Shipping Setup
Live UPS Shipping Rates
UPS is a popular shipper and fairly easy to connect for live shipping rates. Here’s how to create a UPS account, get the right credentials, and establish the connection inside EasyCart.
Watch the Walkthrough
Prefer to watch? Live carrier setup, covered in one short video.
Live Shipping with USPS, FedEx, UPS & More!
Professional and Premium editions come with live carrier rates from USPS, FedEx, UPS, DHL, Australia Post, and Canada Post. Note: this video shows the older API key method — Oauth is much simpler!
How Live Shipping Rates Work
Know what live rates CAN and CAN NOT do before you connect.
Live rates come straight from the carrier, based on specific data your site sends. When you create a product in EasyCart, assign it default package Length, Width, and Height dimensions plus a Weight value. EasyCart uses these to build a ‘best fit’ package and combined weight from every shippable item in the cart — then, at checkout, it sends the customer’s ship-to postal code and your ship-from postal code to get rates.
What Live Shipping Rates Don’t Do
Rates stop at the price — label purchasing is a separate step.
Live rates provide customer shipping prices directly from the carrier — they don’t submit a package or purchase shipping labels as part of post-order fulfillment. WP EasyCart Premium offers options to connect with providers who specialize in that, such as ShipStation or Stamps.com, where you can purchase actual labels and match them against what the customer paid. Live rates also won’t reflect discounted pricing from third-party systems like ShipStation, Stamps.com, GoShippo, or PirateShip.
Setting Up UPS Live Shipping
All the programming is done for you — you just need the right UPS account.
The latest UPS system uses an Oauth connection — you log in, connect, and start getting rates. Simple, quick, and secure.
Step 1 — Getting Your UPS Account
Personal or business, either account type works.
Create Your UPS Account
Visit ups.com and create a new account — personal or business, whichever fits your store.
UPS — Account Sign-Up
Step 2 — Connect from WP EasyCart
One switch, one click, and you’re talking to UPS.
Slide Oauth On & Connect
Log into WordPress and go to WP EasyCart › Settings › Shipping Setup and look for the UPS Setup panel. Slide ‘Use Oauth’ ON if it’s off, then click ‘Connect to UPS’.
WP EasyCart — UPS Setup Panel
Step 3 — Check Connected Status
Just log in once, and you’re done.
Look for the Green Icon
Once you log in, that’s all you need to do to connect to UPS. You should see a ‘Connected’ green icon at the bottom, confirming you’re now connected.
Step 4 — Add Shipper Number & Address Info
The last piece — tell UPS exactly where you ship from.
Locate Your Shipper Number
Go to www.ups.com and log in, click your account name/icon in the top right corner, then go to ‘Account and Payments’ — your Shipper Number is listed there as a 6-digit code. Enter it into UPS settings in EasyCart along with your address info.
UPS — Account and Payments Shipper Number
- Shipper Number: Required 6-digit code from your UPS account.
- Weight Unit: Every product has a weight and dimensional value — set those units here as Lbs/Inches or Kgs/Cm. Be sure it matches how EasyCart builds a package total from your individual product weights and dimensions.
- Origin Address (Line 1): Your primary ship-from address.
- Origin Address (Line 2): Optional second address line.
- Origin Address (Line 3): Optional third address line.
- Origin City: The city you ship from.
- Origin State/Province: The 2-digit code for the state/province you ship from.
- Origin Postal Code: Your ship-from postal code.
- Origin Country: Your ship-from country.
- Conversion Rate: A global rate adjuster. 1.00 shows the returned rate as-is; enter 1.10 to add 10% to every rate returned from the carrier.
- Negotiated Rates: If your account offers negotiated rates with UPS, select to show those here as well.
💡 Special Note about Oauth: The old API method still exists — slide Oauth OFF and you’ll see the API Key, User ID, and Password fields used for older setups. We highly recommend leaving Oauth ON, since it’s the recommended path forward. We may remove the API fields entirely in the future as UPS continues to move everyone toward Oauth.
Selecting Your Live Rates
You’re connected — now choose which live rates customers actually see.
Go to WP EasyCart › Settings › Shipping Rates and engage ‘Live Shipping Rates’ as your store’s shipping choice. In this example, we’ve turned on Live Shipping Rates at the top, and some Live Rates have already been pre-installed below — add to or remove them based on your situation.
- Override Price: Make the rate show a set price you establish here.
- Free Shipping Threshold: Make one specific live rate free once a cart value is reached — for example, $100+ orders qualify for free UPS ground shipping.
- Shipping Zones: Use carefully. Zones are simply a post-address filter, not a way to limit shipping — the API is smart enough to only show a rate if it actually ships to that location. We recommend ‘No Zone’ unless you explicitly know what you’re doing.
💡 Special Considerations: Setting up a shipping rate doesn’t mean every customer will see it — ground shipping to an island may not work, some locations never offer 2nd or next day air, and some rates only apply internationally. Start out by adding as many rates as possible and test with various important addresses and locations you plan to ship to. Make sure ‘SOME’ of the rates return in each situation — you may have 10 rates set up, but a customer at a certain address may only see 2 or 3 of them.
WP EasyCart — Live Shipping Rates
Product Considerations
A couple of product-level checks make sure live rates calculate correctly.
Go to WP EasyCart › Products and edit one of your shippable items — make sure it’s shippable and has weight and dimensions set. Choose ‘Standard’ or ‘Metric’ units in WP EasyCart › Settings › Shipping Settings: Standard units (lb/in) or Metric (oz/cm) are sent to carriers depending on your selection. Also make sure ‘Enable Shipping’ is on under Shipping Options so this item factors into the calculation. A neat feature: you can add a handling fee — per item or one time — that stacks on top of the shipping rate. You can also set a global handling fee in your shipping settings panel.
WP EasyCart — Product Shipping Options
You’re Connected!
Your cart now pulls live UPS rates based on every shippable item inside it. Every order shows you the customer’s selected shipping choice and what they paid for it — use any shipper service and pay for shipping accordingly. Want post-order fulfillment and label purchasing too? Check out the PRO and Premium editions, which connect to third-party shipper services for exactly that.
Get Accurate UPS Rates Today
A quick Oauth connection is all it takes to start pulling live UPS rates on every order. Need a hand along the way?