Troubleshooting Common Error Messages – Shippo

Unable to Validate Address
No Rates have been found
An error occurred when creating the label
Authentication Errors
There was an error processing your shipment
Default payment method (Canada Post)
The sender address must contain a first and last name, or a company name must be added
Ascii Codec Can't Encode Character
Missing or Invalid: IntegratedFormType. Error encountered.
Missing or Invalid: ContentsType. Error encountered.
Selected Services Do Not Apply
The minimum weight accepted per USPS customs item is 1 oz.
2209: ERROR: Inactive customer account
UPS label service error: Severity: Hard, code: 120100: detail: Missing or invalid shipper number
The adapter rejected the commit because it was invalid
Invalid value for From First Name. When specified, a minimum of 2 characters must be supplied.
Failed to load PDF
UPS: UPS label service error: Severity: Hard, code: 120121: detail: The Shippers shipper number cannot be used for the shipment
FedEx: ERROR: RequestedShipment Recipient contact - phoneNumber is required

"Unable to Validate Address"

When you see the error "Unable to Validate Address", you can troubleshoot the address directly on the USPS website. If the address is a U.S. address you can use this link: https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction_input

Some of the most common causes for an invalid address are:

"Name" field only has one name (must have at least two; a first and last name, or a two part company name)

Missing suite/apartment/unit number

Missing house/building number or incomplete street name

Use of non-English characters like "ñ" or "街頭"

Suite/apartment/unit number/etc on the wrong line, should be on ‘Street 2’, not ‘Street 1’

The street name is misspelled or missing information

Ex: ‘Woodburt’ instead of ‘Woodburn’
Ex: 'Cavanaugh' instead of 'Cavanaugh St.'

Street name and suffix all one word, should be two words

Ex: ‘Hill St’ instead of ‘HillSt’

Too much information is included in street address

Ex: ‘8550 NW 51st Street Lauderhill’ instead of ‘8550 NW 51st Street’

Company name included in ‘Street 1’

Ex: ‘Company Name LLC 2269 Chestnut St’ instead of ‘2269 Chestnut St’

Using symbols instead of writing out words

Ex: ‘Lewis & Clark Rd’ instead of ‘Lewis and Clark Rd’

Abbreviations used when they shouldn’t be

Ex: ‘Co Rd 704’ instead of ‘Country Road 704’
Ex: ‘ACR 425’ instead of ‘Country Road A 425’

Missing the 4-digit zip code extension

Ex: ‘10009’ instead of ‘10009-4153’

If you're still not seeing what the error is, try Googling the address, and compare how the address appears in Google Maps to how it looks in Shippo. Ultimately, if you cannot determine the correct address, you may need to contact your customer to verify the address with them.

Military addresses can also be tricky. If you’re having trouble validating a military address, you can find the correct formats for APO, FPO, and DPO addresses here. If the format is correct and the customer confirms the address is valid, the issue might be with the address validation system. We use USPS' validation tool and their database is usually a month out of date. If this is the case, please contact us.

"No Rates Have Been Found"

The most common reasons for this error are:

Incorrect zip code
The package dimensions or weight exceed the restrictions set by the carriers you've activated
A Flat Rate or Regional Rate package has been chosen but isn't available for this particular shipment
The carrier's system is temporarily unavailable or not responding

Please check the dimensions and weight of your package, as well as the city/state/zip code combination, to resolve this issue. If all of that information is correct, or if you're getting that same error message for multiple different orders, please contact us.

"An error occurred when creating the label."

This error is typically just a temporary connection issue. Please wait a few minutes and try again, and you should be able to create the label.

"Authentication" Error

When you see any of the following error messages when trying to get rates:

CanadaPost: AAA Authentication Failure

UPS (250002): Hard: Invalid Authentication Information

DHL: 'Invalid fieldlength in element 'PartnerID'

It means there is something incorrect in the account credentials you have entered for a given carrier.

Please refer to this article for more information on how to correctly enter your account credentials for different carriers.

"There was an error processing your shipment..."

When you see this error message when searching for rates it could be for a few different reasons.

This indicates there is missing or incorrect information in the package details you entered. Most likely, some address details are not in the correct fields or have been entered incorrectly. Some examples of what could cause this are:

If there is an invalid character in the email address, for example, if you entered "test@test.com/" with the extra / character by mistake instead of test@test.com
If the state in a US address is written out as the full name instead of the 2-letter abbreviation, so "Colorado" instead of "CO." The 2-letter abbreviation should always be used in Shippo.
If the phone number is missing for an international or military address

You can correct any address errors by clicking "Edit" next to either the recipient or the sender address on Step 1 of label creation.

"Default Payment Method" (Canada Post)

This error indicates that Canada Post thinks that there is no valid, default credit card saved for your account.

There are three types of Canada Post accounts: standard, contract/credit card, and contract/billing.

This error can occur if:

You have a billing account but you've selected “credit card” as your Canada Post payment method.
You're a credit card customer, but the card you have on file with Canada Post is invalid or expired.
You have a standard account, not a contract account, but you've put a value into the “contract ID” field.
You have a contract with Canada Post but have not entered your contract information.

Please double check your Canada Post account information in order to correct this issue.

"The sender address must contain a first and last name, or a company name must be added"

This error message refers to the sender/return address in Shippo. USPS will return an error if the sender or recipient information is incomplete.

