Do I need my own Royal Mail account?

Yes. Zippendo books through your own Click & Drop account on a Royal Mail Online Business Account, at your own prices. We don't resell postage, so the bill keeps coming from Royal Mail.

Can my customers choose a Post Office for collection at checkout?

Yes. When a shipping rule uses a Local Collect product, Shopify live checkout rates and the Zippendo WooCommerce plugin show nearby Local Collect locations, as long as Local Collect is enabled on your Royal Mail API Portal app.

Which countries can I ship to with Royal Mail?

Domestic services deliver to Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. The international services deliver everywhere else.

How do Royal Mail returns work in Zippendo?

With Tracked Returns 24 or 48, Royal Mail issues a PDF label and a QR code your customer can show at a Post Office or Parcelshop instead of printing.

Does Royal Mail handle customs forms?

Yes. Royal Mail prints the CN22 or CN23 with the label on orders that need one, using the customs details Zippendo sends from the order lines.

When can I start shipping with Royal Mail?

Right away. Create a Zippendo account, add your Royal Mail agreement, and your shipping rules can book Royal Mail shipments from the first order.

Royal Mail integration for Shopify and WooCommerce

About Royal Mail

Royal Mail is the UK's postal service. It delivers letters and parcels across Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, with services ranging from untracked 1st and 2nd Class to Tracked 24, Tracked 48 and Special Delivery Guaranteed. Customers can collect parcels at Post Offices and other Local Collect locations, and Royal Mail's international services take parcels from Great Britain to the rest of the world.

Why ship with Royal Mail through Zippendo?

Zippendo is a shipping platform for webshops. You connect your Royal Mail Click & Drop account once, and from then on your orders become Royal Mail labels without anyone copying addresses into Click & Drop by hand. You keep your Royal Mail prices, and Royal Mail keeps billing you directly.

Let customers pick a Local Collect location at checkout

Every tracked domestic service also comes as a Local Collect product, delivered to the Post Office, Customer Service Point, parcel shop or locker your customer picks. Your Shopify checkout can show live shipping rates from your own shipping rules, including nearby Local Collect locations, and the Zippendo checkout plugin adds the same pickup point selector to WooCommerce. Location search needs a Royal Mail API Portal app with Local Collect enabled on your account.

Labels that book and print themselves

With shipping rules you decide once which Royal Mail service an order should use, for example Tracked 48 for most UK orders, Tracked 24 for express and an International Tracked service for orders abroad. When an order matches, Zippendo books it through Click & Drop and sends the 6 x 4 label to your warehouse printer. Zippendo works out the package format from the parcel's size and weight, and Royal Mail prints the CN22 or CN23 with the label when an order needs one.

Tracked Returns with a QR code

With Royal Mail Tracked Returns 24 and Tracked Returns 48, your customer gets a return label as a PDF and a QR code they can show at a Post Office or Parcelshop instead of printing. You can also print a Tracked Returns label together with the outbound label.

Tracking on every Royal Mail parcel

Every shipment carries its Royal Mail tracking number and a royalmail.com tracking link. With a Royal Mail API Portal app that has Tracking enabled, Zippendo also pulls tracking events about every hour and keeps the status up to date.

Supported Royal Mail products and services

Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48: tracked UK delivery, also in High Volume, Letterboxable and Age Verification versions
Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail 48: untracked UK parcel delivery
Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am: guaranteed UK delivery with signature, in £500, £1000 and £2500 cover levels
Royal Mail 1st Class and Royal Mail 2nd Class: with or without Signed For
1st Class Account Mail and 2nd Class Account Mail: letters and large letters
Local Collect versions: every tracked domestic service delivered to a Post Office or other Local Collect location the recipient picks
International Standard, International Economy, International Signed, International Tracked and International Tracked & Signed On Account: international services from Great Britain
International Business Parcels: Tracked, Signed and Tracked & Signed in Country Priced, Zone Sort and High Volume versions, plus Zero Sort Priority and Zero Sort Economy
International Business Mail: Tracked, Signed and Tracked & Signed (Country Priced)
Royal Mail Tracked Returns 24 and Royal Mail Tracked Returns 48: customer returns with a PDF label or a QR code
Add-on services: signature on delivery, Local Collect, email and SMS notifications and a Tracked Returns label printed with the outbound label
Shipment options: package format, safe place, special instructions, consequential loss cover (GBP 0–10000) and customs details for international orders

How do I connect Royal Mail to my webshop?

Connect your shop to Zippendo first, then add your Royal Mail agreement. Zippendo has ready-made integrations for Shopify and WooCommerce, and any other system can send orders through the API. Your shipping rules then decide which orders go with Royal Mail, alongside carriers like DHL Express, UPS and FedEx on the same platform. See all integrations for the full list.

Royal Mail ships from an address in Great Britain. You need a Royal Mail Online Business Account connected to Click & Drop and a Click & Drop API key. For tracking events and Local Collect you also need an app on the Royal Mail API Developer Portal. The Royal Mail setup guide in our docs walks through every field.