Differences between UPS Link and UPS Web Services

StarShip provides flexibility for processing UPS shipments with 2 options: UPS Web Services & UPS Link. Our next generation UPS module uses the latest web service technology to eliminate end-of-day PLD uploads, give you access to Mail Innovations & more. Users with an active subscription (maintenance) plan can upgrade from UPS Link to UPS Web Services if indicated in your StarShip license. It is recommended that you upgrade to StarShip v16.3 before transitioning to UPS Web Services.

** Transition from UPS Link to UPS Web Services **

• For users who are switching from UPS Link to Web Services, you must have your latest UPS invoice statement. You can find your latest invoice by logging into your UPS account, going to your recent invoices, and downloading the latest one. This information is required to register your UPS account for shipping. The invoice date must be from the last 90 days.
  
  If you incorrectly enter the invoice information 3 times, UPS will lock the account for 24 hours. See more details in the Invoice Information section below.
  
  
• After entering your Invoice information, you must read and accept the UPS Terms and Conditions located on the Main tab of Setup > Carrier Interface > UPS in order to be able to rate and ship.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• It is also important to post all Processed shipments, and any Open shipments must be processed/posted or deleted. See Open and Processed Shipments for more information.
  
• StarShip v16.3 is the minimum required version needed in order to switch to Web Services.
  
• Please read the differences in shipment processing that will affect you after switching to Web Services. See Changes with Web Services for more information.

In this topic :

Supported in Link But Not in Web Services

Changes with Web Services

Notes about Switching from Link to Web Services

Invoice Information

Open and Processed Shipments

Troubleshooting

Setup Links

Supported in Link But Not in Web Services

The following items are supported in UPS Link but are not supported in Web Services :

Services

• UPS WorldEase®

Shipment/Package Options

• UPS Proactive Response
• Hold For Pickup
• UPS Restricted Articles
• Refrigeration
• Basic Flex Insurance, Expanded Flex Insurance, and Time in Transit Insurance

Changes with Web Services

The following items reflect changes that have occurred in shipment processing with the shift to Web Services.

End-of-Day

• You still perform the End-of-Day procedure as you did with UPS Link, however, now there is no End-of-Day PLD upload. Shipment are processed in real-time; labels and forms are returned from UPS and printed by StarShip.
• A barcode is no longer printed on the End-of-Day Pickup Summary Label. Instead, the UPS bowtie emblem (shown below) is printed on each label; this indicates that UPS has received the PLD and billing information for the packages. All packages that display this emblem on their labels must be picked up by a UPS driver, and no scanning is needed.
  
  
  
• The UPS High Value Report now prints for each shipment, not at End-of-Day.

Packaging

• Currently, only one Hazardous Materials item is allowed per package.
• Print on Next : StarShip's Print on Next feature allows you to print shipping labels as you move to the next package. It is controlled by a setting in Setup > Preferences > Parcel > Shipment Processing. With Web Services, because shipments are processed in real-time, each print-on-next package is its own shipment and will print as "1 of 1" on the shipping label. If you are using Print on Next, be aware that those packages do not qualify for Hundredweight or Ground Freight discounts.
• When the "Void packages when reverting processed shipments to Open status" option is not checked and you edit a shipment, the package numbers on the modified packages will be reset. This is also a setting in Setup > Preferences > Parcel > Shipment Processing. For example, you have three packages and you edit package #3. When reprinted, the shipping label will list the package as "1 of 1" instead of "3 of 3".

Reference Fields

With Web Services, you have use of 2 reference fields at the Package level and 2 reference fields at the Shipment level :

• Package-level reference fields are only available for US to US shipments.
• Shipment-level reference fields are for all other shipments (including CA to CA and US to PR)

Services

• Mail Innovations : Streamline your high-volume shipping needs.

Options

• UPS Return shipments must be voided on the same day they are entered; if you attempt to void the Return after that day, UPS will return an "Invalid Return Service void date"  error.
• Quantum View Notify : Only shipment level notifications are available for Web Services.

International

• UPS International Forms : StarShip can request and print all International Forms directly from UPS.
• The item part # for UPS International Forms (Commercial Invoice, etc.) is limited to 10 characters. If it is longer, it will be truncated when sent to UPS.
• The UPS Certificate of Origin cannot contain items with different Certificate of Origin types in the same shipment. Note that you can print the StarShip-provided Certificate of Origin forms for these shipments. Click here for more information.
• For International shipments, if you select to print the UPS Packing List, all packages must contain at least one item.

Notes about Switching from Link to Web Services

Invoice Information

For accounts that have been issued an invoice within the past 90 days, invoice information is required to ship with UPS Web Services. As an existing StarShip user, if you don't have the invoice information entered in StarShip Setup, you will receive an error when you try to ship.

Invoice information can be entered from Setup > Carrier Interface > UPS. On the Accounts tab, double-click the account to open Account Properties and then click the Rating tab. The Invoice Number and Control ID fields are case-sensitive. The Device Identity field is not required.

Note: This must be repeated for each UPS account. 

Open and Processed Shipments

In order to switch to UPS Web Services, any Processed shipments must be posted. StarShip will wait until any Processed shipments waiting to be posted (for all Locations) are closed before switching from Link to Web Services.  Additionally, you should delete any shipments with an Open status, as they may have assigned tracking numbers. If there are any Open or Processed shipments, you will receive an error when shipping (see below).

Troubleshooting

Invalid License Number

When this error comes up during shipping, you will need to re-register the UPS account by entering the Invoice information.

Cannot switch to registered plugin UPSWS. All processed shipments must be posted.

This error indicates that UPS shipments were not posted for all locations or that there are remaining Open shipments with tracking numbers assigned.

Setup Links

Setup for UPS Link

Setup for UPS Web Services