Default carriers & options

Define the shipping carrier and service level automatically applied to a customer's orders.

Default carriers and carrier options define the shipping carrier and service level automatically applied to a customer's orders. Setting these defaults reduces manual entry and ensures consistent shipping configuration.

Why default carriers matter

  • Reduce order entry effort: carrier and service level auto-populate from the customer
  • Consistent shipping: every order starts with the correct carrier configuration
  • Rate accuracy: integrated carriers provide real-time rate lookups for cost estimation

Core concepts

Carriers

A carrier is the shipping provider that delivers the order. Carriers fall into two categories:

  • Shippo-integrated: FedEx, UPS, and USPS are managed through the Shippo API, enabling rate lookup, label generation, and tracking
  • Custom: any other carrier (e.g., regional freight, will call, delivery) defined manually without API integration

Carrier options

A carrier option is the service level within a carrier: for example, Ground, Next Day Air, Express Saver, or Freight Collect. Each carrier has one or more options. For Shippo-integrated carriers, options are synchronized from the carrier's available service levels.

Customer defaults

Two fields on the customer record control shipping defaults:

  • Default carrier: the shipping provider (e.g., UPS)
  • Default carrier option: the service level (e.g., Ground)

Both are inherited by new sales orders and can be overridden per order.

Carrier billing

Carrier billing controls who pays the carrier directly:

  • Carrier billing type: how the shipment is billed to the carrier (e.g., sender, recipient, third-party)
  • Carrier billing account: the account number used for billing when the customer or a third party pays the carrier

These settings are also set on the customer and inherited by orders.

Shippo integration

For FedEx, UPS, and USPS, Augno integrates with Shippo to provide:

  • Rate lookup: real-time shipping rate calculation based on package dimensions and destination
  • Label generation: print shipping labels directly from the shipment
  • Tracking: carrier-specific tracking URLs for shipment visibility
  • OAuth connection: FedEx accounts connect via OAuth for secure carrier account linking

When a Shippo-integrated carrier is created, Augno automatically registers the carrier account with Shippo and synchronizes available service levels as carrier options.

Where default carriers are used

  • Customer: set as the customer's default carrier and carrier option
  • Sales order: inherited from the customer, overridable per order
  • Shipments: carrier and option determine how the shipment is fulfilled and billed

Next: Addresses