In order to use InterShipper, an Internet connection is required at runtime

This document will focus on the XML API implementation for both shipment and tracking data. Other implementations are available at www.intershipper.net.

Previous versions of the InterShipper API have required the use of SSL for complete encryption of the request and response. We have found that this is unnecessary and is difficult to implement. If we look at the information being transmitted, we see that the only piece of information that needs to be secured is the InterShipper login email and password. Recognizing this, we have developed four levels of security for you to choose from:

• At the lowest level, you can send your entire request in clear text. This provides no security.
• At a medium level, you can use a DES-56 encryption algorithm and encrypt your login and password. You need to Base64 encode the encrypted text before putting the values in the EMAIL and PASSWORD attributes of your XML request. You will need to use your current IP address as the encryption key, so that InterShipper knows how to decode the encrypted text.
• At a higher level, you can use the same medium-level process, but using a different key. To set this key, login to the InterShipper website and go to the Account Information area. Once the key is set, use this key for your encryption. With this level of security, InterShipper must be able to recognize you by IP address. This means that if you use a dynamic IP, or are behind a firewall that uses a dynamic IP, you cannot use this level of security.
• At the highest level, we have created an HTTPS gateway. Instead of creating a socket call, you will need to send the XML request to https://www.intershipper.net/xml.asp?xml=<request>. Make sure you apply URL Encoding rules to the request.

Absolutely nothing. InterShipper is completely free. We can however integrate InterShipper into your solution for you, or provide high-level support for a fee. Contact us for more information.

The following is an overview of the XML request that you will need to send to InterShipper to retrieve shipping rates. Please note that the indentation and carriage returns are for readability purposes only. Although XML ignores white space, the InterShipper server uses CrLf combination to signal the end of a request. Make sure you strip out any Cr or Lf characters from your request except for the final CrLf at the end.

<INTERSHIPPER REQUEST="QUOTE" EMAIL="" PASSWORD="">

<CARRIERS>ALL</CARRIERS>

<ORIGIN>

<ADDRESS></ADDRESS>

<CITY></CITY>

<STATE></STATE>

<POSTALCODE></POSTALCODE>

<COUNTRY></COUNTRY>

</ORIGIN>

<DESTINATION>

<ADDRESS></ADDRESS>

<CITY></CITY>

<STATE></STATE>

<POSTALCODE></POSTALCODE>

<COUNTRY></COUNTRY>

</DESTINATION>

<SHIPMENT>

<WEIGHT UNITS=""></WEIGHT>

<DIMENSIONS UNITS="">

<LENGTH></LENGTH>

<WIDTH></WIDTH>

<HEIGHT></HEIGHT>

</DIMENSIONS>

<PACKAGING MATERIAL="" STYLE=""></PACKAGING>

<CONTENT DANGEROUS=""></CONTENT>

<LIQUIDVOLUME UNITS=""></LIQUIDVOLUME>

</SHIPMENT>

<SERVICE>

<SHIPDATE></SHIPDATE>

<SHIPMETHOD></SHIPMETHOD>

<ACCESSORIES>

<CODVALUE></CODVALUE>

<DECLAREDVALUE></DECLAREDVALUE>

<DUTIABLE></DUTIABLE>

<RESIDENTIALDELIVERY></RESIDENTIALDELIVERY>

<RESIDENTIALPICKUP></RESIDENTIALPICKUP>

</ACCESSORIES>

</SERVICE>

</INTERSHIPPER>

Each tag is described below.

Carriers should be either ALL or one or more of the following:

ABX (Airborne Express)

ANX (Airnet Express)

BAX (BAX Global)

DHL (DHL Airways)

EWW (Emery Worldwide)

FDX (FedEx Express)

RPS (FedEx Ground – formerly RPS)

UPS (United Parcel Service)

USPS (US Postal Service)

Describes the origin. Only POSTALCODE is required.

Describes the destination. Only POSTALCODE is required if country is US. CITY is also required on most other countries.

Street Address. Optional.

City. Required on destination when destination country is not US.

State. Optional.

Postal Code or ZIP Code. Required unless destination country has no postal code system.

Closes the respective section. Required.

Describes the physical attributes of the item being shipped.

The weight of the shipment. Required. Can be any numeric value, including decimals. UNITS should be one of the following:

LB (Pounds)

OZ (Ounces)

KG (Kilograms)

G (Grams)

Describes the dimensions of the item being shipped. Optional – but rates will not account for any dimensional weight rules unless supplied. UNITS should be one of the following:

IN (Inches)

FT (Feet)

CM (Centimeters)

M (Meters)

The length (or longest side) of the shipment. Required if dimensions are supplied. Can be any numeric value, including decimals.

