Create shipments and purchase labels in ShipStation via the ShipStation API
domain: shipstation.com · 6 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Authenticate using HTTP Basic Auth with your ShipStation API Key as the username and API Secret as the password; base URL is https://ssapi.shipstation.com
Create an order in ShipStation via POST /orders/createorder with orderNumber, orderDate, orderStatus, billTo, shipTo, items (each with sku, name, quantity, unitPrice), and weight
Create a shipment and purchase a label by POSTing to /shipments/createlabel with orderId or order details inline, carrierId, serviceCode, packageCode, weight, dimensions, and shipDate
Parse the response to extract labelData (base64-encoded PDF), trackingNumber, shipmentCost, and shipmentId for your records
Void a label if needed via POST /shipments/{shipmentId}/voidlabel within the carrier's void window to recoup the label cost
Retrieve rate quotes before purchasing by POSTing to /shipments/getrates with carrier, service, package, weight, and from/to zip codes to compare costs across services
Known gotchas
ShipStation's API rate limit is 40 requests per minute per account; batch label creation workflows can hit this quickly and require throttling logic
Label data is returned as a base64 PDF in the response; if you need ZPL format for thermal printers, specify the label format in the request or configure it in the carrier settings
Orders in ShipStation must have orderStatus set appropriately (awaiting_shipment) before label creation; orders in on_hold or cancelled status will reject label creation
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