Forum Moderators: buckworks
I was wondering if anyone out there knows of a Shipping API that handles all shipping carriers in the US. We are looking for a solution that ties together FedEx, UPS and USPS into one API.
We would like to be able to integrate something like this so our customers have all of these options ties directly into thier shopping cart.
Thanks so much for help and guidance.
PPC Player
Shipping API that handles all shipping carriers in the US.
This, I think, is really on your shopping cart software or programmer. The API itself is hosted at the shipping service; for example, the USPS one is on USPS servers, etc.
So what you're asking for would be some service that would somehow funnel all requests to the appropriate API, all on different servers. You'd also be hopping an extra step: your site to this API, to the shipping API, back through the service, back to you.
As the policies of the actual shipping API's change, programmers must adapt with them, as would your "all API" service. Additionally, I doubt that each API would even allow this, as their policies are usually assigned per account. For example, WIDGETS INTL can only get a shipping estimate using their shipping API account to make the request. When making a request to the shipping API, a user id and sometimes pass key is required sent with the request. You'd have to either allow this "third party access" to those bits of info, and the API would have to allow the data query from a site other than WIDGETS INTL.
As compelling as the idea may seem, I don't think it would be practical (or someone would have done it already . . . )
Many carts/forums/other services support multiple API's. I've programmed a few carts, that with a flip of a button can turn certain API's on and off. For example, if a site uses USPS only, the administrator can "turn on" UPS shipping, so when someone checks out, they will have a list of all available USPS or UPS services to choose from.
So I think it's on your programmer or your software, one way or the other.
My requirement like this:
When the user choose one start address(not a static place means the user can chose by himself.), input the weight or volume parameter and select the end destination.Then ,the stystem can display the results.
Choose different shipping company,can get different results.
Thanks.
When the user choose one start address(not a static place means the user can chose by himself.), input the weight or volume parameter and select the end destination.
This is actually a good example of what I was saying about the differences in API's. UPS, for example, requires all parameters of a package - origin city/state or province/zip or post code, weight, width, height, they are not optional. USPS requires only origin zip, designation zip, and weight, unless the package exceeds a specific size, making it an "oversize parcel." UPS also has oversize parameters, but they are different.
Delivery confirmation and insurance are also handled differently.
The way I have it set up is all these parameters are present at checkout, I just query the two API's individually - that is, I don't confuse the user by adding another choice ("select shipping method" when all the user cares about is whatever is cheapest,) I have them enter origin and destination info, query the API's, return a resulting list for both, and then let them choose.
So to answer your question, "who knows the shipping API's" it depends on your selected programmer. All these services have ample documentation and samples for a skilled programmer to set it up. What you need is someone who can integrate them into your cart/service as a single point of query for the various API's.
