If you are vendor who uses ShipStation, you can connect your account directly to Duoplane to automatically retrieve new orders, mark shipped orders as fulfilled, and import tracking in Duoplane.
To do that, you will create a Custom Store connection from within ShipStation and connect to Duoplane using the credentials of a Duoplane API user.
This article will show you how to connect, configure, and customize the ShipStation integration.
What is ShipStation?
ShipStation is a web-based software which helps retailers process, fulfill, and ship orders from their e-commerce store. It combines order processing, production of shipping labels, and customer communication in an interface that integrates directly with major carriers and online platforms.
ShipStation is one of many similar web-based shipping software services that integrates with Duoplane.
Creating a new API user in Duoplane for the vendor account
Important: The API user should be a user on the vendor's account. If you are a retailer configuring this on behalf of your vendor, please be sure to create an API user in that vendor's account.
- In your Duoplane Vendor account, go to Settings > Staff Members.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Manage API users
- Click Add an API user
- Give the API user a name. For example: "ShipStation User"
- Click "Save" to save the new user
- After the API user is saved, you will see two pieces of information that you will need for the next step in ShipStation:
API Key: This will be used as the username in the next step in ShipStation
API Password: This will be used as the password in ShipStation. Please note that this password will only be displayed once and will not be displayed again after you navigate away from this page; please leave this browser window open or paste the password someplace secure for use in the next step
Configuring the connection in ShipStation
- In your ShipStation account, go to Settings > Import Orders > Selling Channels
- Click the green Connect a Store or Marketplace button
- In the search bar, look up "Custom Store" and click the button labeled Custom Store once it populates in the search
- In the Custom Store configuration, fill in the fields:
URL to Custom XML Page =https://app.duoplane.com/integrations/shipstation.xmlSee the below Customization part of this guide to learn how to use URL parameters to customize what information is imported to ShipStation
Username = The API Key created in Create a new API user in Duoplane section of this guide
Password = The API Password created in Create a new API user in Duoplane section of this guide - Leave the Order Statuses as their defaults
Customizing what information is imported to ShipStation
By adding query parameters to the URL to Custom XML Page, you can customize what information is imported from Duoplane into ShipStation. Below is a summary of what query parameters are available and their options.
Query parameter |
Possible values |
|---|---|
| price_field |
Items on orders in ShipStation each have a unit price. The value of this unit price can be customized to be the item's retail price, its wholesale cost, or zero. price = The item retail price. This will also add the shipping revenue to the "Shipping Paid" in ShipStation cost = The item wholesale cost none = Unit prices are set to zero (default) |
| remove_fields |
This query parameter can be a comma-delimited list of fields to exclude from being imported into ShipStation. These values are imported by default unless they are explicitly excluded weight: If excluded, items will be imported to ShipStation without any weight values |
| include_fields |
This query parameter can be a comma-delimited list of fields to include with the information being imported into ShipStation. These values are not imported by default unless they are explicitly included internal_notes: If included, the "Internal Notes" field in ShipStation is populated with the same value that might otherwise appear on the purchase order footer tax_amount: If included, the "Tax Paid" field in ShipStation is populated with the tax collected on the items sent to ShipStation |
Examples of using query parameters to customize ShipStation order information:
Below are the most common examples of how to use query parameters to customize data sent to ShipStation. For each of these, navigate to ShipStation's Custom Store configuration and set the URL to Custom XML Page value.
Import the item wholesale cost
https://app.duoplane.com/integrations/shipstation.xml?price_field=cost
If the cost does not appear, make sure you can see item costs on purchase orders within your vendor portal. If not, please ask your retail partner to make costs visible on purchase orders for you.
Import the item retail price from the original order
https://app.duoplane.com/integrations/shipstation.xml?price_field=price
To verify that prices are visible, please make sure that you can see item retail prices on purchase orders within your vendor portal. Ask your retail partner to make prices visible on purchase orders for you.
Set unit prices to zero
https://app.duoplane.com/integrations/shipstation.xml?price_field=none
Exclude item weights
https://app.duoplane.com/integrations/shipstation.xml?remove_fields=weight
Include the purchase order footer as Internal Notes
https://app.duoplane.com/integrations/shipstation.xml?include_fields=internal_notes
Configure ShipStation to automatically update canceled or modified orders
Duoplane by default will not automatically send an additional call to ShipStation to update orders that are canceled, changed, or reassigned. To enable this feature, you will need to configure the following settings in ShipStation:
Important: Duoplane's ability to cancel an order in ShipStation assumes the ShipStation order wasn't already marked as fulfilled. If an order is fulfilled in ShipStation before it can pull the updated (empty) PO from Duoplane, you might end up with a duplicate order in ShipStation.
- In ShipStation, go to Settings > Selling Channels > Store Setup
- Click the Edit button and check the options shown below
- Optional: in the Notifications tab, select the below option to have ShipStation notify Duoplane of shipments as soon as the label is created
