ShipBob API
ShipBob is a third-party logistics (3PL) platform providing end-to-end ecommerce fulfillment across a global network of fulfillment centers, with inventory management, order fulfillment, returns, and a warehouse management system. Its developer API lets you programmatically create and track orders, manage products and inventory, handle returns and warehouse receiving orders (WROs), and subscribe to webhooks—so you can sync fulfillment data into your own systems and automate multi-channel shipping operations.
What is ShipBob?
ShipBob is a third-party logistics (3PL) provider offering end-to-end ecommerce fulfillment across a global network of 60+ fulfillment centers. Merchants use ShipBob to store inventory close to customers, pick/pack/ship orders, process returns, and run B2B and DTC fulfillment—managing it all through a dashboard, a warehouse management system, and 50+ integrations with ecommerce platforms, ERPs, and marketing tools.
Core product areas include:
- Order Fulfillment (picking, packing, 2-day domestic and international shipping to 250+ destinations)
- Inventory Management (real-time tracking across warehouses, automated replenishment and distribution)
- Warehouse Management System (WMS) for inventory visibility and reorder alerts
- Returns Management (processing and handling returned orders)
- B2B Fulfillment including EDI and marketplace integration, plus branded customization services
Common data entities:
- Orders, Shipments, Line Items, Shipping Methods
- Products, Variants, SKUs, Inventory Items
- Warehouse Receiving Orders (WROs), Locations, Fulfillment Centers
- Returns, Channels, Webhook Subscriptions
The ShipBob Integration Challenge
ShipBob exposes a public developer API, but building and operating a reliable integration against it across channels and fulfillment centers still involves real friction:
- Channel-scoped requests: Most POST operations require a shipbob_channel_id header, so you must resolve the correct channel before creating products, orders, or returns
- Two auth models: Personal Access Tokens (non-expiring, full account access) versus OAuth 2.0 (1-hour access tokens, 30-day refresh tokens) for multi-merchant apps—each needs different token lifecycle handling
- Multi-fulfillment-center spread: Inventory, locations, and receiving orders fan out across 60+ centers, so reconciling stock and shipments requires careful aggregation
- Webhook plumbing: Order shipment and inventory events arrive via webhooks that you must register, secure, and reconcile against polled state
- API versioning: ShipBob ships dated API versions, so endpoints and payload shapes drift over time and integrations must track release notes
- Order field requirements: Creating orders requires specific shipping-method values and recipient/line-item shapes that vary by configuration
How Supergood Creates ShipBob APIs
Supergood delivers a resilient, normalized API layer over your ShipBob account—wrapping the developer API, channel resolution, and webhook handling so you integrate once and rely on consistent objects across orders, inventory, returns, and receiving.
- Manages PAT and OAuth 2.0 credentials, including 1-hour token refresh and 30-day refresh-token rotation
- Resolves channel IDs automatically and injects the shipbob_channel_id header on write operations
- Normalizes orders, shipments, products, inventory, and returns across fulfillment centers into stable schemas
- Registers and reconciles webhooks with polled state to keep downstream systems accurate
Use ShipBob with AI agents: ShipBob MCP Server →
Getting Started
- Schedule Integration Assessment
Book a 30-minute session to confirm your channels, fulfillment centers, and authentication model.
- Supergood Generates and Validates Your API
We deliver a production-ready ShipBob adapter tailored to your channels, inventory footprint, and webhook needs.
- Deploy with Monitoring
Go live with continuous monitoring and automatic adjustments as ShipBob's API versions evolve.
API Endpoints
Authentication
/authenticateAuthenticate to a ShipBob account using a Personal Access Token or OAuth 2.0 flow and obtain a session for downstream calls.
Orders
/ordersList orders and their shipments with filters for status, channel, and date range.
Orders
/create_orderCreate an order with recipient details, line items, and a shipping method against the resolved channel.
Inventory
/inventoryRetrieve inventory items and on-hand stock levels across fulfillment centers.
Products
/productsList products and variants (SKUs, packaging) in the merchant's catalog.
Returns
/create_returnCreate a return for one or more shipped items with disposition and reason details.
Use Cases
Sync orders and shipments into your systems
- Pull orders, line items, and shipment tracking from ShipBob into your OMS or data warehouse - Stream shipment and delivery events to downstream BI and customer-notification tools - Reconcile multi-channel orders against a single normalized order schema
Automate inventory and replenishment
- Pull real-time inventory levels across 60+ fulfillment centers - Trigger reorder alerts and replenishment workflows when stock crosses thresholds - Match SKUs and variants between your catalog and ShipBob products
Manage returns and receiving
- Create and track returns with disposition and reason codes - Submit warehouse receiving orders (WROs) and monitor expected arrivals - Reconcile received inventory against purchase orders
Power AI agents and ops automation
- Expose order, inventory, and shipment data to AI agents via a single normalized API - Automate order creation from external channels without dashboard clicks - React to webhook events to keep ERP, CRM, and finance systems in sync
Technical Specifications
Authentication
Personal Access Token (Bearer) or OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow, handled in a managed session
Connectivity
ShipBob developer REST API plus channel resolution and webhook registration
Response format
Normalized JSON across orders, products, inventory, returns, and receiving objects
Rate limits
Adaptive throttling tuned to ShipBob's per-account limits to avoid 429s
Session management
Automatic OAuth token refresh (1-hour access, 30-day refresh) and PAT credential rotation
Data freshness
Near real-time pulls for orders and inventory with optional scheduled batch syncs
Security
Encrypted credential vault, scoped access tokens, SOC 2-aligned controls, and audit logging
Webhooks
Registration and delivery of order shipped, inventory, and return events with reconciliation
Latency
Sub-second reads on cached entities; multi-second writes when creating orders and returns
Throughput
Horizontally scaled workers sized to multi-channel, multi-fulfillment-center volume
Reliability
Retry, backoff, and idempotency keys for order creation and return submissions
Adaptation
Continuous monitoring of ShipBob dated API versions and release-note changes
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Supergood wraps ShipBob's public developer API, handling both Personal Access Token and OAuth 2.0 authentication, channel resolution, and webhook registration so you get a single normalized surface.
Either works. Personal Access Tokens are ideal for single-merchant integrations and do not expire. OAuth 2.0 is used for multi-merchant apps; Supergood manages the 1-hour access and 30-day refresh token lifecycle for you.
Supergood resolves your channel IDs automatically and injects the required shipbob_channel_id header on write operations, so you don't have to manage channel scoping per request.
Yes. Inventory and location data is aggregated across ShipBob's 60+ fulfillment centers into normalized objects, so you can report on stock and shipments without stitching per-center responses together.
ShipBob ships dated API versions. Supergood continuously monitors release notes and version changes and adapts the adapter so your integration keeps working without manual rework.