Paths for integrating your platform with Shippo

We provide flexibility for integrating shipping into your application. Use this guide to help understand the options available to you decide which works best for your needs.

1.Choose your account type

a.White label integration

A white label or unbranded integration means you provide shipping to your users, but they don’t see that it is being enabled by another party. You will open and manage a single, standard Shippo account for your entire platform. Shippo will charge you for all the shipments processed through this account.

In a white label integration, you either use a single, standard Shippo account for your entire platform OR use Shippo Managed Accounts to create managed accounts for your users. Managed Shippo Accounts are opaque to your end customers, meaning they don’t need to create their own Shippo login or have a billing relationship with Shippo.

You are responsible for billing and charging your customers, which allows you to completely customize the user experience. Shippo will always be behind-the-scenes and never make any contact with your users.

• Pros:
  • Seamless experience for your users
• Cons:
  • You must manage billing you users for the labels they have purchased

b.Gray label integration

A gray label integration means you provide shipping to your users, but they must create their own Shippo account. The simplest way to do this is use our OAuth flow.

Your users will sign up for a Shippo account through our OAuth flow, allowing them to easily sign up and connect their Shippo account. We bill and charge your users directly for any applicable fees, such as postage costs. We also support your customers directly with any shipping-related questions. Your customers can optionally use the full Shippo Web App, allowing you to focus on building only the most relevant features within your platforms

• Pros:
  • All billing is managed for you
  • Shippo’s flow for OAuth is an experience that is managed for you
• Cons:
  • Not as seamless as white label

2.Choose how you want to create your interface

a.Create your own native user interface

When you create your own native user interface, you have complete control over the look and feel, using the tools and technology you prefer.

• Pros:
  • You can build the experience you want for your user
• Cons:
  • Can take considerable development time

b.Use Shipping Elements

Shipping Elements is an embeddable solution for adding shipping directly to your site without developing the user interface or the code behind it.

Using Shipping Elements is the fastest way to integrate a shipping experience into your website but you will have less control over how the interface looks. Try Shipping Elements for yourself.

• Pros:
  • Very fast to integrate
  • You can change the style to match you applications visual style guide
• Cons:
  • Not as customizable as the native option

c.Use Web App Order Sync

Integrating Shippo Web App Order Sync is an option when you don't want to build your own shipping interface and strive to go to market quickly. Your users can use the Shippo web app to access all shipping features, and all order data will be synced automatically between your platform and Shippo. You only need to push your users' orders from your system directly into the Shippo web app through our Orders endpoint. One POST API call per order.

• Pros:
  • Fastest to integrate
• Cons:
  • You user’s experience may seem interrupted as they leave your interface and use the Shippo interface to manage their shipments