Connect Royal Mail

Royal Mail sends UK and international parcels and Tracked Returns from Zippendo through your Click & Drop account. The fields that every carrier shares are on Carrier credentials.

You do not pick a sender address on this form. Add your addresses under the organization menu → Manage → Addresses. You choose the sender address on each shipment or in a shipping rule.

Royal Mail only gives labels to Online Business Account (OBA) customers through Click & Drop. With a personal Click & Drop account, Royal Mail returns no label. Zippendo then does not create the shipment and removes the order from Click & Drop again. If that removal fails, the error names the Click & Drop order number so you can delete it yourself.

Before you start

Set up these things in Click & Drop first:

A Royal Mail Online Business Account connected to Click & Drop, with the services you want to use switched on.
Settings → Label format set to 6 x 4 (thermal). Zippendo always creates labels in that size.
A Click & Drop trading name spelled exactly like the business name on your sender address (or on your return address). Royal Mail prints that trading name’s return address on the label.
A Click & Drop API integration. In Click & Drop, go to Settings → Integrations → Click & Drop API, choose your default trading name and click Update. Open the integration row to see the authorisation key. Each Click & Drop account has only one such integration.

Optional, for tracking in Zippendo and for Local Collect: an app on the Royal Mail API Developer Portal (My Apps → Create new app). Ask your Royal Mail account manager to switch on the Tracking and Local Collect products for your account. This usually takes less than a week, and both products are free. You can connect Royal Mail more than once. Give each connection its own Carrier name. Learn more on the card opens Royal Mail’s Click & Drop page.

Connect Royal Mail

Open All carriers

In the sidebar, click Carriers, then open the All carriers tab.

Find Royal Mail

On the Royal Mail card, click Connect.

Fill in the form

The Connect carrier window opens. Enter a Carrier name and your API key. Click & Drop carrier, API Portal client ID and API Portal client secret are under Optional fields.

Connect the carrier

Click Connect. You see “Carrier connected”, and the carrier appears on the My carriers tab.

Fields on the form

Field	Required	What to enter
Carrier name	Yes	The name you see on My carriers and when you pick a carrier on a shipment. It starts as Royal Mail.
Brand	No	Shown only if your organization has brands. The form says: “Only this brand can use this carrier.” Leave it empty to let every brand use it.
API key	Yes	The authorisation key from Click & Drop. The form says: “Your Click & Drop API authorisation key (Settings → Integrations → Click & Drop API). Labels through the API require an Online Business Account (OBA).” If you delete and recreate the integration in Click & Drop, you get a new key. Update it here.
Click & Drop carrier	No	The form says: “Only if your Click & Drop account has more than one carrier (OBA number + posting location): the carrier’s name from Settings → Shipping Carriers.” Leave it empty if your account has one.
API Portal client ID	No	From your app on the developer portal (My Apps → your app). The form says: “Client ID of your app on developer.royalmail.net (My Apps). Enables Royal Mail tracking and the Local Collect location finder. Ask your Royal Mail account manager to enable the Tracking and Local Collect products on your account first.” One app covers both products.
API Portal client secret	No	From the same app. The portal shows it once when you create the app; reset it in the portal if you lost it. The form says: “Client secret of the same developer-portal app. Required for tracking; Local Collect works with the client ID alone.”

Connect does nothing until Carrier name and API key have a value. Royal Mail has no Test mode, because Click & Drop has no test system. Every label you create is a real label on your account. See Test mode.

After you connect

The carrier appears on My carriers with a Connected badge. You choose the product on each shipment or in a shipping rule, not on this form. See Carrier products and services.

Topic	How it works with Royal Mail
Products	Royal Mail 24 and 48, Tracked 24 and 48 (also High Volume, Letterboxable and Age Verification versions), Special Delivery, 1st and 2nd Class, Signed For, International Standard, Tracked, Signed and Economy On Account, and International Business Parcels and Mail.
Where they deliver	UK products deliver to Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Shipments to Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man carry a customs declaration. International products deliver everywhere else.
Returns	Royal Mail Tracked Returns 24 and Royal Mail Tracked Returns 48. Royal Mail issues a PDF label and a QR code. Your customer can show the QR code at a Post Office or service point instead of printing the label.
Customs documents	Royal Mail prints the CN22 or CN23 with the label when a shipment needs one. Zippendo does not add its own customs declaration or commercial invoice.
Package format	Zippendo works out the Royal Mail format (letter, large letter, small parcel, medium parcel or parcel) from the parcel’s size and weight. To choose it yourself, set Package format on the shipment or in the shipping rule.
Service points	Royal Mail calls them Local Collect locations: Post Offices, Royal Mail Customer Service Points, shops and lockers near the delivery postcode, in the UK only. See Local Collect below.
Tracking	With API Portal client ID and API Portal client secret filled in, and Tracking switched on for your account, Zippendo fetches tracking updates from Royal Mail every hour. Without them, the tracking timeline stays empty, but every shipment still has a tracking number and a royalmail.com tracking link. See Carrier tracking webhooks.
Pickups	Not available under Pickups. Arrange pickups in Click & Drop or with Royal Mail directly.
Manifests	Zippendo does not manifest your orders. Manifest them in Click & Drop as usual. Royal Mail bills OBA labels when you manifest.

