Base offers 2 methods of integration with the Royal Mail:
- integration via Royal Mail API – only for customers with an OBA (Online Business Account) number;
- Click&Drop integration – for other users.
API integration
To connect your new Royal Mail account via API – contact Base Support by adding a new request (Help and contact → Send message) declaring that you wish to use Royal Mail integration via API.
You will receive a short authorisation form to fill in, which will be sent to Royal Mail for verification. This process usually takes 2-3 days, but in extreme cases RM can extend it up to 2 weeks.
After correct data verification in Royal Mail, our support will fill in the necessary fields in the form visible in Integrations → Couriers → Royal Mail API and from now on you will be able to use the integration.
Pending verification, you can use the test version of the integration API, without providing any authorization data. To do so, in the API Version field, select Test environment and fill in the other fields of the form as required.
This will give you the opportunity to test the integration without billing consequences.
Weight ranges
In Royal Mail, weight ranges determine the cost of shipping. Within a single manifest, the average weight of the shipments is calculated, and this average weight determines the price, which remains the same for each shipment.
On the list of shipments in the integration settings (in the Created packages section), the weight is displayed for each created waybill. After selecting the shipments for which you want to generate a manifest, you will see the number of selected shipments, their total weight, and the average weight.
Within a single manifest, select shipments with similar weights in a way that they fall within specific weight ranges to avoid additional costs.
Click&Drop integration
This integration is available in Integrations → Couriers → Royal Mail Click&Drop section.
Current version of integration works based on exchanging files from Base to Royal Mail Click&Drop system and back.
Create Click&Drop package in Base – at this moment, its shipping number should show Pending status.
Export and upload to ClickDrop system
To create final shipments in C&D, you need to export the file from Base.
- Select shipments from a given day in the plug-in settings and click GENERATE .CSV FILE under the table
- Log in to Royal Mail Click&Drop Desktop, go to Orders → Import section.
- Load the generated file (leave “Comma” as a delimiter).
- Leave the parameters in the second step unchanged.
- In the third step, map the fields (all 17) according to the name in the column header (the names in the selection field will be identical to those shown in the table, in the header).
- Click Import orders.
- Tick imported orders and finish the process clicking on Pay & Generate labels.
From now on you can upload files via Royal Mail Click&Drop Desktop by uploading files to the “Watch” directory of that software – or continue importing via the Royal Mail website.
Importing the shipping numbers to Base
To return shipping numbers (for tracked services) or an order number from RM, go to Reports → Despatched orders in courier panel and click Export to .xls in the top right-hand corner. Load this file in the Royal Mail C&D integration settings in Base.
Users with an OBA number can print labels directly from the C&D Desktop application.