Guide to Update Shipment Details

Plans: All plans Platforms: All platforms

Overview

AfterShip Tracking enables you to update important information of multiple shipments in one go via CSV to cater to diverse business needs in different scenarios effortlessly.

Bulk update the customer’s phone number and address postal code to get accurate tracking updates from the carrier
Bulk update the carrier slug of pending and non-pending shipments (excluding expired shipments)
Bulk update the shipment status to DELIVERED, LOST, or RETURNED_TO_SENDER in scenarios when the carriers do not provide or update the package checkpoint once it reaches the destination

You can also update individual shipment information in the Shipments dashboard.

What you’ll learn

In this article, we will discuss:

Update shipment information by CSV
CSV template: Supported fields
Common CSV upload errors
Update shipment information individually

Update shipment information by CSV

Go to Tracking dashboards > ** Shipments ** in your AfterShip Tracking dashboard
Click Update shipments by CSV on the upper right-hand section of the dashboard

You can update shipment details by CSV in two ways

a. Download the CSV template from the popup

Input the details (update fields) of the shipments you want to update

Save the CSV file on your system
Add or drop the file to the designed place to upload and click Update

b. Filter the shipments you want to update and export them in your desired file type and data format

The exported file will contain data based on the filters you’ve applied to extract specific shipments and may contain fields not supported by the update shipment information by CSV function. Updating those unsupported fields and uploading them will result in an invalid response.

Update the fields you want in the exported file directly and save it
Upload the updated export file directly to the dashboard

CSV template: Supported fields

Fields	Description	Instructions	Example
id	ID indicates the shipment's “tracking id” and is used as a unique identifier for a shipment.	The users cannot update this field.	my2uktymyz72xld1f7l3h01z
slug	Unique code by which a carrier is identified.	AfterShip will track the shipments from the newly updated slug.	ups
user_marked_as_completed	It indicates that the shipment status is updated manually.	AfterShip will change the shipment status to the manually mapped values.	DELIVERED / LOST / RETURNED_TO_SENDER
origin_country_iso3	It is the ISO Alpha-3 code (3 letters) for the origin country/region.	AfterShip will track the shipment based on the updated field value.	USA
destination_country_iso3	It is the destination of the recipient where the package is to be delivered.	AfterShip will track the shipment based on the updated field value.	USA
destination_state	It is the state of the recipient’s address.	AfterShip will track the shipment based on the updated field value.	New York
destination_zip	It is the postal code of the recipient’s address.	AfterShip will track the shipment based on the updated field value.	10001
tracking_ship_date	It is the date the shipment was sent.	AfterShip will track the shipment based on the updated field value.	20060102, 2006-01-02, 2006-01-02T15:04:05, 2006-01-02T15:04:05-07:00
emails	Email address(es) to receive email notifications.	AfterShip will track the shipment and send the tracking notifications to the updated email address.	example@aftership.com
smses	The phone number(s) to receive SMS notifications. Phone numbers should begin with + and Area Code before the phone number.	AfterShip will track the shipment and send the tracking SMSes to the updated phone number.	“+8613800138000,+8613800138001" (depends on country)
note	Text note associated with the shipment	AfterShip will change the shipment note displayed on the Shipments dashboard.	Return shipment

Common CSV upload errors: Summary email

Once the CSV is uploaded to the AfterShip Tracking Shipments dashboard to update details of certain shipments, a corresponding email detailing the progress of the upload will be sent to the registered email address.

The email allows you to view how many CSV rows have been updated successfully and how many rows failed

CSV upload counts filled rows instead of shipment/tracking IDs. If you add one tracking ID twice, it will still be counted as two rows. The information given in the preceding row will take precedence and override the information of the duplicate tracking number.

You can refer to the error reason given in the email, and rectify the information provided in the CSV file with the right format and upload it again

Error reason in the email	Explanation
Invalid tracking ID format	The tracking ID format uploaded by the user is invalid.
The tracking ID does not match any shipments in your account	The tracking ID uploaded by the user can’t be found in the Shipments dashboard data.
A shipment with this slug and tracking number already exists	The tracking number with the same shipment details already exists. The user might have uploaded duplicate shipment information.
Invalid carrier slug	The carrier slug format is invalid. Visit https://track.aftership.com/couriers/download to easily download and discover the carrier slug for a particular carrier.
The maximum limit of carrier updates for this shipment has been reached	A maximum of 5 times a carrier slug for a shipment can be updated.
The shipment is missing a required field: {field_name}. You must add this column to the CSV file and fill in the required info for this shipment.	The file does not include the required field for getting the tracking status.
The field “destination_country_iso3” must use the 3-letter ISO 3166 format	The field format is invalid
The field “destination_state” can’t exceed 256 character	The field format is invalid
The field “destination_zip” can’t exceed 256 characters	The field format is invalid
The field “origin_country_iso3" must use the 3-letter ISO 3166 format	The field format is invalid
The field “note” can’t exceed 8,192 characters	The field format is invalid
Invalid email format	The field format is invalid
Invalid sms format	The field format is invalid
The field “user_marked_as_completed” must be one of the following: DELIVERED, LOST, RETURNED_TO_SENDER	The value(s) the user has added to the field is not the supported value.
The field “tracking_ship_date” must use one of the following formats: 20060102, 2006-01-02, 2006-01-02T15:04:05, 2006-01-02T15:04:05-07:00	The field format is invalid
The tracking number for this shipment doesn’t match any known shipments for that carrier slug	The tracking number provided by the user could not be matched with the added carrier slug. The user needs to reconfirm the right carrier slug.
A maximum limit of 3 emails or SMS for this shipment has been reached	The maximum number of emails and phone numbers users can put in a row (for a tracking number) is 3. Exceeding this number will result in a failed shipment update.
Expired shipments can’t be updated	It is not allowed to update the slugs of expired shipments.
The carrier you want to update the current one to requires additional permissions. Please contact support if you want to track shipments with this carrier.	Your current plan does not support the carrier tracking you want to update to.
The carrier for the first segment can’t be the same as the second segment.	If your shipments are multi-segment (first and last mile), you can’t change the carrier slug to the same carrier slug as the second one.

Update shipment information individually

You can update the details of the shipments individually directly in the Shipments dashboard.

Select a shipment you want to update to enter its details page
On the details panel, scroll down to the field you want to update

a. Carrier slug (pending shipments)

b. Shipment status

c. Postal code

Currently, we support updating the destination_zip (postal code) directly on the shipment detail page for shipments with the 'spanish-suer` slug. However, we recommend doing so only when the shipments of this slug have been pending for quite long.

d. Customer email address and phone number

e. Note

Updated on: 09/04/2024