Can I use my company's UPS / FedEx / DHL account through Shippo?
Yes. Shippo supports both modes. You can ship using Shippo's pre-negotiated rates (good for businesses without their own contracts), OR you can connect your existing carrier accounts and use your negotiated rates. This is called Bring Your Own Account (BYOA).
Either way, you only set up one integration in WareSquared (Shippo) and you can use it for USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and others.
Mode 1 — Shippo's discounted rates
Use Shippo's pre-negotiated rates without any carrier contracts of your own.
- USPS Commercial Plus (about 30% off retail USPS pricing)
- Discounted UPS Ground / Air rates
- Discounted FedEx rates
- Discounted DHL international rates
Best for: small to mid-sized businesses, businesses just starting out, anyone without an existing carrier contract.
Mode 2 — Bring Your Own Account (BYOA)
Connect your existing UPS, FedEx, DHL, or other carrier account in Shippo's dashboard. Shippo intermediates the API call but the rates come from your contract.
Best for: businesses with high volume that have negotiated their own contracts with carriers (e.g., a UPS account manager set you up with discounted rates). You keep those rates and Shippo just prints the labels.
To set up BYOA, log into your Shippo dashboard and connect your carrier accounts there. They'll then appear automatically when WareSquared fetches rates.
What does Shippo charge on top?
Shippo's pricing has two parts. Carrier markup is not one of them — Shippo doesn't add a margin on top of the carrier's rate, regardless of which mode you use.
| Cost | Notes |
|---|---|
| Per-label fee | A small fee per label (typically a few cents on paid plans). Applies whether you're on Shippo rates or BYOA. |
| Monthly subscription | Shippo's free tier limits you to Shippo's own rates. BYOA and higher volume require a paid Shippo plan (starts around $19/month). |
| Carrier rate | The actual cost of shipping. With Shippo rates, this is Shippo's discounted rate. With BYOA, this is your contracted rate billed by the carrier directly to your account. |
For exact current pricing, check Shippo's pricing page.
Which mode should my business choose?
| Your situation | Recommended mode |
|---|---|
| No existing carrier contracts, ship a few hundred labels a month | Shippo's rates — you get instant discounts without negotiating. |
| Already have a UPS or FedEx account manager and negotiated rates | BYOA — keep your existing rates, pay Shippo's per-label fee for the integration. |
| Ship tens of thousands of packages a month with deeply discounted direct carrier contracts | Direct carrier integration — bypass Shippo's per-label fee entirely. On the WareSquared roadmap. |
Roadmap: direct UPS / FedEx integrations
WareSquared has scaffolded direct UPS and FedEx integrations (the adapters exist in our codebase) but the order flow currently routes every label through Shippo. When the direct adapter dispatch lands, you'll be able to choose between Shippo and direct integration on a per-carrier basis. For now, Shippo's BYOA covers the same carriers with the convenience of a single integration.
See also: Shipping Carrier Integration, Packing and Shipping