Royal Mail Guide

Royal Mail is an established brand with more than 500 years of history, from its beginning as a postal service exclusively for the King and his Court to the international delivery service it is today.

This guide provides detailed information on utilizing Royal Mail shipping with the EasyPost API, focusing on account setup, rates, label creation, tracking, and more.

Sign up for an EasyPost account to obtain a Test and Production API key. See Authentication and Key Management for more information.

For Royal Mail OBA (online business account) registration, visit Royal Mail OBA Registration.

As an approved Royal Mail vendor, EasyPost requires Royal Mail accounts to undergo an onboarding process. Extra verification steps are required for account security during Royal Mail onboarding. This process, involving coordination with Royal Mail, can take up to two weeks.

1. Navigate to the Carrier Accounts page on the EasyPost dashboard and select Add Carrier.
2. Select Royal Mail and provide the following:
   1. Reference: A custom reference used for documentation purposes.
   2. Description: A custom description used for documentation purposes.
   3. Royal Mail Account Number: If unknown, contact a Royal Mail representative.
   4. OBA Email Address: The email registered with the Royal Mail account.
   5. Posting Location Number (PLN): A 10-digit number starting with 90, available from Royal Mail.

After adding Royal Mail account details to the EasyPost dashboard, contact EasyPost Support to begin the onboarding process. Provide the following details to expedite the process:

• OBA Email Address
• PLN Number

Upon completion of the onboarding process, the following services will have been loaded and available for use:

• RoyalMail
• InternationalSigned
• InternationalTracked
• InternationalTrackedAndSigned
• SpecialDeliveryGuaranteed1pm
• SpecialDeliveryGuaranteed9am

Enabling additional contracted Royal Mail services in EasyPost is a separate process that can only be done once onboarding has been completed.

• To enable additional contracted services post-onboarding, provide EasyPost with the contract numbers (four digits plus “TS” or “TN”) associated with each service.
• Request contract numbers from business.customer.service@royalmail.com.

Download an EasyPost Client Library or utilize the REST API with cURL.

Examine the EasyPost Objects section to understand the API's structure, which is critical for constructing requests and interpreting responses.

While Royal Mail does not offer real-time rates, generic rates are returned for some of the default services onboarded.

• Services not covered under default offerings are set at a rate of $0.01 unless negotiated rates are available.
• Royal Mail will charge the appropriate amount for postage via their billing system.

• To obtain negotiated rates, contact a Royal Mail representative.
• Request the negotiated rate tables along with the account number for verification.

• Once the rate table is received from Royal Mail, users should contact EasyPost support at support@easypost.com for assistance installing this rate table to their account.
• This enables the provision of accurate Royal Mail rates within the EasyPost platform.

Royal Mail has several service levels supported by EasyPost:

Royal Mail has a few predefined packages supported by EasyPost. Predefined packages are an easy way to classify and price a package.

When using the EasyPost API, users should select a predefined package that matches the shipment’s criteria, and if necessary, add the weight to the request to obtain rates. Detailed sample requests can be found in the predefined package documentation.

With EasyPost, the process for generating shipping labels for Royal Mail is the same as generating them for any other carrier.

Review the Getting Started Guide for help generating a shipping label.

Manifesting is supported and required for Royal Mail.

Please visit Royal Mail Manifesting for additional information.

This guide does not specify handling hazardous materials with Royal Mail. Shippers are advised to contact support@easypost.com directly for hazmat inquiries.

EasyPost simplifies package tracking by offering two methods:

• Tracking with an existing number and carrier.
• Using a Tracker included with an EasyPost-purchased shipping label.

The service integrates webhooks for timely shipment updates. For detailed information on tracking methods, visit the Tracking Guide.

The Carrier Metadata endpoint can programmatically return information about service levels, predefined packages, supported features, and shipment options.

Use this information to quickly integrate and make educated decisions about the mix of carriers for shipping needs. Additionally, the Carrier Metadata endpoint is available to retrieve comprehensive information about all carriers on the EasyPost platform, enhancing decision-making for carrier services.

In addition to the guidance provided in our Carrier Guides, EasyPost offers support to assist with FAQs, troubleshooting issues, and inquiries related to the EasyPost platform.

Please visit the Help Center for more information.

For questions about getting started with the EasyPost API please talk to a Shipping Expert or contact our Support team.