Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
This page provides answers to common questions about the Shipping Channels API.
General Questions
Q: What is the Shipping Channels API?
A: The Shipping Channels API allows you to integrate your applications with various shipping providers, enabling you to create shipments, generate labels, track parcels, and manage webhooks programmatically.
Q: How do I get an API key?
A: You can generate and manage your API keys from your account dashboard. Please refer to the Authentication Guide for detailed instructions.
Q: Is there a rate limit for API requests?
A: Yes, rate limits are enforced to ensure fair usage and stability of the API. Please refer to the Rate Limits API Reference for more information.
Shipments
Q: What information do I need to create a shipment?
A: To create a shipment, you typically need details about the shipping channel, sender and recipient contacts, origin and destination addresses, and parcel dimensions and weight. For international shipments, customs declaration information may also be required. Refer to the Create Shipment API Reference for a complete list of parameters.
Q: Can I track a shipment created via the API?
A: Yes, every shipment created via the API is associated with a tracking parcel. You can use the Tracking Parcels API to monitor its status.
Q: How do I generate a shipping label?
A: After successfully creating a shipment, you can generate its label using the Generate Shipment Label API endpoint.
Webhooks
Q: What are webhooks and how do they work?
A: Webhooks are automated notifications sent by the API to a URL you provide when specific events occur (e.g., a tracking parcel's status changes). This allows you to receive real-time updates without constantly polling the API. Learn more in the Webhooks Guide.
Q: How do I verify webhook payloads?
A: We strongly recommend verifying webhook payloads using the secret you provided when creating the webhook subscription. This ensures the payload originated from our service and has not been tampered with. Details on signature verification can be found in the Webhooks Guide.
Q: What happens if my webhook endpoint is down?
A: If your webhook endpoint is temporarily unavailable or returns an error, the API will attempt to redeliver the webhook with an exponential backoff strategy. You can monitor webhook delivery attempts and failures using the Webhook Subscription Logs API.
Troubleshooting
Q: I'm getting a 401 Unauthorized error. What should I do?
A: This usually means your API key is missing or invalid. Ensure you are including your API key in the Authorization header as Bearer YOUR_API_KEY. Double-check your API key for typos. Refer to the Authentication Guide for more details.
Q: My API request is returning a 422 Unprocessable Entity error. How can I fix it?
A: A 422 error indicates that your request was well-formed but contained semantic errors, most commonly validation issues. The API response will include an errors object detailing which fields failed validation and why. Adjust your request based on these error messages. See the Error Handling Guide for more information.
Q: I'm encountering a 500 Internal Server Error. What does this mean?
A: A 500 error indicates an unexpected issue on our server. While rare, if this error persists, please contact our support team with the request details and any error messages you received. This will help us investigate and resolve the issue promptly.
If you have a question that is not answered here, please contact our support team.