EasyPost is a shipping API and platform designed to simplify multi-carrier shipping for developers and businesses. Through a single API, EasyPost enables you to create shipments, print labels, and manage postage across carriers. This reduces the complexity of working with multiple carriers and speeds up fulfilment workflows.
The platform addresses the core needs of shipping operations, including obtaining accurate rates, generating labels, tracking packages, and handling returns. It is designed for teams building or scaling e‑commerce, marketplaces, and logistics workflows who require a cohesive shipping solution without managing disparate carrier systems.
With EasyPost, organisations can streamline their shipping processes, automate routine tasks, and integrate shipping capabilities directly into their applications and platforms.
What is EasyPost?
EasyPost is a cloud-based shipping API that provides access to shipping functionality across multiple carriers from a single interface. Its core purpose is to enable developers and businesses to automate the creation of shipments, purchase of postage, label printing, rate comparison, tracking, and returns management through a unified API. The platform is positioned as a developer-friendly toolset for integrating shipping into applications, marketplaces, and fulfilment systems, rather than a standalone consumer-facing shipping service.
Key Features and Capabilities
- Single API for multi-carrier shipping: access rate data, create shipments, and generate postage across supported carriers.
- Real-time rate shopping: fetch competitive rates from multiple carriers to determine the best option for a shipment.
- Label printing and postage purchase: generate shipping labels and complete postage purchases programmatically.
- Address verification: validate recipient addresses to reduce delivery issues and returns.
- Tracking and status updates: obtain tracking information and monitor shipment progress.
- Returns management: create return labels and handle returns workflows within the platform.
- Insurance options: add coverage for packages where available.
- Webhooks and event notifications: receive real-time updates on shipment status and related events.
- Sandbox and live environments: test integration in a safe environment before going live.
- APIs and programmatic access: interact with shipping operations via a RESTful API.
How EasyPost Is Typically Used
In practice, EasyPost is integrated into systems that manage order fulfilment and shipping workflows. Common use cases include:
- E-commerce fulfilment: automatically generate shipments, compare rates, purchase postage, and print labels for customer orders.
- Marketplace or platform shipping: provide shipping functionality to sellers through a single API, consolidating carrier options and rates.
- Fulfilment centre operations: route orders to carrier services, track shipments, and manage exceptions or delays.
- Returns processing: issue return labels and track return shipments to streamline reverse logistics.
- Address quality control: verify recipient addresses during checkout or before dispatch to minimise delivery issues.
- International shipping: access rate data and label generation for international shipments through compliant carrier services.
Who EasyPost Is Best Suited For
EasyPost serves a range of organisations that require efficient shipping capabilities. This includes:
- Small to medium-sized businesses seeking to automate shipping without managing multiple carrier integrations.
- Large enterprises and enterprise-scale fulfilment operations needing a centralised shipping API for varied carriers and channels.
- Developers and product teams building e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, or logistics software that require embedded shipping functionality.
- Third-party logistics providers and fulfilment organisations prioritising streamlined rate negotiation, label generation, and tracking.
Deployment, Access and Integrations
EasyPost is presented as a cloud-based API solution. Access to shipping functionality is via the internet, enabling integration into applications, websites, and fulfilment workflows. The platform provides a RESTful API through which developers can request rates, create shipments, generate labels, and track packages, with webhooks available for event-driven updates. While the site focuses on the API capability, it positions EasyPost as suitable for integration into existing software ecosystems and order management workflows, rather than requiring a stand-alone on-premise deployment.
Summary
EasyPost provides a cloud-based shipping API that unifies rate retrieval, shipment creation, label printing, and tracking across multiple carriers. It offers address verification, returns management, and event-driven updates through webhooks, with a sandbox for testing. The platform is positioned for developers and organisations integrating shipping into applications, marketplaces, and fulfilment workflows, suitable for a range of business sizes and logistics needs.
Example workflow
An EasyPost shipment sends the tracking update to the customer. No manual work.