The width (or next longest side) of the shipment. Required if dimensions are supplied. Can be any numeric value, including decimals.

The height (or smallest side) of the shipment. Required if dimensions are supplied. Can be any numeric value, including decimals. If the item is flat and relatively thin then set this value to zero (0). If there is any thickness to the item, it should be entered here.

Closes the dimensions section. Required if dimensions are supplied.

Describes the packaging of the shipment. Optional – defaults to BOX. Should be one of the following:

BOX Any standard or specialized, square or rectangular, box.

The MATERIAL attribute is optional, and used to define the material that is external to the package. The default is CBP. It should be one of the following:

CBP Cardboard or Paper

GLS Glass

MTL Metal

PLA Plastic

WOD Wood

The STYLE attribute is also optional, and used to define special styles of packaging. It is optional and defaults to NON. It should be one of the following:

NON None of the below options.

Describes the contents of the shipment. Optional – defaults to NON. Should be one of the following:

NON None of the below options.

JWL Jewelry. (Do not select this for costume jewelry.)

ADV Advertising, or other bound printed material.

BOK Books, or other unbound printed material.

BLD Matter for the blind.

PER Perishables or live animals.

MED Medical materials.

The DANGEROUS attribute is optional, and used when shipping hazardous materials. Defaults to NON. Should be one of the following:

NON None.

If you are not sure which classification your shipment falls into, Federal Express can help. You can reach their dangerous goods hotline at 1-800-GO-FEDEX (press 81).

If the shipment contains liquid, this tag is required and should contain the volume of liquid. Can be any numeric value, including decimals. UNITS should be one of the following:

OZ (Ounces)

G (Gallons)

QT (Quarts)

L (Liters)

Closes the shipment section. Required.

Describes the service that you are requesting.

The date of shipment. Required. Should be formatted as mm/dd/yyyy.

The method that you will get your shipment to the carrier. Required. Should be one of:

SCD Regularly scheduled pickup

DRP Drop-off at a carrier’s location

PCK On-call pickup

Describes extra services you may need. Optional.

Amount in US Dollars to collect at time of delivery. Optional – defaults to zero. Do not include the dollar sign ($) character.

Amount in US Dollars to insure your shipment for. Optional – defaults to zero. Do not include the dollar sign ($) character.

Specifies whether your shipment is dutiable when shipped internationally. Optional – defaults to NO. Should be YES or NO. (You can also use TRUE or FALSE.)

Specifies whether your shipment is being delivered to a residential address. Optional – defaults to NO. Should be YES or NO. (You can also use TRUE or FALSE.) Any building that could be considered residential will be, even if a business is operating there.

Specifies whether your shipment is being picked up from a residential address. Optional – defaults to NO. Should be YES or NO. (You can also use TRUE or FALSE.) Any building that could be considered residential will be, even if a business is operating there.

Closes the accessories section. Required if accessories are requested.

Closes the service section. Required.

The following is an overview of the XML response that InterShipper returns to you. Please note that the indentation and carriage returns are for readability purposes only. Although XML ignores white space, the InterShipper server uses CrLf combination to signal the end of a response. In addition, the ellipsis (…) shown below are not part of the actual response, but are shown here to indicate looping.

<QUOTE ID="" ELAPSEDTIME="">

<CARRIER ID="" NAME="" ELAPSEDTIME="">

<METHOD CODE="" ID="" NAME="">

<ITEMID></ITEMID>

<RATE></RATE>

<TRANSITDAYS></TRANSITDAYS>

<DATE></DATE>

<TIME></TIME>

<GUARANTEED></GUARANTEED>

<LATESTPICKUP></LATESTPICKUP>

</METHOD>

...

</CARRIER>

...

</QUOTE>

Each tag is described below.

Container for the rate quote. The ID attribute gives you a reference to retrieve this quote at a later time. The ELAPSEDTIME attribute will tell you the time in seconds that it took the InterShipper engine to process your request.

Container for each carrier. The ID attribute is always the same for each carrier. The NAME attribute is the text that you can use to describe the carrier to your end user. The ELAPSEDTIME attribute will tell you the time in seconds that it took the InterShipper engine to process that carrier’s rates.

Container for each shipping method. The ID attribute is always the same for each method. The CODE attribute is a string identifier for the method and is similar to the ID. The NAME attribute is the text that you can use to describe the shipping method to your end user.

This tag is a unique identifier for each of this particular quote’s methods. You can store this value in your database to determine which option the user chose.

The rate for this shipping method.

