How to set up Royal Mail

What you need to get started:

Before getting started with Royal Mail you will need a few things. 

• If you don't have one already apply for a Royal Mail Online Business Account.

After setting up an account, Royal Mail will give you:

• An account number.
• Posting Location.

How to set up Royal Mail:

1. Send account details to the Starshipit team

To set up the Royal Mail account in Starshipit. please pass the following on to our support team:

• Customer / Company Name
• Main Shipping Address
• Contact Name
• Contact Phone Number
• Contact Email Address
• Royal Mail Account Number (starts with 3, 4 or 5. Please add a 0 in front of it)
• Royal Mail Posting Location (location linked to RM Online Business Account, 10-digit, starts with 9)
• Royal Mail OBA (Online Business Account) Email Address (used to sign up for OBA with)
• Return Name to Show on Labels (if different from shipping address)
• Return Address to Show on Labels (if different from shipping address)

Our support team will then contact Royal Mail to complete the set up process.

2. Set up your product codes

Once our support team has confirmed your Royal Mail account has been added, add your product codes to complete the integration. 

You can get a list of valid product codes for a destination address by using the product code finder tool in the tools tab. The most common product codes are:

• BPL1 - ROYAL MAIL 1st CLASS
• BPL2 - ROYAL MAIL 2nd CLASS
• BPR1 - ROYAL MAIL SIGNED 1ST CLASS
• BPR2 - ROYAL MAIL SIGNED 2ND CLASS
• CRL1 - ROYAL MAIL 24
• CRL2 - ROYAL MAIL 48
• SD1 - SD GUARANTEED BY 1PM (750)
• SD2 - SD GUARANTEED BY 1PM (1000)
• SD3 - SD GUARANTEED BY 1PM (2500)
• SD4 - SD GUARANTEED BY 9AM (750)
• SD5 - SD GUARANTEED BY 9AM (1000)
• SD6 - SD GUARANTEED BY 9AM (2500)
• STL1 - 1ST CLASS ACCOUNT MAIL
• STL2 - 2ND CLASS ACCOUNT MAIL
• TPNN - ROYAL MAIL TRACKED 24 NO SIGNATURE
• TPNS - ROYAL MAIL TRACKED 24 SIGNATURE
• TPSN - ROYAL MAIL TRACKED 48 NO SIGNATURE
• TPSS - ROYAL MAIL TRACKED 48 SIGNATURE

3. Map service formats for your product codes

Service formats are used to specify the type of packaging used when sending shipments both domestically and internationally with Royal Mail.

It is important you specify the correct service formats for your product codes as they can greatly impact the shipping charges from Royal Mail.

By default, the service format will be 'P' for domestic shipments or 'E' for international shipments.

Valid service formats include:

• L - Inland Letter
• F - Inland Large Letter
• P - Inland Parcel
• N - Inland format Not Applicable
• P - International Letter 
• G - International Large Letter
• E - International Parcel
• N - International Format Not Applicable

To change the mapping for your service formats follow the below steps;

1. Go to Settings > Couriers.
2. Click Settings next to Royal Mail.
3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. Select a product code, and service format.
5. Click Add.
6. Repeat steps 4-5 for each product code you will use with Royal Mail.
7. Click Save.

Additional Configuration

Royal Mail offers additional configuration which you can find in the Royal Mail courier settings. 

Duties Paid

If you would like to pay duties and taxes on behalf of your customers, you will need to have this service enabled on your Royal Mail account. Once done, you can use the Sender Pays Duty flag in Starshipit (on the orders or in Settings > Couriers > Royal Mail > Advanced) or create a rule to enable the feature in certain conditions

Rates

Royal Mail doesn't pass rates into Starshipit, so they will not be displayed in Starshipit. Optionally, you can set up table rates for rates at checkout and via the API.

Parcel Tracking 

Parcel tracking is not currently supported with Royal Mail at this time (due to extremely high charges for this by Royal Mail). However, you can use their tracking page directly at https://www.royalmail.com/track-your-item#/

Notifications

You can enable Royal Mails SMS and email notifications by going to Settings > Couriers > Royal Mail > Notifications. These will apply to all tracked services. 

UKIMS and customs

Starshipit supports a range of customs fields required for international and B2B shipments when using Royal Mail. These fields help meet the requirements of the UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) and improve the accuracy of your customs declarations.

• Shipper EORI Number
  Pulled from the Shipper’s Tax Settings or assigned via a shipping rule.
• Destination EORI Number and/or UKIMS number
  Sourced from the Tax Details section of the order.
  
• Business Transaction Type
  Set to either B2B or B2C. See below for configuration.
• Item-level details
  Includes the following for each item:
  • Country of Origin (COO) – from the item’s country of manufacture
  • HS code – from the item’s country of manufacture
  • SKU – from the item record
  • Net Weight – from the item weight

Configuring business transaction type
To mark a shipment as B2B, apply the IsBusiness tag to the order. This can be done using one of the following methods:

• Apply the tag manually to individual orders
• Create a shipping rule to apply the tag under specific conditions
• Pass the tag through from your connected platform or via the Starshipit API

If the IsBusiness tag is present on an order, the shipment will be marked as B2B. If no tag is present, it will default to B2C.