EasyShip
  • 13 Jun 2024
  • 10 Minutes to read
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EasyShip

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Article summary

The Easy Ship tools allow wineries who self-fulfill their orders to streamline the fulfillment process by allowing shipping labels for supported carriers to be generated right from WineDirect. 

Is this tool a good fit for my business?

The Easy Ship tool is intended to be used by businesses with simple self-fulfillment needs. Read through this documentation thoroughly, including the FAQ section, for more information about how this tool functions and to inform your decision about whether or not it will be a good fit for your team.

Businesses with more sophisticated shipping practices, including shipping various product weights/types, may wish to consult with our training team to see if the tool can be adapted to your needs before adopting it into your workflows. 


How it Works

The Easy Ship tools are designed to help you save time when self-fulfilling your orders by allowing you to integrate with your courier to print shipping labels directly from WineDirect. Here's a summary of how it works: 

  • Connect your UPS (United States Only) or Canada Post (Canada Only) to your WineDirect account. You will receive the same rates that you already carry with your carrier and will be billed directly by them. 
  • Create your orders like you normally do. 
  • Using the order actions menus, create and print your labels directly from WineDirect for one or more orders at a time. 
  • Arrange pickup with the carrier or drop off the packages. 
  • The carrier will scan your packages, which will cause the tracking information to automatically populate in WineDirect (usually within a few hours).
  • An email is sent to the customer, letting them know their order has been shipped.
  • If you have our package tracking tools enabled, customers can also see up-to-date tracking information on your website.

How can I enable EasyShip on my WineDirect Store?

Our team will be glad to enable EasyShip for you, we just need some information to do that. You will need fill out the form available here.

After filling out the form, our team will contact you and proceed with the setup in your store. 



Easy Ship - FAQs

How do you set up ShipCompliant so that tracking information can be pulled from EasyShip?

You will need to create a Webservice Account in your WineDirect Admin Panel. You can follow the step-by-step instructions available here. 

What are the rates?

Shipping rates will be those that you have negotioated with your respective carrier (UPS, Canada Post). For more information on what your current rates are you will want to reach out to your UPS or Canada Post account rep. 

Can I print labels using my UPS label printer?

Yes. Easy Ship supports the printing of 8 1/2' X 11' standard printer paper labels that can be tapped to the box as well as UPS "Free" standard label format of Direct Thermal Label - 4" x 6.25".

I have my branding included on my labels. Will my custom UPS labels work?

No. Only the standard UPS label format is supported. This is the same size that the "Free" UPS printers support.

What label printers does Easy Ship support?

You will need to choose a printer that is capable of supporting UPS Direct Thermal Labels  [4" x 6.25"]. Some compatible printers are: HP® LaserJet®-compatible, Zebra ZM400, Zebra ZP450, Zebra ZT230, Star TSP800L.

Which carriers does Easy Ship support?

Easy Ship is currently available for all UPS customers in the United States and Canada Post for Canadian customers.

I'm not from California; how are zones broken down?

The rates from UPS don't change based on your location, however, the UPS zones may. You can find out the UPS zone breakdown on UPS's site here »

Can I combine two or more separate orders into one package/label?

No. At this time you are not able to combine separate orders into one package/label. You would need to cancel both orders, then create a new order with the combined items.

Does this trigger the carrier to come to pick up my packages if I generate a label?

No. At this time you will need to contact your carrier directly to pick up your packages. A lot of wineries have scheduled pickups (i.e. 2 times per week) depending on volume of orders.

Can the customer walk out with some orders, and we ship the rest?

Yes (for example, if a customer buys 7 items (6 bottles of wine, and 1 t-shirt). They want to take the t-shirt home but ship the wine). You can override the number of items in the packages when you create a label. You would change it to be 6 items instead of 7. When UPS weighs the package, it will calculate the correct weight and you will be billed based on the actual weight (without the t-shirt).

Do the shipping rates affect the rates my consumers see on my website?

No. The Easy Ship program's rate are totally independent of the shipping rates your charge your customers. We don't recommend passing on these charges. WineDirect recommends having a flat rate shipping strategy for your consumers.

The zip code is invalid; what do I do?

If the zip code isn't a valid code for the state you're trying to ship into, like the error shown below, you will need to first cancel the initial order, then create the order again with a correct zip code (an easy way to do this is to duplicate the order you just cancelled, then edit the shipping address before you charge this new order). You may need to call the customer to confirm the zip code, or UPS (if the zip code is valid in that state even if the UPS tool doesn't accept it).

Do Product Bundles/Sets use the weight and piece count of the bundle or each of the products or wines that make up the bundle?

Product Bundles/Sets will use the piece count and weight of the bundle not the individual items that are contained within it. So the weight set for your bundle should be the total weight of all the items you add to it.