The number of business days that the shipment will be in transit. This does not include weekends or holidays.

The expected date of delivery. Weekends and holidays are taken into account.

The expected time of delivery. If the shipping method has no time commitment, this value will be 23:59 (end of day).

If this value is YES, then the date and time reported are guaranteed by the carrier. If NO, then they are estimates.

This is the latest time that a pickup will be made by the courier. The value returned will either be a time in hh:mm 24 hour format (e.g. ‘18:09’ which is 6:09pm) or blank. If nothing is returned, data is not available for this courier.

Closes the method section. If the carrier has more methods, another method section will follow.

Closes the carrier section. If there are more carriers, another carrier section will follow.

Closes the quote.

The following is an example of an InterShipper request and response. Please note that the indentation and carriage returns are for readability purposes only.

The following is an overview of the XML request that you will need to send to InterShipper to retrieve tracking information. Please note that the indentation and carriage returns are for readability purposes only. Although XML ignores white space, the InterShipper server uses CrLf combination to signal the end of a request. Make sure you strip out any Cr or Lf characters from your request except for the final CrLf at the end. The vertical ellipsis shown below should not be included as part of the request, but are shown here to indicate looping.

You may send up to 10 tracking numbers per request to InterShipper. You may send requests for any of the carriers that we support in any combination that you wish.

</INTERSHIPPER>

Each tag is described below.

This is the beginning of your tracking request. ‘n’ is an integer that must be incremented by 1 for each ‘<TRACKREQUEST>’. You are only allowed 10 tracking numbers per XML request sent.

Carriers should be one of the following:

ABX (Airborne Express)

ANX (Airnet Express)

BAX (BAX Global)

DHL (DHL Airways)

EWW (Emery Worldwide)

FDX (FedEx Express)

RPS (FedEx Ground – formerly RPS)

UPS (United Parcel Service)

USPS (US Postal Service)

You may not specify more than one carrier as you can with a ‘QUOTE’ request. You must list a separate ‘<TRACKREQUESTn>’ for each tracking number even if they are all from the same carrier.

This is the tracking number supplied by the carrier with which you are tracking your package. Please enter the tracking number in its entirety.

This is the end of your tracking request. ‘n’ must match the ‘n’ in your ‘<TRACKREQUEST>’ tag.

The following is an overview of the XML response that InterShipper returns to you. Please note that the indentation and carriage returns are for readability purposes only. Although XML ignores white space, the InterShipper server uses CrLf combination to signal the end of a response. In addition, the vertical ellipsis shown below are not part of the actual response, but are shown here to indicate looping.

Each tag is described below.

Container for the tracking information. The ELAPSEDTIME attribute will tell you the time in seconds that it took the InterShipper engine to process your request.

This tag contains your first set of tracking results. The ‘n’ will correspond to the integer that you sent in your request.

<CARRIER NAME="" TRACKINGNUMBER="">

This tag lists the service that this package was shipped with. It will contain a string variable. If InterShipper experienced a problem connecting with the carrier, this field will contain ‘NO DATA RETURNED FROM CARRIER’. If the tracking number comes up as invalid or no data is available, this field will contain ‘INVALID OR NOT FOUND’.

This tag opens your tracking status information.

This tag contains a unique identifier specifying the status level as the ‘ID’ parameter. Inside the status level tag, text will give you the status of your shipment. The ID numbers along with their corresponding text is listed below.

1 – Delivered

2 – In Transit

3 – Delayed

4 – Delivery was attempted

5 - Unknown

This is the date that you requested the shipment status. It will contain both a date and time in Mountain Standard Time which is GMT-07:00.

Closes the status section.

The last scan section, which includes all delivery information if available, begins here.

The date that the carrier last scanned this package is contained here. It will contain both a date and time. This time will be listed as the carrier lists in their records; it usually corresponds to the time zone in which the package was scanned.

This is the location where the package was last scanned. This will contain a city name and usually a state (if applicable) and/or country.

If the package has been delivered, this tag will open the section for the delivery information. If the package has not yet been delivered, no data will be inside the following tags. Not all data is given by each carrier. Therefore, only data retrieved will be listed. Otherwise the tags will be blank.

The date that the package was delivered to its final destination is contained here. This will contain both a date and time.

The ‘DELIVEREDTO’ tag will contain text referring to where the package was delivered at its destination, when available. Examples include, "LEFT WITH RECEPTIONIST" or "FRONT DESK".

This tag will identify who signed for this package when delivered.

If a company name is given for the delivery location, it will be specified inside this tag.

The city in which the package was delivered.

