Shipping providers

Under Shipping providers you decide how the shipping labels of your warehouse are created: through ShipCloud, or directly through the interfaces of DHL, DPD, GLS, UPS or Hermes. You store the carrier accounts – for your own company or for single clients, so each client can ship with its own carrier contract – and you define shipping rules. The rules are evaluated when a parcel is completed at the packing station and when a label is requested under Packages and tracking. Without any rule, ShipCloud is used.

Before you start

• Your user needs the permission Shipping providers in the Administration area of the permissions tree. Ask your administrator.
• Your company is the logistician. Clients cannot open this page – they see "Shipping rules and accounts are maintained by the logistician…".
• You have the access data from your carrier contract (see the table of required fields below).
• For ShipCloud you do not need an account in this list – ShipCloud uses the ShipCloud accounts under Company Settings.
• Carrier accounts are connections and count against your package.

Step by step

1. Create a carrier account

1. Open Administration › Shipping providers (Administration › Versanddienstleister).
2. In the Accounts card (Zugänge), click Create a new account (Neuen Zugang anlegen).
3. Choose the Provider (Anbieter).
4. Choose the Company (Firma) the account belongs to: your own company (Logistiker) or a client (Mandant).
5. Enter a Comment (Bemerkung), e.g. "Main account" or "Client XY".
6. Fill in the access data of the provider. Fields marked with * are required.
7. Optionally click Test access (Zugang testen) to check the login at the provider.
8. Click Save account (Zugang speichern). You see "Account has been saved."

Provider and company cannot be changed after the account has been created. To change the access data later, click Edit (Bearbeiten) in the account row. Test (Testen) checks an existing account at any time.

2. Define shipping rules

1. In the Shipping rules card (Versand-Regeln), click Add a rule (Regel hinzufügen).
2. Choose the Provider.
3. Choose the Account (Zugang). Accounts of clients show the client name in brackets; leave it at "-- No access --" for ShipCloud.
4. Choose the Client (Mandant): "-- all clients --" or a single client.
5. Optionally enter Carrier identifiers (Frachtführer-Kennungen).
6. Tick Default (Standard) for exactly one rule that should apply when no other rule fits.
7. Tick Active (Aktiv) and set the Order (Reihenf.).
8. Repeat for further rules. Remove rule (Regel entfernen) deletes a row.
9. Click Save (Speichern). Rules are only stored with this button: "The shipping rules have been saved".

How a rule is chosen

When a parcel is completed, X-Sitter takes the carrier name: the carrier chosen at the packing station, or – with "order shipping method" – the shipping method of the order. Then:

1. Rules for another client or with carrier identifiers that do not appear in the carrier name are skipped.
2. A rule whose carrier identifier matches wins over a rule without identifier.
3. A rule for the order's client wins over a rule for all clients. A rule that matches both wins.
4. If no rule fits, the Default rule is used.
5. Without any rule, the label is created through ShipCloud.

Example: Rule A: DHL, all clients, identifiers "dhl, warenpost". Rule B: GLS, client "Shop Miller". Rule C: ShipCloud, default. An order of Shop Miller with carrier "DHL Warenpost" fits A (identifier) and B (client). A matching identifier counts more than a matching client, so rule A is used. If Shop Miller should ship DHL through its own account, add rule D: DHL, client Shop Miller, identifier "dhl", with Shop Miller's DHL account – it matches both and wins. An order of another client with carrier "Hermes" fits neither A nor B, so the default rule C applies.

Fields and options

Shipping rules

Field	Meaning
Provider (Anbieter)	ShipCloud, DHL, DPD, GLS, UPS or Hermes.
Account (Zugang)	The carrier account. Not needed for ShipCloud. Accounts shared with you by another company are marked "shared".
Client (Mandant)	"-- all clients --" or one client.
Carrier identifiers (Frachtführer-Kennungen)	Comma-separated words in lower case that must appear in the carrier / shipping method name, e.g. dhl, warenpost. Empty = applies to every carrier.
Default (Standard)	Used when no other rule fits.
Active / Order (Aktiv / Reihenf.)	Rule on/off; sort order of the list.

Required access data per provider

Every account has a Mode (Modus): sandbox (test system) or live.

Provider	Required fields	Useful optional fields
DHL	Business customer portal user and password (GKP Benutzer / GKP Passwort), API key from the DHL developer portal, EKP (10-digit customer number)	Participation numbers per product (parcel, international, small parcel, return, Europaket, Warenpost International), Return receiver ID (needed for return labels created later), domestic product, print format, Incoterm
DPD	Delis ID and password (issued by DPD for the web service, not your myDPD login), DPD platform (Germany or Netherlands)	DPD customer number, product, paper format, shipping depot, Predict e-mail notification
GLS	Client ID, client secret, contact ID (shipper)	Product, label format, App ID for Shop Returns, Incoterm, customs declaration for non-EU shipments
UPS	Client ID, client secret, UPS account number (shipper number)	Standard service, e-mail notification, Incoterm
Hermes	User, password, client ID, client secret (from Hermes Business Service)	Product type, weight unit, mandator, recipient e-mail notification

Shipments to non-EU countries

For recipients outside the EU, X-Sitter sends the customs data automatically (price of the order item, weight, customs tariff number and country of origin from the article; without country of origin DE is used).

• ShipCloud and DHL return a CN23 customs form, UPS a commercial invoice. The document is printed together with the label at the packing station and saved in the order under Documents (see Order documents).
• GLS sends customs data only if the customs declaration option is enabled in the account.
• DPD and Hermes do not support non-EU shipments in X-Sitter – use another provider for these.

Make sure your articles have a customs tariff number and country of origin.

Good to know / Troubleshooting

Message	Cause	Solution
"Required fields are missing: …" (Pflichtfelder fehlen: …)	Access data incomplete.	Fill in the listed fields.
"ShipCloud does not need access in this list." (… braucht keinen Zugang in dieser Liste.)	You tried to create an account for ShipCloud.	Maintain ShipCloud under ShipCloud accounts.
"Please select a company" (Bitte eine Firma wählen)	No owner chosen for the account.	Choose your company or a client.
"Rule …: Account #… does not match the provider or does not belong to your companies."	The account belongs to another provider or company.	Choose a matching account.
"Rule …: Client #… does not belong to your companies."	The client is inactive or not yours.	Choose one of your active clients.
"DHL API error: …" / "DPD API error: …" / "GLS API error: …" / "UPS API error: …" / "Hermes API error: …"	The provider rejected the label.	Check access data, recipient address and weight.
"DPD login failed: …"	Wrong Delis ID or password.	Correct the account.
"DHL: No receiver ID for returns is stored in the connection."	Return label requested without receiver ID.	Add the return receiver ID to the DHL account.
"No ShipCloud settings are stored for client …"	No rule applied and the client has no ShipCloud account.	Assign a ShipCloud account or add a rule.
"ShipCloud did not return a tracking number."	Temporary ShipCloud problem.	Try again; see Shipcloud API status.

All Connections (Alle Verbindungen) opens Jobs & connections, where all accounts appear as connections (only with the matching permission). Tracking of direct-API labels is updated automatically, see Shipment tracking and Shipping labels.