On international labels, the name for both the sender and the recipient address must follow a strict format of a "first name" and a "last name" and both must have more than one character. These do not have to be your actual first and last name but can be your business name. For example, instead of just "Shippo" in the first name field, "Shippo Inc." could be used to complete both fields.

"Ascii Codec Can't Encode Character"

This error indicates that there's a character or symbol in part of the label information that the carrier can't process. Typically this is something like ® or ™ in the lines of text you can add to a label under "Settings" in Shippo, but it could be in the address information as well.

"Missing or Invalid: IntegratedFormType. Error encountered."

This error indicates that you have not entered a customs item for an international shipment. At least one customs item is required in order to create the documents needed for international shipments.

"Missing or Invalid: ContentsType. Error encountered."

This error indicates that you have chosen an incorrect option from the "ContentsType" menu on the Customs page for an international shipment, most often "Return Merchandise." "Return merchandise" is not authorized for use to many countries, and with several service levels - using "Merchandise" instead will solve the problem.

"Selected Services Do Not Apply"

When you see this error message at the bottom of the rates page and no rates are returned:

Error calculating postage rates for one or more mail classes: First Class Mail International: [1066] Selected services do not apply. Error encountered (Log ID: 22903) Priority Mail International: [1066] Selected services do not apply. Error encountered (Log ID: 22903) Priority Mail Express International: [1066] Selected services do not apply. Error encountered (Log ID: 22903) Global Express Guaranteed: [1066] Selected services do not apply. Error encountered (Log ID: 22903). Error encountered (Log ID: 22903)

This indicates that you have selected a service that's not available for the type of shipment you're doing. This happens most often when signature confirmation is selected for an international shipment, which USPS does not offer.

"The minimum weight accepted per USPS customs item is 1 oz."

This indicates that you have entered a customs item weight that is less than 1 oz.

Customs item weights cannot be less than 1 oz. If you are shipping multiple smaller items weighing less than 1 oz, you can consolidate your customs items into one listed item.

To do this, create a single customs item that contains the total weight of all the customs items, and delete any other customs items included on your customs form. This will ensure that the weight of the items doesn't go over the total weight you entered for the package on step 1 of label creation.

"2209: ERROR: Inactive customer account"

This message comes directly from FedEx and indicates a problem with your FedEx account. Shippo cannot resolve this error. You will need to reach out to FedEx to resolve the issue and re-activate your account. FedEx customer service is located at: https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/contact-us.html

"UPS label service error: Severity: Hard, code: 120100: detail: Missing or invalid shipper number"

You may have received this error for a number of reasons.

The most common is incorrect UPS credentials being entered in Shippo. First double check your UPS credentials on the Carriers page in Shippo and make sure they're correct. Once they're correct that error will be resolved. Some fields cannot be edited, so you may need to setup a new UPS connection on the Carriers page by clicking on the Add Carrier Account button and entering the correct information again.

If you are certain your credentials are correct, then it's possible that your shipper number (Account Number) was not added to your ups.com profile.

To verify you have the correct information in your ups.com profile:

Log in to ups.com (Be sure to use the same User ID and Password that is in your Shipping API)
Select Account Summary from the My UPS tab rollover menu.
Verify that your account is listed; if not, select the Add a UPS Account link
Follow the instructions to add the account

"The adapter rejected the commit because it was invalid"

This indicates that you are trying to add a carrier to your Carriers Page using the same account number that has already been used for a previous carrier connection. Since a carrier has already been added with the same account number, it will not possible to add that same carrier account again.

If you need to make changes to the existing carrier connection, such as the meter numbers or production keys, please click on the Edit link next to that carrier on the Carriers Page. All information may be modified by clicking the respective boxes. The only exception is the account number field which cannot be changed.

"Invalid value for From First Name. When specified, a minimum of 2 characters must be supplied."

USPS has strict rules around how the "name" is shown on international labels. For international labels, please ensure the "name" field of both your Sender AND Return address to a valid two-word value with at least two characters each, like a "first" and "last" name. This can be a variation of your company name but will need to be two words.

For example, if the name was listed as "Shippo", it would need to be changed to something like "Go Shippo" so that it had two "words" and each word had two characters.

"Failed to load PDF"

If you see a Failed to load PDF error when you're trying to download and print your label, it generally means that there was a timeout from the Carrier when the label was produced. We have instituted a retry sequence when our system detects these types of timeouts, and we will reattempt to retrieve the label from the carrier several times before it's a failed purchased. This retry logic makes this failed to load PDF error far less common.

If you do see a Failed to load PDF error instead of your label opening, please try your label purchase again.

"UPS: UPS label service error: Severity: Hard, code: 120121: detail: The Shippers shipper number cannot be used for the shipment"

This error is returned from UPS and indicates an issue with your UPS account and not with the information you're entering in Shippo. This can be related to your account being deactivated or blocked for some reason with UPS which prevents the purchase of labels for that UPS account. Please contact UPS to resolve: https://www.ups.com/content/us/en/contact

"FedEx: ERROR: RequestedShipment Recipient contact - phoneNumber is required"

Phone numbers are required for the recipient, sender, and return addresses for all international shipments and for domestic shipments with some carriers. This error means the recipient phone number was missing. If you don't have the recipient phone number, you can add your own phone number or a dummy number to the recipient address during label creation.