The state in which the package was delivered. If it is not a domestic delivery, a province may be listed, or the field will be blank.

This tag will list the country of delivery.

This closes the ‘Delivery’ section.

This closes the scan information section.

This closes the ‘Carrier’ section.

This closes the results of your tracking request.

The following is an example of an InterShipper request and response. Please note that the indentation and carriage returns are for readability purposes only.

**Testing**

If you would like to test the InterShipper API and you do not have any valid tracking numbers, please send a request in the same format using the syntax below for your tracking number. You may send the request for any carrier and you may send up to 10 requests with each request.

Each testing tracking number must be 7 characters in length.

0 – 4 = ‘test’

5 – 7 = nnn (3 digits – 0 through 9)

Please note, your each response will contain ‘Testing data’ in the ‘<SERVICETYPE>’ tag.

<TRACK ELAPSEDTIME="28">

<TRACKRESULTS1>

<CARRIER NAME="UPS" TRACKINGNUMBER="1Z12AR237395027411">

<SERVICETYPE>GROUNDTRAC</SERVICETYPE>

<STATUS>

<STATUSLEVEL ID="1">Delivered</STATUSLEVEL>

<STATUSDATE>3/27/00 11:27:45 AM (GMT-07:00)</STATUSDATE>

</STATUS>

<LASTSCAN>

<SCANDATE>2/8/00 11:11:00 AM</SCANDATE>

<SCANLOCATION>PLEASANTON CA US</SCANLOCATION>

<DELIVERY>

<DELIVERYDATE>2/8/00 11:11:00 AM</DELIVERYDATE>

<DELIVEREDTO>FRONT DESK</DELIVEREDTO>

<SIGNATORY>J SMITH</SIGNATORY>

<LOCATION></LOCATION>

<CITY>PLEASANTON</CITY>

<STATE>CA</STATE>

<COUNTRY>US</COUNTRY>

</DELIVERY>

</LASTSCAN>

</CARRIER>

</TRACKRESULTS1>

<TRACKRESULTS2>

<CARRIER NAME="FDX" TRACKINGNUMBER="752123864426">

<SERVICETYPE></SERVICETYPE>

<STATUS>

<STATUSLEVEL ID="1">Delivered</STATUSLEVEL>

<STATUSDATE>3/27/00 11:27:47 AM (GMT-07:00)</STATUSDATE>

</STATUS>

<LASTSCAN>

<SCANDATE>1/26/00 12:30:00 PM</SCANDATE>

<SCANLOCATION>TEMPE AZ</SCANLOCATION>

<DELIVERY>

<DELIVERYDATE>1/26/00 12:30:00 PM</DELIVERYDATE>

<DELIVEREDTO></DELIVEREDTO>

<SIGNATORY>J DOE</SIGNATORY>

<LOCATION></LOCATION>

<CITY>TEMPE</CITY>

<STATE>AZ</STATE>

<COUNTRY>US</COUNTRY>

</DELIVERY>

</LASTSCAN>

</CARRIER>

</TRACKRESULTS2>

<TRACKRESULTS3>

<CARRIER NAME="ABX" TRACKINGNUMBER="9442334762">

<SERVICETYPE>SECOND DAY</SERVICETYPE>

<STATUS>

<STATUSLEVEL ID="1">Delivered</STATUSLEVEL>

<STATUSDATE>3/27/00 11:27:49 AM (GMT-07:00)</STATUSDATE>

</STATUS>

<LASTSCAN>

<SCANDATE>1/13/00 5:13:00 PM</SCANDATE>

<SCANLOCATION>LEXINGTON KY</SCANLOCATION>

<DELIVERY>

<DELIVERYDATE>1/13/00 5:13:00 PM</DELIVERYDATE>

<DELIVEREDTO>LEFT WITH RECEPTIONIST</DELIVEREDTO>

<SIGNATORY>CUNNINGHAM</SIGNATORY>

<LOCATION>ABC</LOCATION>

<CITY>LEXINGTON</CITY>

<STATE>KY</STATE>

<COUNTRY>US</COUNTRY>

</DELIVERY>

</LASTSCAN>

</CARRIER>

</TRACKRESULTS3>

