🎉ShipEngine is becoming ShipStation API🎉

Over the next few months you'll notice the ShipEngine website, documentation portal, and dashboard being rebranded as ShipStation API. For our ShipEngine customers, you don't need to take any action or change any of your integrations in any way. All endpoints will remain the same and continue to function as they always have.

To learn more about what's coming, review our New ShipStation API page.

Manifests

A manifest is a physical or electronic document that provides a list of a specific day's shipments. It typically contains a barcode that the driver can scan when they arrive to pick up your packages, allowing them to scan a single document to register all shipments, rather than scanning each shipment individually. Some carriers require you to manifest your shipments, making the pickup process much more efficient.

Manifests will always be specific to a carrier, a warehouse location, and a ship date. If you ship with multiple carriers or have multiple warehouses, you may need to create multiple manifests. If your carrier requires a manifest, then you must create a daily manifest whether you have one package or hundreds.

NOTE:
While ShipStation API uses the term manifest, some carriers use other terminology, such as:

• Shipment manifest
• SCAN form (USPS uses this term)
• Order Summary (Royal Mail uses this term)
• End of Day form

About Manifests in ShipStation API

Creating a manifest in ShipStation API consists of sending a request that specifies the labels you would like to include in the manifest using the /v1/manifests endpoint.

You can then query any manifests you've created using the available query parameters, get a specific manifest using the manifest_id property, or get a specific manifest request using the manifest_request_id property. These properties and parameters are returned in the response to your Create Manifest call.

Explicit vs Implicit Manifests

You may explicitly or implicitly specify which labels to include in a manifest.

• Explicit manifests specify exactly which labels to include in the manifest using label_ids.
• Implicit manifests specify criteria for including labels in the manifest. You can specify by carrier_id, warehouse_id, and ship_date. You can also indicate specific labels to exclude from the manifest even if they meet the criteria using the excluded_label_ids property. We call this an implicit manifest since you do not specify the exact labels to include.

Electronic vs Physical Manifests

You will need to consider whether the carrier you are using supports electronically submitted manifests or if it requires you to download and print a physical document.

If your carrier supports electronically submitted manifests, ShipStation API will automatically create a daily manifest in the format required by the carrier and submit it on your behalf.

If a physical manifest is required, you will need to make a request to ShipStation API to create the manifest. The response will include a URL where you can download the PDF file. You will then need to print it and present it to the carrier when they come to pick up the shipments.

When to Create a Manifest

You must create your manifest on or before the shipDate associated with the label. If you try to generate a manifest that includes labels with a shipDate prior to the manifest date, you will receive an error.

TIP:
USPS has a cutoff time of 9pm local time for creating manifests.
If you create a manifest later than 9pm local time, USPS will consider the it to be the next day and you will receive an error.

Example Manifest

This is an example of a USPS SCAN form. It lists the shipment date, shipped from location, volume of shipments by service class, and includes a scannable barcode for driver acceptance.

Manifest Requirements by Carrier

Some carriers require a manifest while others make them optional. Some carriers do not support manifests at all.

Many carriers require you to print a PDF document and present it to the driver upon pickup. Some carriers support electronically submitted manifests, in which case ShipStation API will automatically submit the manifest for you. We've included a list of some of our most used carriers with their requirements below. If your carrier is not listed here and you are unsure about their manifest requirements, be sure to contact them for details.