Shiptheory
Shiptheory is a UK shipping platform that books your parcels with the carriers on your Shiptheory account, such as Royal Mail, DPD, Evri and Parcelforce, and prints the labels. The connection sends fulfillment orders out to Shiptheory and brings tracking and shipping cost back into SKU.io. Your warehouse still holds the stock and packs each parcel.
What moves each way
| Direction | What moves | When |
|---|---|---|
| Out to Shiptheory | Fulfillment orders: the delivery address, items, weight, value, parcels, and the delivery service to book | When you submit a fulfillment order from a warehouse routed to Shiptheory |
| In from Shiptheory | Each order's status, and once it's booked, the carrier, tracking number and label | Every 5 minutes, or when you click Refresh from Shiptheory |
| In from Shiptheory | Shipping cost | With the booking, when Record shipping costs is on |
| In from Shiptheory | Your delivery services and package sizes | Daily, or when you sync them yourself |
Shiptheory holds no stock, so it doesn't receive your products or inventory.
No webhooks, so updates come every 5 minutes
Shiptheory doesn't send updates as they happen. SKU.io checks Shiptheory for changes every 5 minutes instead. To check straight away, open the Orders or Shipments tab and click Refresh from Shiptheory.
How Shiptheory picks the carrier
Each order asks Shiptheory for a delivery service in one of two ways:
- A mapped shipping method books with the delivery service you paired it with on the Shipping Methods tab.
- An unmapped shipping method is sent without one, and Shiptheory's own rules choose the carrier. You manage those rules in Shiptheory. If no rule matches, the order comes back Ignored.
Turn off Use rules engine under Settings → General to stop unmapped orders before they're sent instead. SKU.io then asks you to map the method.
Order statuses
Shiptheory's statuses show as Shiptheory names them:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Waiting, Processing, Ready, Not Ready | Shiptheory has the order but hasn't booked it yet. These count as Awaiting Booking on the dashboard. |
| Complete | Booked with a carrier. SKU.io records the shipment and its tracking, and sends the tracking to your sales channel. |
| Failed, Print Error | Shiptheory couldn't book the order. The fulfillment order is marked rejected, with Shiptheory's reason, so you can fix it and submit it again. |
| Ignored | No Shiptheory rule matched the order. The fulfillment order is marked rejected too. |
Cancelling an order
Shiptheory can't cancel a shipment for another app. When you cancel a fulfillment order that Shiptheory already has, SKU.io cancels it locally and warns you. Void the label with the carrier, or remove the shipment from its manifest in Shiptheory.
Where to find it
Go to Apps & Integrations, choose All Integrations, and choose Shiptheory under Shipping & Fulfillment. You can connect more than one Shiptheory account.
| Tab | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Orders awaiting booking, booked, failed and ignored, setup warnings, and when each sync last ran |
| Orders | Every order sent to Shiptheory, its status, carrier, tracking and linked fulfillment order |
| Shipments | Booked shipments with carrier, tracking number, shipping cost and parcels |
| Shipping Methods | Your Shiptheory delivery services, and the SKU.io shipping method each one stands for |
| Warehouses | Which of your warehouses send their fulfillment orders to this connection |
| Settings | Booking behaviour, the default package size, the sync start date, shipping costs, and your login |
| To… | Go to… |
|---|---|
| connect Shiptheory and send your first order | Connect Shiptheory |
| choose the provider for one fulfillment order | Dispatch to a fulfillment provider |