Setting up Canada Post with WayToShip
WayToShip uses Electronic Shipping Tools (EST) to generate labels since Canada Post does not provide an API as other carriers do. Currently shipments within Canada and to the US are supported. International shipments support is coming soon.
Shipping quotes are provided by Canada Post Sell Online quotes service and integrated with your shipping card through WayToShip shipping module.
Below are step by step instructions on configuring WayToShip with Canada Post EST.
- Open an Electronic Shipping Tools account with Canada Post
- Generate one shipping label through EST
- Open Sell Online account with Canada Post
- Configure WayToShip Manager
- How to cancel a Canada Post shipping label
1. Open an Electronic Shipping Tools account with Canada Post
Click here to sign up with Canada Post EST. This account will be used for automatic creation of shipping labels.
You need an existing VentureOne (small business) account to use EST. If you don't have one - you can create it on the same page
2. Generate one shipping label through EST
Once you have your EST account open we need to configure it to use the credit card you will be using for EST transactions. The only way to do that is to generate one shipping label.
Click here to navigate to Canada Post EST login page.
Log in to EST using username and password chosen in step 1
Click on EST- Electronic Shipping Tools link
Click on Ship in Canada under Order Entry category.
Place an order using the credit card you would like to use for your shipping transactions. You can cancel the label later as described in step 5.
All we need is EST to save your credit card information.
3. Open "Sell Online" account with Canada Post (optional)
Canada Post provides an API to get shipping estimates. The service is called "Sell Online".
Although the service is automated you will need to call Canada Post to create a profile. To create a profile contact Canada Post at sellonline@canadapost.ca or call 1-866-511-0546 and ask for the Sell Online help desk.
You can update your existing profile here.
Canada Post provides a "demo" account with username: CPC_DEMO_XML. You might consider using it instead of creating your own.
4. Configure WayToShip Manager
In this final step you will configure WayToShip Manager to use the accounts you have created with Canada Post.
You will need the following information:
- Electronic Shipping tools username and password.
- Credit card alias used in step 2. The alias is your credit card number with two groups of digits replaced with asterisk. An alias for a card with number 1111 2222 3333 4444 will be 1111********4444. You can also find the alias while placing EST order online in the payment step.
- CVV number of the credit card. This is a new requirement from Canada Post and they claim that they added it for "security reasons".
- Sell Online username (see step 3).
Open WayToShip manager and log in into your account with us. Click on Carriers tab.
Enable Canada Post carrier and will in EST username and password, credit card alias and credit card CVV number.
Your Canada Post shipping integration is ready to go!
5. How to cancel a Canada Post shipping label
Canada Post does not provide a way to cancel shipping labels online. Apparently they simply do not know whether you actually shipped the parcel and therefore rely on your statement that you did not to reverse the payment or to credit your account.
The easiest way to cancel Canada Post labels generated through EST (and WayToShip) is to send an email to cmg@canadapost.ca and provide the order numbers for the labels to be cancelled (found on a shipping label and looks like a code starting with "D") and your Venture One account number. Please note that tracking numbers will not work - you need the actual order numbers.