Explains what marketplace notifications are, what info they contain, how to delay or prevent them, and how to view notification statuses in ShipStation.
ShipStation sends a notification to your connected stores to let them know an order has shipped. When this occurs, the store updates the status on their side to ensure you always know which orders have shipped and which still need shipping. If you have built a custom integration, learn more about shipment notifications in the Custom Store Development Guide. Developers can review the Developers documentation in the top toolbar.
By default, ShipStation sends the notification as soon as you create the label for a shipment or mark it as Shipped. If you are using FBA or Shipwire, ShipStation notifies your connected store once the fulfilment provider tells ShipStation the order has shipped.
ShipStation does provide the ability to delay notifications or even prevent notifications from being sent to selling channels altogether.
Reshipping After Voiding a Label
If you create a new label for an order after voiding the original label, the store or marketplace that the order originated from will not be notified with the new shipment and tracking information.
You can delay or prevent marketplace notifications so that the store or marketplace is not notified until a label is scanned into the mail stream. For example, if you delay marketplace notifications and then create a new label for a voided shipment, the store or marketplace will only be notified with shipment and tracking information for the new label when it is received by the carrier. The store or marketplace will not be notified with details of the voided label.
The information ShipStation sends back to your connected store depends on which platform it is and what that platform requires.
ShipStation sends the following information back to all selling channels:
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Shipment tracking number
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Shipping carrier
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Information identifying which order the notification is for (this could be an order number or order ID)
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A tag indicating whether ShipStation is also sending a notification email to the customer
This is to prevent your customer from receiving a shipment confirmation email from both ShipStation and your selling channel.
ShipStation may also send the following information to certain selling channels if they require it:
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Shipping service
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Carrier tracking URL
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Order item details (like SKU, Name, quantity, etc)
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Label creation date
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Ship date
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Customer details (like recipient name and address)
What is Not Sent in Marketplace Notifications
ShipStation does not send account information like username, billing address, or other account-related information back to your selling channel.
Changes made to orders in ShipStation are not sent back to your marketplace in most cases. This includes putting an order on hold, canceling an order, or adding notes to an order.
Shipment and delivery notification emails must be enabled at the store level in ShipStation. Your notification email settings will apply to all shipments for orders imported into ShipStation from that store.
You can enable customer notifications in the Emails tab of your store settings:
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Click the Shipment Confirmation Email drop-down menu, then select your desired email template from the list.
To enable delivery notification emails, click the Delivery Notification Email drop-down menu and select your desired email template.
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Click Save Changes to turn on customer notifications.
Repeat the same steps for any store you wish to use ShipStation’s customer notifications. From now on, ShipStation will email shipment confirmations to customers for all orders imported on each store with enabled customer notifications.
To disable customer notification emails, set each drop-down menu to (don't send email) and save your changes.
If you do not want ShipStation to notify your selling channels as soon as you create the label, you can delay the notifications based on the options available in the store's Emails settings.
To delay notifications:
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Go to the Emails tab and select The first of these conditions is met...
The default behavior for Send marketplace Notification when... is set to when Shipping label is created. To delay the notification you must select one of the conditional options.
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Choose which condition must be met before ShipStation will send the notification.
Condition
Details
The shipment first hits the mail stream
ShipStation will send the notification when the carrier first notifies us it has received and scanned the shipment.
For carriers that electronically submit shipments, this can cause notifications to be sent before the shipment is in possession of the carrier.
This option can only be used for trackable services with carriers that automatically send tracking data back to ShipStation.
When this option is selected, ShipStation also provides the ability to set notification options for any un-tracked services.
At a specific time on the ship date
ShipStation will send the notifications at the specified time. This option uses the account time zone to determine when to send notifications.
Number of hour(s) elapsed after label creation...
ShipStation will send the notifications after the specified number of hours have passed from the time of label creation.
You can choose multiple options and ShipStation will send the notification when the first condition is met.
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Click Save Changes.
These settings will apply to all shipments going forward. Repeat these steps for any store you'd like to use delayed notifications.
Click on the Shipments tab to view your Shipment or Delivery Notification for your shipment.
If you do not see the Shipment or Delivery Notification columns, click the Columns button to enable those columns.
Check the Shipment Notification and Delivery Notification options. Scroll to view, then click and drag to move the columns to the desired position in your grid.
Successful notifications will appear in and say Notified. Failed notifications will appear and say Failed. Hover your mouse over the failed icon to view a pop-up with details on why the notification failed.
The Notifications option indicates both marketplace and customer notifications. Sent notifications will appear in dark grey and say Sent. If either notification failed, this icon will also include a red dot. Hover your mouse over the icon to view a pop-up with details on which notification failed and why.
Resend Failed Notifications
You can resend failed notifications once the cause of the issue has been addressed.
If you do not wish ShipStation to notify your selling channels about shipments on certain orders, you can block the notifications entirely.
You can do this in several ways:
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On a per shipment basis: Check the Do not notify Marketplace option in the Other Shipping Options section of the Shipping Sidebar.
ShipStation's new layout:
ShipStation legacy layout:
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On multiple shipments: After selecting multiple orders on the Orders tab, you can apply a Bulk Update to enable this option.
In ShipStation's new layout, click Bulk Update then choose the Do Not Notify Marketplace option.
In ShipStation's legacy layout, click
Other Actions > Apply Bulk Action, then choose the Do Not Notify Marketplace of Shipment action. -
When marking an order or shipment as Shipped: Uncheck the Notify Marketplace option in the Mark as Shipped screen.
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With Automation Rules: Create a rule that applies a Do Not Notify action for orders that meet the rule's criteria. Review the Automation Rules article for details on how to create automation rules.
ShipStation lets you know if your marketplace notifications were sent and received successfully using Smart Document Tracking.
Check the column in the Shipments tab or the Smart Document Tracking in the Shipment Details screens.
In ShipStation's legacy layout, the column is just named Notifications.
If you do not see the Marketplace Notified column, click the Columns button.
Check the Marketplace Notified option from the Manage Columns pop-up and click Save Columns.
Scroll in the Shipments grid to view the new column. Click and drag to reposition it to your desired location in the grid.
Successful marketplace notifications will appear and say Notified. Failed marketplace notifications will appear and say Failed. Hover your mouse over the failed icon to view a pop-up with details on why the notification failed.
Smart Document Tracking
Will appear in the Shipment Details screens.
The Notifications icon indicates both marketplace and customer notifications. Sent notifications will appear and say Sent. If either notification failed, this icon will also include a dot. Hover your mouse over the icon to view a pop-up with details on which notification failed and why.
Resend Failed Notifications
You can resend failed notifications once the cause of the issue has been addressed.