ShippingUpdated
Connect your carrier accounts
In short
An administrator adds each carrier account on the Carriers page: the account number, the keys from the carrier's developer portal, Test or Production, and which services to show and to buy. Test connection checks the keys before anyone ships. Labels are bought on your own accounts, and each carrier bills you directly.
- Who
- A NesoTMS admin
- You need
- Each carrier's account number and API keys
- Carriers
- UPS, FedEx, FedEx Freight and USPS
On this page7 sections
What each carrier asks for
Every carrier account belongs to your company, with keys you create at the carrier. NesoTMS doesn't resell rates or charge per label.
| Carrier | Keys, and where you get them | Account number | What works today |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | Client ID and client secret, from an app you create at developer.ups.com. | Your six-character UPS account number. | Rates and labels from the US to the US and to Canada, with a commercial invoice. |
| FedEx | API key and secret key, from your project in the FedEx Developer Portal. | 6 to 12 digits. | Rates and labels from the US to the US and to Canada, with a paper commercial invoice. |
| FedEx Freight | Client ID and secret, from a project at developer.fedexfreight.com. FedEx parcel keys don't work. | Up to 9 digits, plus the account's registered billing company, phone and address. | LTL estimates and bookings with a bill of lading, from the US. It never schedules a pickup. |
| USPS | Consumer key and consumer secret, from an app in the USPS Developer Portal. | None for published prices. | Published rates. Labels are sandbox only, for testing. |
NoteUPS Supply Chain and CEVA are coming soon. The carriers page lists every carrier that is coming.
Add an account
On the Carriers page in NesoTMS. Only administrators can add, change, remove or test accounts.
- 1
Choose the carrier
Choose Add carrier and pick the carrier. The form asks only for what that carrier needs.
- 2
Enter the account and keys
Enter the account number, the keys from the carrier, and the shipper name and phone printed on your labels. FedEx also asks which Rates product your project has, and FedEx Freight asks for the account's registered billing details, which must match what FedEx Freight has on file.
- 3
Choose Test or Production
Test uses the carrier's test environment, and its labels never change NetSuite. Production buys real labels on your account, billed by the carrier.
- 4
Choose the services
Turn on the services you want to see in rates and, separately, the ones that can buy labels. A new account shows every service the carrier returns, with labels on for the ones NesoTMS can buy.
- 5
Set the label options
For UPS and FedEx, pick the label format, the pickup type and the two reference lines printed on each label. UPS lines can be the fulfillment number, the sales order number, the customer, the ship-to name, your own text or blank; the default is the fulfillment number and the sales order number.
- 6
Save and test
Save, then choose Test connection. It checks your keys with the carrier and shows the carrier's answer. Members of your company can rate and buy with the account as soon as it passes.
Test or Production
Start with Test if your carrier gave you test keys. Test labels come from the carrier's test environment, aren't valid for shipping and never update NetSuite, so you can try the whole flow, from rates to a printed label, on a real order without changing it.
Switch to Production when you are ready to ship. An account's number and environment can't change while it has active labels, because a void always goes to the account and environment that bought the label. Void those labels first.
Services, labels and Rates only
Each offer in the rates list says which carrier account it came from and whether that account is Test or Production. An offer for a service that can't buy labels is marked Rates only and can't be selected for purchase, so a packer never buys a service NesoTMS can't print. A USPS account is Rates only unless it is set up for sandbox labels.
One rate search asks every enabled account at once, parcel and freight, and the cheapest offer you can buy is selected first. If you map your NetSuite ship methods in setup, the service mapped to the order's ship method is selected instead when it is among the offers.
Freight accounts
A FedEx Freight account sets how its estimates class each handling unit: by density on the NMFC scale (the default), or one fixed class for goods that always ship at the same class. It also sets the default handling unit, such as a pallet. A class picked on a package row on the ship page wins over both, and every estimate says which classes it assumed. The carrier bills the class the freight actually ships at.
Freight estimates are never selected for you until each unit's details are entered: a description, the class, the handling-unit type, the pieces, the size and the weight. Booking also needs a pickup arrangement. NesoTMS books the shipment and prints the bill of lading, but it never schedules the truck. FedEx Freight has no online cancel: cancel with FedEx Freight, then an administrator records the carrier's confirmation in NesoTMS.
Keys and who can change them
- Keys go to NesoTMS once and are encrypted before they are stored. They are never shown again: the account card shows only the last four characters of the client ID or API key.
- Only administrators add, change, remove or test carrier accounts. For members the Carriers page is view-only.
- Members rate, buy and void labels with every enabled account.
- To replace a key, edit the account and type the new one. A key you leave blank keeps its saved value.
Carrier account questions
Do I need my own carrier accounts?
Yes. NesoTMS gets rates and buys labels only with carrier accounts that belong to your company, so you keep your negotiated rates and the carrier bills you directly.
Link to this answerWhy does Test connection fail?
Usually a key copied wrong, a test key used on a Production account (or the other way around), or an account number that doesn't belong to those keys. For FedEx Freight, the billing address must match the account's registered address.
Link to this answerWhy can't I buy a service I can see?
It is marked Rates only: either NesoTMS can't buy labels for that service or lane yet, or its Labels switch is off on the account. Turn it on in the account's services if NesoTMS supports it.
Link to this answerCan I ship UPS or FedEx to Canada?
Yes, from the US, with a commercial invoice the ship page fills in. Ship to Canada has the steps.
Link to this answerRelated pages
- Pack, ship and void ordersPack orders at the Packing Station, ship from the Clerk Station, buy and print labels, void them, make return labels and ship without a NetSuite order.
- Ship to Canada: customs and commercial invoiceShip UPS and FedEx labels from the US to Canada: the Customs panel, duties and Incoterms, item lines from NetSuite, what FedEx adds, and the commercial invoice.
- Carrier coverageUPS, FedEx, USPS and FedEx Freight side by side: what works today and what is coming.
- UPS NetSuite integration: labels and write-backUPS NetSuite integration on your own UPS account: rate, buy and void labels from fulfillments, US to US and US to Canada, with tracking written back.