How to Fix Common Peak Season Shipping Mistakes

The holiday shipping season is here! 🎉 🎉 🎉

Check out Shippo's Peak Season Shipping and Selling Central to get ready for all things selling and shipping this season. 

Help, I made a mistake on my label! 

Things happen!

If you made a mistake on an address, package size, weight, or need to add insurance, you can easily Refund a Label.

We can't fix it for you because it usually means a change in rate, but we'll be happy to give you a refund for any label you won't be using.

Then, you can go ahead and create a new one!

After you request a refund:

• Go to the Shippo Orders Page.
• Click on the drop-down arrow next to the order and click Create Another Label
• Follow the same purchase process you did before!

Exception! If all you need to change is the label size or format, just change the format on the Label Settings Page, then download the label again in the proper format! The details are listed here: Reprinting Labels. 

Help, I have an error message!

That's never a good experience, but rest assured, it's usually a simple fix! Errors can be triggered by a number of things, and these are the most common:

1. A Missing Phone Number: Phone numbers are required for ALL addresses (sender, return, and recipient) for all international shipments and even for domestic shipments with some carriers.

To fix the error, just add a phone number to the address! If the error says something like "from address" or "shipper address", that means your own address.

If the error says "to address" or "recipient", that means the address that you're shipping "to" is missing the number. Here are some examples:

• UPS label service error: Severity: Hard, code: 120109: detail: Missing or invalid Shipper phone number
• FedEx: ERROR: RequestedShipment Recipient contact - phoneNumber is required
• Missing value for From Phone

2. No Rates have been found: The most common reason for this error is a problem with one of the addresses. Once the address is fixed, you'll be able to get rates.

Here's what we recommend checking:

• "Name" field in the address is empty 
  • click on Edit next to each address to see the name field:
  • The Name field is required. You don't have to enter your actual "name" in the field. Simply moving your company name from the "Company" field into the "Name" field will fix it.

• Zip/Postal Code 
  • click on Edit next to each address to look for the following:
  • Check for the letter "O" used instead of the number "zero"
  • Check that there is a valid zip code in the zip code field, not the country or state listed in the state field
  • Check that the zip code matches up with the correct city, state, and country (you can do a quick internet search to confirm!)

• Excess Weight or Dimensions 
  • The weight or package dimensions entered might be too large. Most carriers have size and weight restrictions that vary by destination and service level. 

• Carrier-Provided Parcel Template 
  • Many carrier-provided parcel templates are available to choose, but if a template has been chosen for a carrier you don't have a carrier account with, rates won't be returned.
  • Check to ensure the appropriate parcel template is picked OR enter your own package dimensions.

• Invalid E-mail Address
  • Click Edit next to each address in the order to ensure a complete valid email address is listed. It could be missing something like the @ sign or missing .com/.net/.ca

• Billing Error 
  • a View Error button in place of the usual label Download button or a pop-up error message about billing or suspension
  • "We haven't been able to charge your last invoice. Please update your credit card on Shippo."
    • This means that your last invoice payment didn't go through. Please go to the Shippo Billing Tab to update your payment method and click on the Re-attempt charge link next to the invoice. When the payment is successful, you can make new purchases.
  • "Your account needs to have a valid payment method on file to purchase labels in production. Please enter a valid payment method on https://shippo.com/user/billing/."
    • Either a payment method has not been saved, or the label purchase was blocked because of unusual activity. Please see Resolving Blocked Accounts for next steps!
  • "Your account has been suspended."
    • Your account was blocked from label purchases for unusual activity. Please see Resolving Blocked Accounts for next steps!