About DHL Express
DHL Express is DHL's international express network for parcels and documents, with time-definite delivery to 220+ countries. Alongside its express services, DHL offers Economy Select for shipments that don't need express speed, and in many countries a network of DHL Service Points where customers collect their parcels. For a webshop, DHL Express is usually the carrier you reach for when an order has to cross a border fast.
Why ship with DHL Express through Zippendo?
Zippendo is a shipping platform for webshops. You connect your own DHL Express account once, and from then on your orders become DHL Express shipments without anyone retyping addresses in MyDHL. You keep your DHL prices, and DHL keeps invoicing you directly.
Let customers pick a DHL Service Point at checkout
DHL Express Worldwide and DHL Express Worldwide (EU) also come as Service Point products. Your Shopify checkout can show live shipping rates from your own shipping rules, including nearby DHL Service Points, and the Zippendo checkout plugin adds the same pickup point selector to WooCommerce. The order arrives with the point the customer chose, and Zippendo books delivery to it. Service Point search needs a DHL Location Finder API key on your carrier settings.
Express labels that book and print themselves
With shipping rules you decide once which DHL product an order should use, for example DHL Express Worldwide for international orders and DHL Express 12:00 for orders that have to arrive before noon. When an order matches, Zippendo books it with DHL and sends the label to your warehouse printer as a 4x6 PDF or ZPL for thermal printers. Every shipment gets its DHL tracking number, and Zippendo keeps the status updated as the parcel moves.
Customs documents from DHL
For international shipments, DHL Express generates the customs documents and the commercial invoice from the order data Zippendo sends. You don't fill in paperwork by hand, and the documents travel with the shipment.
Returns with a DHL Express label
Most DHL Express products have a return variant. Zippendo creates a DHL Express return label your customer uses to send the parcel back, so returns from abroad run through the same account and the same tracking as your outbound parcels.
Supported DHL Express products and services
- DHL Express Domestic: express delivery where sender and receiver are in the same country
- DHL Express Worldwide: international express for parcels
- DHL Express Worldwide (Documents): international express for documents
- DHL Express Worldwide (EU): express delivery within the EU customs union
- DHL Express Worldwide (Service Point) and DHL Express Worldwide (EU) (Service Point): delivery to a DHL Service Point the receiver chooses
- DHL Economy Select: day-definite international delivery for parcels that don't need express
- DHL Economy Select (EU): day-definite delivery within the EU customs union
- DHL Express 9:00 and DHL Express 9:00 (Documents): time-definite delivery by 9:00
- DHL Express 12:00 and DHL Express 12:00 (Documents): time-definite delivery by 12:00
- DHL Express Envelope: documents up to 0.3 kg
- Return labels: for DHL Express Domestic, Worldwide, Worldwide (Documents), Worldwide (EU), Economy Select and Economy Select (EU)
- Shipment Insurance: DHL Shipment Value Protection with an insured value and currency on the shipment
- Label format: PDF (4x6) or ZPL for thermal printers
How do I connect DHL Express to my webshop?
Connect your shop to Zippendo first, then add your DHL Express account. Zippendo has ready-made integrations for Shopify and WooCommerce, and any other system can send orders through the API. Once both are connected, your shipping rules decide which orders go with DHL Express, and you can run DHL alongside carriers like GLS, UPS and FedEx from the same platform. See all integrations for the full list.
You need a DHL Express shipper account number and the MyDHL API username and password DHL issues for it. For Service Point delivery you also need a Location Finder API key from developer.dhl.com. The DHL Express setup guide in our docs walks through every field and how to test in DHL's sandbox before you go live.
DHL Express integration FAQ
Send your first DHL Express parcel today
Connect your DHL Express account, set up a shipping rule and print your first express label in a few minutes.
