Royal Mail v3 Guide

Royal Mail v3 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 v3 shipping with the EasyPost API, focusing on account setup, rates, label creation, pickups, 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.

As an approved Royal Mail vendor, Royal Mail requires new carrier accounts to undergo an onboarding process. Extra verification steps are required during Royal Mail v3 onboarding. This process, involving coordination with Royal Mail, can take up to five business days.

This option is for new users or customers who have not received an email from EasyPost with credentials to migrate to Royal Mail v3. If migrating from Royal Mail to Royal Mail v3, see instructions below.

1. Navigate to the Carrier Accounts page on the EasyPost dashboard and select Add Carrier.
2. Select Royal Mail v3 and provide the following:
   1. account_number: If unknown, contact a Royal Mail v3 representative.
   2. oba_email_address: The email registered with the Royal Mail account.
   3. posting_location_number: A 10-digit number starting with 90, available from Royal Mail.
   4. oba_access_code: Royal Mail Online Business Account, this will be automatically added once the account is approved. Leave this field blank.
   5. contact_name
   6. contact_phone
   7. dispatch_street1
   8. dispatch_street2
   9. dispatch_city
   10. dispatch_zip
   11. dispatch_state
   12. dispatch_country
3. Once the carrier account has been created, an email from EasyPost will be sent stating Royal Mail is in the process of authorizing the account.
4. Upon receipt of the second email confirmation, the Royal Mail v3 carrier is ready to ship.

This option is for users who have an existing EasyPost Royal Mail account and have received an email containing the credentials needed to migrate to Royal Mail v3.

1. Navigate to the Carrier Accounts page on the EasyPost dashboard and select Add Carrier.
2. Select Royal Mail v3 and provide the following:
   1. account_number: Provided in the email received from EasyPost.
   2. oba_email_address: Provided in the email received from EasyPost.
   3. posting_location_number: Provided in the email received from EasyPost.
   4. oba_access_code: Provided in the email received from EasyPost.
   5. contact_name
   6. contact_phone
   7. dispatch_street1
   8. dispatch_street2
   9. dispatch_city
   10. dispatch_zip
   11. dispatch_state
   12. dispatch_country
3. Once the credentials are filled in and saved, the Royal Mail v3 carrier is ready to ship.

For additional information, see the Royal Mail vs. Royal Mail v3: Key Differences support article.

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 v3 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 v3 will charge the appropriate amount for postage via their billing system.

• To obtain negotiated rates, contact a Royal Mail v3 representative.
• Request the negotiated rate card along with the account number for verification. Inform the representative that the integration uses Intersoft to ensure the appropriate rate card is received.
• To verify that the appropriate rate card is received, please see the rates section of the Royal Mail vs. Royal Mail v3: Key Differences help center article.

• Once the rate card is received from Royal Mail v3, users should contact EasyPost support at support@easypost.com for assistance installing this rate card into their account.
• This enables the provision of accurate Royal Mail v3 rates within the EasyPost platform.

Billing is directly handled by Royal Mail after parcel delivery. EasyPost does not participate in the billing process for Royal Mail services. Contact a Royal Mail representative for details.

Royal Mail v3 supports all service levels offered by Royal Mail. Better Trucks offers the following service levels:

Royal Mail v3 provides service within the United Kingdom and to over 230 countries and territories. Complete details on delivery destinations are available in the Royal Mail Country Sending Guides or the Tracked and Signature Services Coverage page.

Royal Mail v3 includes 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 add the weight to the request to obtain rates. Detailed sample requests can be found in the predefined package documentation.

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

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

1-call buys enable streamlined label purchasing through the EasyPost API by consolidating multiple operations into a single API request. This feature is designed to simplify and accelerate the shipping process by combining the creation of a shipment, retrieval of rates, and purchasing the shipping label into one efficient step.

See Reducing API Response Times for more information.

Manifesting is supported and required for Royal Mail v3. Please visit Royal Mail Manifesting for additional information.

Voiding Royal Mail v3 labels through EasyPost is supported.

EasyPost offers native Royal Mail v3 labels in ZPL, PNG, and PDF formats.

Royal Mail v3 supports hazardous materials shipping, review the options section of the Royal Mail vs. Royal Mail v3: Key Differences help center article for details. Shippers are advised to contact support@easypost.com directly for hazmat inquiries.

Royal Mail v3 accommodates pickups based on individual agreements with customers. While regular pickups can be arranged directly with Royal Mail during the account registration process, they cannot be scheduled via the EasyPost API.

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.