This article reviews how to connect a DHL eCommerce shipping account to SmartParcel and how to successfully ship an order using that account. For all other carriers, please see Connecting a Carrier Account to SmartParcel.

The steps below guide you on how to use DHL eCommerce in 3PL Warehouse Manager. If you need more general information on the carrier's requirements, we recommend you refer to DHL's official documentation on Domestic Shipping and International Shipping with DHL eCommerce. In addition, If you're interested in rate shopping for DHL eCommerce services, you must reach out to your DHL representative to enable API access for 3PL Central.

Skip Ahead: Use the following links to skip to the guidelines below.

• Step 1: Connect DHL eCommerce account to SmartParcel
• Step 2: Identify correct shipping options
• Step 3: Manifest the relevant order(s)

Guidelines

Step 1: Connect DHL eCommerce account to SmartParcel

Before you can ship with a DHL eCommerce shipping account, you must first add the account on the Manage Carrier Accounts page.

 Please note that this setup requires information from your DHL eCommerce Onboarding Form, as well as secure information you should have received directly from your DHL representative via email.

1. Navigate to Admin > Manage Carrier Accounts in 3PL Warehouse Manager.
   
2. Click + Add.
   
3. Using the drop-down menus, specify whether you are setting up a Warehouse or Customer Account, select the relevant Warehouse or Customer, select DHL eCommerce, then click Next.
   
   
    Once you connect a customer's DHL eCommerce account to SmartParcel, you cannot use your primary warehouse account for that customer when shipping with DHL eCommerce.
4. Enter the Account Information. If this is a Warehouse Account, you should put your warehouse's information; if this is a Customer Account, you should put your customer's information.
   
   • 'Account Nickname' is your preferred nickname for this carrier account.
   • Most of the remaining field values are found on your DHL eCommerce Onboarding Form, as seen in the screen captures below.
   • Your DHL representative provides you with the following field values via email: Password, API Key, and API Secret.
     
     API Key and API Secret are optional fields that enable DHL to return cost value when you ship through SmartParcel. If you do not enter correct values here, you cannot rate shop or record shipping costs on the order.
     
5. Once you've completed the form, click Connect to receive a confirmation message.
   

Success! Your account is instantly set up, and your warehouse can start shipping against the DHL eCommerce account. Continue to the next step to ensure you identify the correct shipping options on an order.

If you need to connect more than one DHL eCommerce account for your warehouse or the same customer, please see Connecting Multiple Accounts for the Same Carrier before connecting.

Step 2: Identify correct shipping options

Once the shipping account is connected to SmartParcel, you can start shipping with the account. You must take note of the following order-level selections that are necessary to successfully ship with this account.

• When specifying a carrier for an order, you must enter or select DHL eCommerce—not the legacy version, DHL.
  
• Depending on the order destination, you may or may not need to enable Delivery Conf on the SmartParcel page in the Options tab. When enabled, DHL sends a delivery confirmation notice to the shipper.
  
  • You must enable this option if you are shipping a domestic order or an international order with one of the 'DHL Parcel Direct International' services.
  • For all other international orders, this option must be un-selected.
  • If you're batch shipping multiple orders, you only need to enable this setting for one of those orders. However, you cannot include international orders in that batch if they are shipped with an international service that is not one of the 'DHL Parcel Direct International' options.
    

These two specifications are the only requirements specific to DHL eCommerce. If you have these identified correctly on the order, you can proceed with shipment as you would with other carriers.

Step 3: Manifest the relevant order(s)

DHL requires you to manifest, or create an End of Day request, each day that you ship with one of their carriers. Please note that you can only create an End of Day request for the orders that you ship out that day. If you attempt to manifest for orders shipped on a previous day, you will receive an error message and you must contact DHL to retrieve the outdated manifest.

To learn more about how to manifest in 3PL Warehouse Manager, please see Creating End of Day Requests (Manifesting).

Back to top