In order to make sure these types of shipments are successful the majority of carriers adhere to below prerequisites. These must all be included in the booking message we receive from you as a customer:
1. Booking the correct servicelevel. In most cases the carrier accepts these types of shipments by using a servicelevel time or other that contains the word PARCELSHOP or SHOP in it, which triggers the correct functionality on their end. If you are unsure which servicelevel to book, please inquire with your carrier first to clarifiy what is needed. If your carrier provides this parcelshop service but you do not have the required servicelevel available in our platform yet, please submit a request to us on this helpcenter requesting said servicelevel's addition to your configuration.
2. A valid parcelshop ID for the particular carrier you want to book with. This value needs to be booked in the additional reference SERVICEPOINT. There are a couple of ways to retrieve these IDs:
- a valid parcelshop ID value can be obtained by you through a request to our API as explained here https://helpcenter.nshift.com/hc/en-us/articles/13043882591516-Location-Select
- you can create the shipment manually on our portal as explained here (in the Receiver address we provide the same functionality through the API using the Select Pickup Point button):
https://helpcenter.nshift.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408097176338-Booking-a-shipment-via-New-Shipment
Using this method, the parcelshop you pick in the Location select widget will automatically fill the add ref SERVICEPOINT value in the booking.
- you can get this ID from your carrier directly.
3. The receiver address should be filled with the physical address of the carrier's parcelshop. Only the Contact Person parameter in the RECV address should be filled with the name of the person picking up the shipment from the parcelshop (the end consumer).
Creating the shipment manually on our portal will input the chosen parcelshop's address into the RECV address except for the end consumer's name/phone number/e-mail etc. If you had already inputted your end consumer's address data in the RECV address before selecting a pick-up point, it will be transposed to the INVC address.
4. The invoice address should be filled with all the address data of the end consumer. In most cases the parcelshop employees use this information to check if the end consumer is the correct person to give the shipment to. Be aware that this address segment in most cases functions as the receiver address for the purposes of for instance emails sent by the carrier/carrier tracking URL data.
There are some carrier-specific exceptions to the above, but adhering to this method will usually result in a successful parcelshop booking. Creating a test shipment on your acceptance environment using the above prerequisites will tell you whether you can book these types of shipment successfully.