Shipping
Connect ShipStation
Rate and label across your ShipStation carriers from one credential.
Overview
ShipStation + TackQuote
ShipStation is the second rate-and-label aggregator TackQuote can talk to: one account-wide API key fronts every carrier you have already connected inside ShipStation. The integration targets ShipStation API V2, which prices a shipment inline without persisting anything and buys a label against the exact rate that was quoted. Two limits are worth knowing before you connect. Rating and webhooks are switched OFF on ShipStation’s Free and Starter plans, so a valid key on those plans connects and then returns no rates — TackQuote checks the entitlement when you test the connection and names plan gating rather than blaming your key. And carriers are connected in the ShipStation app rather than through its API, so unlike EasyPost there is no form here for them. EasyPost remains available as an alternative aggregator, and direct UPS, DHL Express, USPS, OnTrac and GLS accounts are also supported.
Connect your carriers in ShipStation, paste one API key into TackQuote, and prove it before you rely on it.
Before you start
What you'll need
- ShipStation account on a plan that includes the API — rating and webhooks are switched off on the Free and Starter plans
- Your carriers already connected inside the ShipStation app
- A ShipStation API key (one active key per account)
Setup
How to connect ShipStation
Connect your carriers in ShipStation
Carriers are connected in the ShipStation app, not through its API — so unlike EasyPost, TackQuote cannot offer a form for them. They show up in TackQuote’s connection test once they exist there.Create an API key and paste it in
TackQuote Settings → Shipping Carriers → ShipStation. Only one key may be active on a ShipStation account at a time, so rotating it is a cutover rather than an overlap.Test the connection
The test lists the carriers your key can rate with and checks whether your plan includes the rating API. Saving a key only proves its shape; this proves the account.Rate and label
Request rates for a parcel, buy a label against the rate you choose, and pull tracking when you want it.
Capabilities
What you get
Multi-Carrier Rates
Prices a parcel across every carrier connected in your ShipStation account. Nothing is persisted on ShipStation’s side to get a rate, and a failure to reach ShipStation is reported as a failure rather than as no rates available.
Label Purchase at the Quoted Price
A label is bought against the exact rate you were shown, so the purchased price is by construction the price that was quoted. Purchases are explicit actions, never automatic. ShipStation’s label download needs an api-key header, so the file is returned once rather than as a link you can reopen later — save it when you buy it.
Tracking on Demand
Tracking is pulled from ShipStation when you ask for it. Inbound webhooks have their signature verified but are acknowledged without being acted on, so nothing changes what you believe about a parcel from a payload whose shape has not been confirmed.
A Test That Checks Your Plan, Not Just Your Key
Verifying a ShipStation key lists the carriers it can rate with and probes the rating entitlement. On a Free or Starter plan the key is genuinely valid and rates are off — that is reported as plan gating, so you upgrade the plan instead of re-checking a key that was never wrong.
FAQ
ShipStation questions
Can I connect ShipStation to TackQuote today?
Yes. Settings → Shipping Carriers has a ShipStation card next to EasyPost. Paste your API key, save, and use Test connection — which lists the carriers the key can rate with and checks whether your ShipStation plan includes the rating API.
Why do rates fail on some ShipStation accounts?
ShipStation gates its rating and webhook endpoints by plan — they are off on the Free and Starter tiers. A key from one of those plans is genuinely valid and still returns nothing for a rate request, so TackQuote checks the rating entitlement when a key is verified and names plan gating specifically rather than reporting a bad key.
Will ShipStation push tracking updates into TackQuote?
Not today. Inbound deliveries are signature-verified, but a ShipStation payload is a pointer to a resource rather than the tracking data itself, and acting on it means parsing a response whose shape has not been confirmed against the live API. Until it is, deliveries are acknowledged unprocessed and tracking is pulled on demand.
Can I connect a UPS or FedEx account to ShipStation from TackQuote?
No, and there is deliberately no form for it. ShipStation’s API offers no way to register a carrier account — that is done in the ShipStation app. TackQuote says so on the setup screen rather than drawing a form whose save could only fail.