<TRACKRESULTS4>

<CARRIER NAME="USPS" TRACKINGNUMBER="EK201552197US">

<SERVICETYPE></SERVICETYPE>

<STATUS>

<STATUSLEVEL ID="1">Delivered</STATUSLEVEL>

<STATUSDATE>3/27/00 11:27:50 AM (GMT-07:00)</STATUSDATE>

</STATUS>

<LASTSCAN>

<SCANDATE>2/16/00 9:12:00 AM</SCANDATE>

<SCANLOCATION></SCANLOCATION>

<DELIVERY>

<DELIVERYDATE>2/16/00 9:12:00 AM</DELIVERYDATE>

<DELIVEREDTO></DELIVEREDTO>

<SIGNATORY></SIGNATORY>

<LOCATION></LOCATION>

<CITY>ORLANDO</CITY>

<STATE>FL</STATE>

<COUNTRY>US</COUNTRY>

</DELIVERY>

</LASTSCAN>

</CARRIER>

</TRACKRESULTS4>

<TRACKRESULTS5>

<CARRIER NAME="DHL" TRACKINGNUMBER="4423284365">

<SERVICETYPE></SERVICETYPE>

<STATUS>

<STATUSLEVEL ID="3">Delayed</STATUSLEVEL>

<STATUSDATE>3/27/00 11:27:52 AM (GMT-07:00)</STATUSDATE>

</STATUS>

<LASTSCAN>

<SCANDATE>3/24/00 5:13:00 PM</SCANDATE>

<SCANLOCATION>PRAGUE</SCANLOCATION>

<DELIVERY>

<DELIVERYDATE></DELIVERYDATE>

<DELIVEREDTO></DELIVEREDTO>

<SIGNATORY></SIGNATORY>

<LOCATION></LOCATION>

<CITY></CITY>

<STATE></STATE>

<COUNTRY></COUNTRY>

</DELIVERY>

</LASTSCAN>

</CARRIER>

</TRACKRESULTS5>

<TRACKRESULTS6>

<CARRIER NAME="EWW" TRACKINGNUMBER="5483358163">

<SERVICETYPE>INTL STANDARD</SERVICETYPE>

<STATUS>

<STATUSLEVEL ID="1">Delivered</STATUSLEVEL>

<STATUSDATE>3/27/00 11:27:54 AM (GMT-07:00)</STATUSDATE>

</STATUS>

<LASTSCAN>

<SCANDATE>2/24/00 10:58:00 AM</SCANDATE>

<SCANLOCATION></SCANLOCATION>

<DELIVERY>

<DELIVERYDATE>2/24/00 10:58:00 AM</DELIVERYDATE>

<DELIVEREDTO></DELIVEREDTO>

<SIGNATORY>M JORDAN</SIGNATORY>

<LOCATION></LOCATION>

<CITY>TORONTO</CITY>

<STATE></STATE>

<COUNTRY>ON</COUNTRY>

</DELIVERY>

</LASTSCAN>

</CARRIER>

</TRACKRESULTS6>

<TRACKRESULTS7>

<CARRIER NAME="RPS" TRACKINGNUMBER="027051300001522">

<SERVICETYPE>NO DATA RETURNED FROM CARRIER</SERVICETYPE>

<STATUS>

<STATUSLEVEL ID="5">Unknown</STATUSLEVEL>

<STATUSDATE>3/27/00 11:27:57 AM (GMT-07:00)</STATUSDATE>

</STATUS>

<LASTSCAN>

<SCANDATE></SCANDATE>

<SCANLOCATION></SCANLOCATION>

<DELIVERY>

<DELIVERYDATE></DELIVERYDATE>

<DELIVEREDTO></DELIVEREDTO>

<SIGNATORY></SIGNATORY>

<LOCATION></LOCATION>

<CITY></CITY>

<STATE></STATE>

<COUNTRY></COUNTRY>

</DELIVERY>

</LASTSCAN>

</CARRIER>

</TRACKRESULTS7>

<TRACKRESULTS8>

<CARRIER NAME="BAX" TRACKINGNUMBER="577858883">

<SERVICETYPE>2 - SECOND DAY</SERVICETYPE>

<STATUS>

<STATUSLEVEL ID="1">Delivered</STATUSLEVEL>

<STATUSDATE>3/27/00 11:28:12 AM (GMT-07:00)</STATUSDATE>

</STATUS>

<LASTSCAN>

<SCANDATE>2/7/00 11:51:00 AM</SCANDATE>

<SCANLOCATION></SCANLOCATION>

<DELIVERY>

<DELIVERYDATE>2/7/00 11:51:00 AM</DELIVERYDATE>

<DELIVEREDTO></DELIVEREDTO>

<SIGNATORY>JOHNSON</SIGNATORY>

<LOCATION>XYZ CO.</LOCATION>

<CITY>TAMPA</CITY>

<STATE>FL</STATE>

<COUNTRY>US</COUNTRY>

</DELIVERY>

</LASTSCAN>

</CARRIER>

</TRACKRESULTS8>

</TRACK>