How do I connect Shippo to create shipments and buy labels automatically?
Paste your Shippo API token in VeloCMS, and every physical order creates a Shippo Order — buy the cheapest label from the order screen.
The Shippo connector sends every physical order to Shippo as soon as it's placed, then lets you buy the cheapest available label straight from the order screen — the label URL and tracking number are saved back to the order for you. It's a free alternative to re-entering each order in the Shippo dashboard.
Installing the plugin and the general troubleshooting list are the same for every integration and are explained once in the shared integrations guide. The rest of this page is Shippo only.
Step 1 — Get your Shippo API token
In Shippo, go to Settings → API and copy your API token.
Step 2 — Fill in the Shippo panel
Open Admin → Plugins → Shippo, paste the API token and switch on Enable Shippo. The toggle starts off, so nothing is sent until it is on. Then fill in the Ship-from address: name or business, street address, city, state or region, ZIP or postal code, and a two-letter country code. Street, city, ZIP and country are required; Shippo needs an origin on every Order. Click Save Settings, then Test Connection, which makes a single read of your Shippo orders and creates nothing.
What happens after an order
- Only orders with at least one physical item are sent. Digital-only orders are skipped, since there is nothing to ship.
- VeloCMS creates a Shippo Order, not a shipment yet. It carries the VeloCMS order ID as the order number, the status Paid, the time it was placed, the buyer's name, address, phone and email, and each line item with its title, SKU, quantity and total price in USD.
- An order without a complete shipping address, or with no ship-from address saved, is skipped and logged. Nothing is purchased at this point; Shippo just has the order on file.
- Replays are ignored, so an order that was already sent is not created twice.
Step 3 — Buy a label from the order screen
Open the order in Admin → Orders and use the Shipping labels card. When no label exists yet it shows a Buy Shippo label button. VeloCMS creates a shipment from your ship-from address to the order's shipping address, takes the cheapest rate Shippo returns, buys it, and stores the label URL, tracking number and carrier on the order. The card then shows a Download label link plus the tracking number and carrier. If the order had no tracking number of its own, the new one is copied onto it as well.
VeloCMS rates every label for a fixed default parcel of 10 × 8 × 6 inches weighing 1 lb, not the real contents of the order. For anything heavier or bigger, buy the label in the Shippo dashboard instead, where you can enter real dimensions.
Buy label spends real money, because Shippo charges you for the label it buys. Common messages on the card: Digital-only orders do not need shipping labels, No shipping rates available when Shippo returns nothing for that route, and a note that the order's shipping address is incomplete. Use one label provider at a time: if both Shippo and ShipStation are installed and enabled, Buy label goes through Shippo.
When something fails
If Shippo is briefly unreachable or your API token is wrong, the Order push fails quietly in the background and never blocks the order itself. The failure shows against the order under Admin → Integrations → Sync activity. Shippo has no Retry button there; once the token works again you can still buy a label manually from the order.
Disconnecting
Switch off Enable Shippo or clear the API token in the same panel to stop creating Orders. Labels already purchased and their tracking numbers stay on their orders; no further Orders are created after disconnecting.