Articles on: FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions About Carrier Auto-correction


Carrier auto-correction is a feature that automatically fixes incorrect carrier information linked to a shipment’s tracking number. When a shipment’s tracking status is stuck in "Pending" because the wrong carrier was selected or the carrier hasn’t updated the status, the system tries to identify the correct carrier and update it. This ensures accurate tracking without manual intervention. The system only applies corrections if the new tracking data passes validation checks like order date and destination country, guaranteeing 100% accuracy.


1. Why are some shipments in pending?


Normally, when you provide a tracking number, we update the shipment status automatically. But sometimes the status gets stuck as Pending because the carrier either hasn't updated the status or you entered the wrong carrier details.


2. How would it affect API and webhook users?


API and webhook users must use the tracking ID to identify their shipments after enabling auto-correction. The reason being is that autocorrection updates incorrect slugs, which doesn't let you find shipments using your original tracking number or slug.


For API users, use tracking ID to learn about tracking. Learn more here.




For Webhook users, use tracking ID to identify tracking.


3. How does carrier auto-correction work?


Before applying a correction, our system performs two essential checks to validate the new tracking information. If either check fails, the correction is automatically rejected.


1. Order date validation: We confirm that the tracking history doesn’t begin before the order was placed.


  • Rule: The correction is rejected if the first tracking event occurs earlier than the order date.


2. Destination country validation: We ensure the shipment is still headed to the correct destination.


  • Rule: The correction is rejected if the destination country in the new tracking data differs from the original one you provided.


5. How much carrier auto-correction is accurate?


Auto-correction is only applied when we are completely certain about the carrier, ensuring it is 100% accurate.


6. How would I know about the auto-corrected carriers?


  • Weekly reports: AfterShip sends a weekly auto-correction performance report to your registered email, detailing the corrections made during the week.


Users have the ability to designate recipients (organization members) for the Auto-correction performance email report.


To update the recipient list


  1. From the AfterShip homepage, click your profile icon in the top-right corner and select Organization management.
  2. In the management dashboard, choose Notifications from the left-hand menu.
  3. Find the Auto-correction performance section and click Manage.
  4. Add or remove email addresses as needed to update the recipient list.


Manage email address



Email content



  • Dashboard updates: Corrected carrier information is reflected in the Shipment dashboard, allowing you to monitor and verify changes.




7. How to activate auto-correction?


Carrier auto-correction can be enabled in your AfterShip Tracking Settings > Carriers > Enable Carrier auto-correction.


Customizing auto-correction timing:


You can adjust when the system automatically tries to correct tracking numbers based on your needs.


  • Default behavior: By default, the system will attempt to auto-correct a tracking number if it stays in a Pending status for 4 days.


  • Multi-attempt auto-correction (Custom setup): If you need something more flexible, we also offer a custom setup that allows the system to make multiple correction attempts at different times. Example, you could set the system to make the first correction attempt after 24 hours, and a second attempt after 48 hours if the status is still Pending. To enable, this feature requires a custom configuration. If you're interested, just reach out to our technical support team, they'll help you set up the timing that works best for your workflow.





8. Does the auto-correction feature work for historic shipments?


The auto-correction feature will work only for the shipments that are imported after activating the feature in the user account. The feature won't crawl the old shipments for carrier autocorrections imported/added to the user account before enabling the feature.




Updated on: 30/09/2025