Product Bundles/Sets will be counted as 1 peice by Easy Ship when you are selecting your packages, so you may need to adjust your package selection. For example a bundle with 3 wines is seen as one peice, so if 1 bundle [of 3 wines] and 2 additional wines were selected then the total piece count would be 3, when there are really 5 bottles that will need to go into a box. You would want to make sure that you select a packaging option that will fit all 5 bottles.

How do I redirect a package shipped with UPS?

If you need to redirect a package and the label was generated through WineDirect’s Easy Ship tool, it works very similar to how you’d redirect other UPS packages (depending on how you generated other labels - each UPS label generation tool can be a bit different).

1. First, log into your UPS.com account, then scroll over Tracking and click on Track Shipments (see image below).

2. Then enter the tracking number you’d like to redirect in the Track by Number search box shown in the image below. If you cannot find the package, try searching with UPS’s other search tools.

3. After you’ve successfully found/tracked the package, click on the Change Delivery button.

4. From here, you can pick what type of change is needed and go from there.

How do I claim with UPS if I used Easy Ship to generate the label (i.e., broken bottle)?

You, the shipper, will need to file the claim and request the refund directly from UPS, not through WineDirect.

How does UPS determine if a shipping address is residential or commercial?

The UPS driver ultimately decides whether the address is residential or not. WineDirect has no control over this.

I'm getting an error message that says: The shipping code on this order is not a valid UPS shipping code" - how do I fix this?

On an order, if you click the generate label action item, then try to generate the label - that screen shows an error that the UPS code used on this order is not a valid Easy Ship UPS code. You can see the error message in the image below.

Looking at the code used on this order, you'll see that the code is not one listed in the Easy Ship codes. See the code used on that order below. Store > Shipping > Select Shipping Strategy > Manage Shipping Types

In order to ship this using Easy Ship, you will need to:

  1. Change the code used to be a valid Easy Ship code.
  2. Cancel this order
  3. Duplicate this order and adjust the shipping so that it uses the new overnight option.
  4. Then print the UPS label for the new order.

When do tracking numbers get added?

Generally the tracking number will get inserted once/after the carrier scans the label. If they fail to scan it, it should get added once it reaches the next scanning area (eg: UPS sorting hub, etc.).

What does the error "Invalid Authentication Information" mean?

The error Invalid Authentication Information means that account information entered to connect your carrier to WineDirect was incorrect.

To see the info within WineDirect so to Settings > Website Settings > Store > Easy Ship.

What does the error "The maximum number of user access attempts was exceeded" mean?

The error The maximum number of user access attempts was exceeded mean the WineDirect system tried to connect to your UPS account too many times with the wrong info. You will need to correct the UPS info (see this FAQ) to fix this error.

How do I find the UPS 'Access Licenses Key Number'?

Your UPS rep should be able to get this for you, otherwise log into your UPS.com account, then go to this link: www.ups.com/upsdeveloperkit/requestaccesskey?loc=en_US. From there, follow the steps that UPS outlines. If you're still having trouble, please contact UPS support.

Can I print a shipping manifest for the orders I generated?

If you are using the Easy Ship program connected to Canada Post, a shipping manifest will automatically be generated alongside you shipping labels. This will allow the driver picking up the packages to simply scan the manafest code to check in all of the pacakages, eliminating the need to scan each package.

Shipping manifests are currently not available with Easy Ship UPS.

Can I reprint my shipping manifest?

No. Once a shipping manafest has been generated you cannot reprint it. You can reprint a label or groups of labels but you cannot reprint the manifest. The only options would be:

  • Allow each box to be scanned by Canada Post.
  • Request a refund for the labels and reprint a new batch of labels with a new manifest.

What does the error "Missing or invalid shipper number" mean?

This error means that your UPS account number, username, or password for UPS EasyShip is incorrect. You will need to send your correct EasyShip account credentials to support@winedirect.com for us to input.

Do all Easy Ship orders require an adult signature?

Yes. All orders whether wines, wines and products, or products only will all require an adult signature. There are no settings available to remove this restriction. All labels generated through Easy Ship will be adult signature required labels.

If you have orders for products only and you do not want an adult signature label then you would not want to generate the labels through WineDirect and Easy Ship but generate them directly in UPS or Canada Post.


Can I use UPS EasyShip to ship to all US States?

EasyShip will only be able to generate labels for Continental United States. Shipping labels for orders to Hawaii, Alaska and US Territories will need to be generated in UPS.


What does the error "The XML document is not well-formed" mean?

EasyShip does not allow special characters in the billing, shipping addresses nor the account credentials. If you encounter this error, check for any special characters and remove them if present.

Is EasyShip compatible with Change Pickup To Ship X?

EasyShip does not allow Change Pickup To Ship X.


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