New: EasyPost Shipment Invoice Report and Webhook Event

May 20, 2020

by Kevin Noto

We’re excited to launch a new Shipment Invoice report and webhook event!

When EasyPost processes a billing adjustment for a shipment, we will send a new webhook event of type Shipment Invoice (if webhooks are configured). We’ve also made a shipment_invoice report available via API and the EasyPost dashboard so users are able to download a report of their invoiced transactions for a given time period. Please see the help article for API request details, webhook payload examples and more.

While most carriers bill for shipments on an invoice basis, the USPS now initiates rate adjustments when inaccurate shipment details were provided during the original label creation. This includes inaccuracies due to weight, package dimensions, ship from location, and more.

Note: Shipment Invoice transactions only affect labels that are paid for directly through EasyPost, which today is only USPS. As EasyPost supports additional carriers in the same manner, this new and improved process will apply to them as well.

Background

Prior to 2018, the USPS did not perform payment reconciliation in cases when insufficient postage was purchased for a given shipment. In these cases, the package would either be returned to the sender or the recipient would be responsible for covering the difference. In late 2018, the USPS started experimenting with a program that would allow them to automatically reconcile payments when the amount of postage was inaccurate.

As a PC postage provider, EasyPost is eligible for this program. The USPS notifies EasyPost of shipments needing a rate adjustment and EasyPost reconciles with users, making the necessary adjustments to account balances.

Introducing: Shipment Invoice Report and Webhook Event

There are two new methods to provide invoice transaction data:

New shipment_invoice report accessible via API and the EasyPost dashboard.
New ShipmentInvoice type webhook event that gets sent whenever EasyPost processes a billing adjustment for that shipment.

Both the report and webhook provide details about the adjustment amount, adjustment reason, final invoice amount, and more. These methods allow for EasyPost users to automate this process and digest the transactions programmatically.