Occasionally we have accounts that would prefer that we use their carrier’s account for shipments. At the present time we are forced to use Shipping easy to handle these outbound shipments however there is a monthly fee involved. Can this be implemented within Shopify?
Topic summary
Users are requesting native support for third-party billing in Shopify’s shipping functionality. Currently, merchants must use external platforms like ShippingEasy (which charges monthly fees) to bill shipments to a customer’s or partner’s carrier account instead of their own.
The Feature Request:
- Ability to enter a third-party UPS/FedEx/USPS account number when creating shipments
- The third party receives the shipping charges on their bill, not the merchant
- Should work for individual shipments or as a default setting
Common Use Cases:
- Customers wanting to use their own negotiated carrier rates
- Drop-shipping arrangements where another party pays shipping costs
- Vendors receiving shipments paid by the purchaser’s account
Current Workaround:
Merchants rely on third-party apps (ShipStation, ShippingEasy) that already offer this capability, but these require additional monthly subscriptions.
Multiple users have expressed this as a “much needed feature,” with one participant providing detailed explanations and reference links to help Shopify understand the functionality. The discussion remains open with no official response or timeline indicated.
Hi Steven,
Which carrier are you using and may I know why you are using Shippingeasy to handle shipments?
We use USPS, UPS and Fedex. We use shipping easy ONLY when shipping charges require third-party billing. I am looking to have Shopify to include this option.
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This is to help Shopify understand cos I don’t think they have clear what we are referring to…
I see many customers in the community are asking about adding 3rd party UPS/FedEx shipping but it doesn’t seem that you guys have clear what that is.
When you make a shipment on UPS.com or FedEx.com you have the option of paying for that shipment OR entering another person’s UPS/FedEx account number to pay for the shipment (when you are doing the physical shipping but they are paying.) This is called 3rd party shipping. (when the payor is not the person shipping). You just add in the payors account # and zip and hey presto they get the shipment on their bill and not you.
Many on Shopify would like the ability to bill shipments (individually or even by default) to a 3rd party account #.
All the shipping apps have this; Shipstation, shippingeasy etc.
These 2 articles may help you understand.
https://help.shipstation.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047475671-Third-Party-Billing-Overview
https://help.shipstation.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047043372-Assign-Third-Party-Billing-Automatically
This is a very important feature because often the customer wants to use his own negotiated rates OR the Shopify account-holder for whatever reason is drop-shipping order for someone and that person is paying the shipping fees on his FedEx/UPS account etc and many other varied relationships where the Shopify seller is not the one paying the shipping.
Would love to see this feature soon.
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Following - this is a much needed feature
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I also see a need for this. I often want to provide my shipping account number to vendors for the items I purchase from them.
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I need this too … anyone?