Local Collect

Every tracked UK product also comes as a … — Local Collect product, for example Royal Mail Tracked 24 — Local Collect. It delivers to a Local Collect location instead of the door. When you pick one of these products, choose the location on the shipment before you send. A shipping rule can also map a service point shipping method from your webshop to one of these products. The label is addressed to the location, with the receiver’s name on it. Local Collect needs the API Portal client ID and Local Collect switched on for your account. See Pick a service point and Service points.

Services and extra choices

Turn these services on for a shipment or in a shipping rule:

Service	What it does
Signature on delivery	Royal Mail asks the receiver to sign. Not offered on Special Delivery or Signed For, which always include a signature.
Local Collect (Post Office pickup)	Delivers to a Post Office, where the receiver collects it. UK products only. Use this when the order already carries a Post Office address. If the receiver should choose the location, use a … — Local Collect product instead.
Email notification, SMS notification	Royal Mail emails or texts the receiver.
Print a Tracked Returns label with the outbound label	Prints a Tracked Returns label together with the outbound label. In Click & Drop, a Tracked Returns service must be set up for the outbound service.

These extra choices are under Extra details for the carrier on the shipment. In a shipping rule they appear below Services:

Option	Used for
Package format	Choose the Royal Mail format yourself instead of the automatic one.
Special instructions	Saved on the Click & Drop order.
Safe place	Where to leave the item. UK only.
Consequential loss cover	Extra compensation in GBP, from 0 to 10000. UK only.
Recipient is a business	Needed when a business sends to Northern Ireland. Set automatically when the receiver has a VAT or EORI number.
Shipping cost charged, Customs declaration category, Requires export licence	Customs details for international shipments.

Customs details

Shipments that need a customs declaration need a description, a unit price and a currency on every order line. Each line should also have an HS code and a country of origin. Zippendo shows an error before anything is sent to Royal Mail.
Your organization’s or brand’s IOSS number is added automatically on shipments into the EU. Your own VAT and EORI numbers come from your Click & Drop trading name. A business receiver’s VAT or EORI number comes from the receiver’s details on the order.

Change or remove the connection

To change it, open Carriers → My carriers and click Edit carrier on the card. The Edit carrier page has two sections:

General: Carrier name, and Brand if your organization has brands.
Carrier settings: API key, Click & Drop carrier, API Portal client ID and API Portal client secret.

Click Save. You see “Carrier updated”. To remove it, click Delete on the same page, type the carrier name in capital letters, and click Delete. Shipping rules that use this carrier are deleted with it. Shipments you already sent keep their labels and tracking numbers, and orders already in Click & Drop stay there.

Common problems

What you see	What to do
”Couldn’t connect the carrier. Try again.”	Check that Carrier name and API key are filled in, then try again.
”You’ve reached your plan’s limit. Upgrade your plan or remove something you no longer use.”	Your plan’s carrier limit is reached. See Billing and usage.
”The carrier rejected your login details. Update the carrier credentials under Carriers.”	The API key is wrong or was replaced in Click & Drop. You also see this when the API Portal client ID or API Portal client secret is wrong, or when Tracking or Local Collect is not switched on for your Royal Mail account.
”The carrier’s settings are incomplete or not valid. Check them under Carriers.” when you look for Local Collect locations	Add the API Portal client ID on Edit carrier.
A message that the Local Collect product needs a chosen Post Office or Customer Service Point	Choose a location on the shipment before you send.
A message that the Local Collect location was not found within 20 miles	Choose a location near the delivery postcode.
”The carrier’s settings are incomplete or not valid. Check them under Carriers.” followed by “Royal Mail returned no label…”	Your account is not an Online Business Account, or the service is not switched on for it. Zippendo removed the order from Click & Drop. If that failed, the message names the order number to delete yourself. Upgrade the account or switch on the service in Click & Drop, then send again.
”The selected carrier product does not ship between these countries. Choose a different product.”	You picked a UK product for an address outside the UK, or an international product for a UK address. Choose the other kind.
”Royal Mail couldn’t create the shipment.” or Royal Mail’s own error text	Click & Drop refused the order. Fix the field the message names, such as the address, and send again.
”The carrier issued the label but couldn’t produce one of the accompanying documents. Check the shipment’s documents before handing the parcel over.”	The shipment was created, but the customs form or returns label is missing. Check the shipment’s documents before you hand over the parcel.
”The customs declaration is incomplete. Each item needs a description, a quantity, and a declared value greater than zero.”	Complete the order lines, then send again. Nothing was sent to Royal Mail.

Overview

Shipments

Orders & channels

Carriers

Connect a carrier

Connect an integration

Printing

Automation

Account

Search & dashboard

API & events

Connect Royal Mail

Before you start

Connect Royal Mail

Fields on the form

After you connect

Local Collect

Services and extra choices

Customs details

Change or remove the connection

Common problems

​Before you start

​Connect Royal Mail

​Fields on the form

​After you connect

​Local Collect

​Services and extra choices

​Customs details

​Change or remove the connection

​Common problems

​Related

Before you start

Connect Royal Mail

Fields on the form

After you connect

Local Collect

Services and extra choices

Customs details

Change or remove the connection

Common problems

Related