API integration · Royal Mail Click & Drop and Pro Shipping
Despatch that runs itself. Each order becomes a Royal Mail shipment on the right service, the label prints, the tracking number goes back on the order and the manifest is submitted on time, without anyone logging into Click & Drop. Quoted up front, and you own the code.
I'll reply within 24 hours with a price.
Or WhatsApp / text 07398 946 380
Every project is different, so these are starting prices. You get a written quote before any work starts, then 50% to begin and 50% when you're happy with it.
Most online shops
From
£9951–2 weeks
Higher volumes and international orders
From
£1,9952–3 weeks
Large-scale fulfilment
From
£2,9953–4 weeks
Optional, once the integration is live
From
£49per month
Royal Mail's APIs create shipments, generate labels, submit manifests and return tracking events. Connected to your shop or order system, despatch happens automatically, from the order coming in to the tracking email going out. See the Royal Mail API integration guide.
Tell me your volumes and platform and I'll say which fits before you pay anything.
Royal Mail plugins for WooCommerce usually offer weight bands or a dropdown, produce PDFs only and leave manifests to you, and a missed manifest holds up the whole day's collection. A custom build applies your own rules to every order, submits manifests on schedule, prints straight to a thermal printer and doesn't break when a plugin update goes wrong. Running DPD as well? See DPD vs Royal Mail and the best shipping APIs for UK shops.
Not included: your Royal Mail business account and API registration, postage costs (paid to Royal Mail), printer hardware, and changes to your platform outside the integration.
Payment is 50% to start and the balance on completion. For what drives the price, read what a Royal Mail integration costs.
Send a short written spec by WhatsApp, text, email or the form: your platform, roughly how many parcels a day and what you do by hand now. I'll reply within 24 hours with a quote.
A Royal Mail business account and API access through the Royal Mail developer portal. Click & Drop access is usually quick. Pro Shipping needs a short approval from Royal Mail. I'll tell you which you need from your spec.
Click & Drop suits most online shops and is the simpler one to get access to. Pro Shipping gives more control over label formats, service selection and international customs data, for busier or more complex operations. Most shops start with Click & Drop.
Yes. For example, orders over a set value go Special Delivery, next-day orders go Tracked 24, the rest go Tracked 48, and large items use the parcel format. You set the rules once and they apply to every order.
Yes. Labels can come back in ZPL format and go straight to your thermal printer the moment the shipment is created. That's included from Pro Shipping and can be added to a Click & Drop build.
The integration retries short outages automatically. If it's down for longer, affected orders are flagged for you to check and you get an alert, so nothing goes missing quietly.
Click & Drop takes 1–2 weeks, Pro Shipping 2–3 weeks and Mailmark or enterprise builds 3–4 weeks, starting once your Royal Mail API access is through and the deposit is paid.