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Connect your FedEx account and ShipMagic will query real FedEx rates at checkout, priced against your negotiated contract.

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Getting credentials

FedEx issues API credentials through the FedEx Developer Portal. Create a project and copy the API Key, Secret Key, and your FedEx Account Number.
The account number matters. FedEx prices against the contract attached to it, so the rates your customers see reflect your negotiated pricing rather than list rates.

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Setting up the rate

1

Add a rate to your zone

In your rule, click Add rate on the zone you want.
2

Set the calculation parameter to Fedex

Choose Fedex under the live carrier options.
3

Enter your credentials

Fill in API Key, Secret Key, and Account Number.
4

Decide on delivery estimates

Tick Hide estimated delivery dates to suppress the delivery dates FedEx returns.
5

Configure packaging

Set Packaging box distribution and define your boxes. See the packing algorithm.
6

Set a discount and default rate

Discount (Optional) reduces every returned rate by a percentage. Default rate (Optional) is used if FedEx doesn’t respond.

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Estimated delivery dates

FedEx calculates delivery estimates itself and returns them with each rate. ShipMagic passes them through to checkout. Hide estimated delivery dates turns this off. Consider it if:
  • Your dispatch time means FedEx’s estimate is misleading — it measures transit, not the day you actually hand the parcel over.
  • You’d rather set expectations yourself with a rate description, which supports dynamic dates like {{today+3}}.
A FedEx estimate assumes same-day handover. If you dispatch next working day, every date shown at checkout is a day optimistic — and customers hold you to it.

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The Discount field

Discount (Optional) applies a percentage reduction to every rate FedEx returns, after the quote comes back. Use it to subsidise shipping or pass on part of a contract advantage.

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Handling Fees

FedEx rates have a Handling Fees section with two fields, which can be used together: Both are applied on top of the rate FedEx returns, so this is where you recover packaging, labour, or insurance costs the carrier’s quote doesn’t include.
Handling fees are specific to the FedEx integration — no other carrier offers them. To add a surcharge elsewhere, create a separate rule with a fixed rate and let blending add the two together.
A flat handling fee is easier for customers to accept, and easier for you to reason about, than an inflated shipping rate. A percentage fee compounds with FedEx’s own pricing and grows faster than you expect on large consignments.
Order matters when you combine these. The discount is applied to the carrier’s rate first, and the handling fee is then calculated on the already-discounted price.So a 10% discount plus a 10% percentage handling fee does not cancel out — a $100 rate becomes $90, then $99. If you want the two to offset exactly, the handling fee has to be slightly larger than the discount.
When both handling fee fields are set, the percentage is applied first and the flat amount is added afterwards.

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Always set a Default rate

The default rate is optional in the form but important in practice. If FedEx is slow or unavailable and no default is set, the customer sees no shipping option and cannot check out.

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Testing

  1. Add products with accurate weights and dimensions
  2. Check out to a real, complete address
  3. Compare the quote against what FedEx bills you for the same parcel
Use a fresh address each time — Shopify caches rates per address.
If quotes come back consistently low, suspect dimensions before suspecting the integration. FedEx prices on dimensional weight, and missing product dimensions understate parcel size.

Packing algorithm

How items are distributed into parcels before quoting.

Adding dimensions

Dimension data that carrier quotes depend on.

Rate descriptions

Set delivery expectations in your own words.

Rates not showing

When a carrier rate fails to appear.