pages in the sidebar. Nothing is gated until you're ready to buy.

Step 2: Pick Your Plan

ShipGenius has three self-serve plans, and you don't have to pick perfectly on day one. Upgrading never moves your data to a different system, because every plan is the same platform with more of it switched on.

Core

No monthly fee. You get ShipGenius negotiated rates that beat retail, and you pay for postage plus a small per-batch convenience fee at checkout. Core is built for individuals and small sellers who want cheap labels without a contract or a subscription, and it's what a new personal account starts on.

Plus

Also no monthly fee, but built around your own carrier accounts. Plus unlocks bring-your-own carrier connections, full GraphQL API access, prepaid credits, invoicing, and team members. Labels bought on your own carrier account carry a flat ShipGenius fee per label instead of a postage markup -- $0.06 to start, and it's tiered by volume, so if you ship a lot just get in touch and we'll talk about where you land. Either way, you keep whatever rates you've negotiated directly with the carrier.

OMS

$19.99 a month flat, with no per-order or per-SKU fees. OMS adds order management on top of the label layer: marketplace order import, SKU and item records, scan-verified packout, batch fulfillment, blueprints that automate routing and service selection, and support for ZPL printers and scales.

Two further tiers, Warehouse and 3PL, are sold directly rather than self-serve. If you're processing more than a thousand orders a week or fulfilling for several client brands, get in touch and we'll get you on the right one.

If You're Asked to Verify Your Identity

Most accounts never see identity verification. It's only ever asked for when it has been required on your particular account, and if that's you, there's nothing to worry about -- it's a fraud control, not a credit check. Shipping labels are a common target for stolen payment details, and verification is what keeps our carrier relationships healthy for everyone.

Signing in never redirects you to verification. If it has been required on your account, you'll see a banner on the main pages and a prompt if a purchase is refused, and you can open the verification page yourself at any time. Rating, browsing, and setting up your account all keep working in the meantime -- it's only the purchase that waits.

Verification is document-based and usually confirms within a few seconds of submitting. If it takes a little longer, feel free to leave the page -- purchasing unlocks on its own once the confirmation lands, with nothing more for you to do. If it seems stuck, get in touch and we'll take a look.

Step 3: Connect a Carrier Account (Plus and Above)

On Core you ship on ShipGenius carrier accounts, so there's nothing to connect. On Plus and above you can link your own UPS, FedEx, DHL eCommerce, DHL Express, Passport Global, or UniUni accounts, plus a USPS business account.

Connecting is a short credentials form per carrier followed by a live test rate, so you'll know right away whether the credentials work rather than finding out when you try to buy. See Connect a Carrier Account for the exact fields each carrier asks for and how the USPS setup differs from the rest.

You don't have to choose between your accounts and ours. Both appear side by side in the rate list, so you can see whether your negotiated UPS rate beats the ShipGenius rate on any given package. Sometimes it does, and on lighter parcels ours often wins -- it's worth comparing each time.

Step 4: Buy Your First Label

The ship screen puts the whole shipment on one page. Working top to bottom:

1. Set the origin. The strip at the top carries a From chip showing which address you're shipping from. Set it once and it carries across your shipments.
2. Enter the recipient. Type an address or search your saved ones. Street suggestions appear as you type, and US addresses are checked against USPS data before you buy.
3. Describe the package. Weight and dimensions -- length, width, and height -- are all required. Carriers price on dimensional weight as well as actual weight, so rating won't run without them.
4. Rate it. Every eligible service from every carrier you have access to comes back in one list, with price and estimated delivery.
5. Buy. Pick a service and confirm. Your label is generated right away, ready to print or download.

Extra services, customs, and hazmat live in collapsible panels below the package section. They stay closed until you need them, and each one shows a one-line summary once you've set something -- so a shipment with signature and insurance reads "Signature required · $200 insured" without your having to open the panel to check.

Step 5: Make the Second Label Faster

Most of what makes the first label slow is a one-time setup cost. Three things are worth doing right after it:

Saved Addresses

Save the addresses you ship from and to regularly, and mark one as your default origin. Saved addresses are already validated, so they skip the validation step entirely. They live on your profile page, and you can search them straight from the ship screen.

Saved Packages

A saved package is a named set of dimensions and a weight -- your standard mailer, your medium box, your poly bag. Pick one and the whole package section fills in with a single click. Saved packages can carry customs item defaults too, which saves real time if you ship the same product internationally.

Workflow Defaults

The ship screen loads your account defaults for origin, destination, and package up front, so a new shipment starts pre-filled rather than blank. Once your defaults are set, a repeat shipment is often just a recipient and a buy.

Where to Go Next

The help menu on the ship screen links straight to the articles most people want first: how rates are calculated, how to connect a store, where to drop off packages, and how address validation works. Everything else lives here in the knowledge base, organized by area.

If you're shipping in volume, read How ShipGenius Rates Work next -- understanding why one carrier wins a given package is the most useful thing you can learn about the platform.

FAQs

Do I need a credit card to sign up?

No. You can create an account, connect carriers, and run rates without entering any payment information. You'll only need it when you buy a label.

Can I switch plans later without losing my data?

Yes. Every plan runs on the same platform, so upgrading simply turns on more features against the data you already have. Nothing is migrated, re-imported, or lost.

Why can't I buy a label yet?

There are a few possible reasons, and identity verification is only one of them -- it's only ever asked for when it has been required on your account, and most accounts never see it. If it has been required on yours, you'll see a banner and a prompt walking you through it, and rating and everything else keeps working in the meantime. If nothing on screen explains the hold-up, get in touch and we'll take a look.

Do I need my own carrier accounts?

No. Core ships entirely on ShipGenius carrier accounts, so you don't need any carrier relationships of your own. Bring-your-own accounts are a Plus feature, and they're worth it once you've negotiated rates that beat ours.

What's the minimum information needed to get a rate?

An origin, a destination, and a package -- weight plus length, width, and height. Dimensions aren't optional: carriers price on dimensional weight as well as actual weight, so rating won't run without them, and shipping with the wrong ones leads to billing corrections from the carrier after the fact.

Is there an app, or is it browser only?

Both. ShipGenius runs in your browser, and there's a desktop app for on-premise fulfillment. The desktop app connects directly to scales and label printers; the web app reaches the same hardware through the ShipGenius Device Server running on that machine.