The PJ System has shipping options, to allow your clients to choose a shipping method during an order. However, these shipping price are either fixed, or tied only to weight (total basket checkout). For most applications this is perfectly OK.
To have REAL TIME or more dynamic shipping prices, we need to actually interact with Fedex or DHL etc. On the PrintJob System we do this with a shipping API called Easypost.
Here are two usage scenarios
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You want to allow users, during order checkout, to select a shipping method and get a REAL TIME price thats based on their address and the weight etc. They then add this price to their order
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You want to process orders in the back end and get a rate and a [paid for] shipping label for a parcel that’s ready to ship.
To start doing either of the above, you will need to follow this guide:
Step 1 – sign up with Easypost
Step 2 – copy the API Keys from Easypost into the PrintJob System>Integrations>Easypost page.
Step 3- Go to the Easypost Settings and set up your Couriers. You might have a USPS account and 2 Fedex accounts (1 for you and one for a particular client).
Step 4 – Back in the PJ System you will need to ensure that you have at least one main Pick Up Address
Step 5 – If you want to allow users to see (and pay for) real time shipping during checkout you will need to create the options for them in the Storefront or Client Settings page. Just create one and choose ‘Easypost Shipping Option’. You can then choose one of your couriers (and a markup price too). Note: if your users cant see any options it might be because the courier system needs a box size (Parcel Force and Royal Mail) or a Pickup Address (UPS). If you think the options should appear and yet they don’t please contact support. Also, a client might choose an option and pay for it, but this does not represent a contract and is not a binding purchase order with the shipping company. Its simply an instruction to you in the Job View page that this is what the client wants. It doesn’t cost you anything.
Step 6 – Lastly, as Admin, you’re in the Job View Page. You want to actually send the box off with a courier. Click on the Delivery tab, on the left hand side and the ‘Create Delivery Note’ button. Inside the pop up you can either just press continue, to create a simple delivery note, or you can click on Get Rates. Doing this will generate the same delivery options as your client might have seen. You can choose one, and actually generate a LABEL with a Bar or QS Code. After it’s created you can access it using the buttons on the Delivery tab. Print it out and attach it to the box. The shipping man will be able to scan it when they arrive to pick it up (after you inform them).
Notes:
1. Generating a label will cost you $0.03, payable to Easypost. You need to make sure that your Easypost account has enough credit for this (ie: login and give them some payment details).
2. The PJ System has multiple data objects, such as pickup address, weight, a destination address, name, telephone etc. If any of these things are empty or missing (or if the weight exceeds say 150lbs for UPS) Easypost may not return a price. This doesn’t mean its broken, just that something is wrong. Unfortunately Easypost doesn’t do ‘error handling’, so we can’t account for this sort of even in PJ Code. The best we can do as support is try to test it to find out what the issue is.
