Using Unsupported Shipping Providers for Fulfillment in Shopify

Overview

A. Shopify supports various shipping carriers depending on your fulfillment location. Shopify has direct integration with these carriers and provides tracking and shipping labels, which you can purchase directly from Shopify. In the US, you can use USPS, UPS, DHL Express, and FedEx by Shippo. Canada supports Canada Post and UPS. In Australia, Sendle is available. The UK has Evri and DPD. France offers Colissimo, Mondial Relay, and Chronopost. Italy has Poste Italiane, and Spain supports Correos.

When you fulfill orders with supported carriers and provide tracking number, Shopify automatically generates a tracking link. This link will be included in the order status page and any email notifications sent to your customers. You don't need to manually add the tracking link in this case.

B. Shopify shows a long list of shipping carriers which they don't support directly to offer flexibility and convenience in fulfilling orders. If Shopify doesn't directly support a carrier like Swiss Post, it means you can't buy Swiss Post shipping labels or calculate rates through Shopify. You'd have to arrange shipping and tracking separately.

If you're using an unsupported, but listed carrier to fulfill orders, Shopify's order status page will still show a tracking number that links to the carrier's website allowing your customers to track their shipments. However, you won't be able to purchase shipping labels or calculate rates through Shopify for these carriers.

If you're using an unsupported and unlisted carrier to fulfill orders, you need to select Other manually add tracking info. In the Fulfillment section, enter the Tracking Number and Tracking URL. This info will appear on the order status page.

Use cases

The "slug#trackingnumber" format is used when you're fulfilling an order with a carrier that isn't directly supported by Shopify. The "slug" is a unique identifier for the carrier, and the tracking number is the specific number for the shipment.

For example, if you're using Swiss Post, you might enter "swiss-post#996008376527726565" in the tracking field. This format helps Shopify generate a tracking link that leads to the carrier's tracking page.





You can incorporate AfterShip's public tracking link pre-set with the tracking number to allow customers to track orders in one place https://www.aftership.com/track/swiss-post/996008376527726565.



The slug for Swiss Post is swiss-post. You can find the slugs from AfterShip's carrier page: https://www.aftership.com/courier/



Shopify also allows you to modify the tracking URL in the Shopify fulfilment email notification if you choose "Other" as a carrier. Insert AfterShip's public tracking link pre-set with the tracking number to allow customers to track orders in one place.

https://www.aftership.com/track/swiss-universal-express/SUE818821383610FR



AfterShip supports tracking of over 1100 carriers.

Updated on: 12/03/2024