Can I ship via API without my own carrier accounts?

Yes. GoatLabels comes with USPS, UPS and FedEx rates (DHL on international lanes) built into the account, so your first API call returns a live, all-in quote without you applying for a carrier account, supplying an account number, or negotiating anything. Nothing is gated behind a bring-your-own-account step.

Why do some platforms charge for bringing my own carrier accounts?

Because on that path the platform is the integration layer rather than the rate source: you hold the contracts, it moves the requests, and a plan fee pays for the plumbing. EasyPost, for example, sells BYOCA as a monthly plan with a per-label fee, next to its own Wallet-carrier rates. Bringing your own is genuinely better at high volume, where your negotiated rates beat any shared panel. Below that volume, a built-in panel saves you the setup.

How are the built-in rates priced?

As live, all-in label prices quoted before you buy, the same on both plans. Every domestic parcel is quoted against USPS (up to 70 lb), UPS and FedEx at once, with DHL on international lanes, so the cheapest service that hits the date is always visible. If you are already getting better pricing somewhere, bring the invoice. High-volume shippers can ask about custom pricing, which we review account by account.

Is the quoted price final?

Yes. Each quote is a single all-in number and that exact amount is debited from your prepaid wallet balance when you buy. There is no carrier invoice arriving days later with an adjustment on it, and an accepted void credits the wallet.

What if I already have carrier contracts?

Then the honest answer is that a bring-your-own-account platform may serve you better, and that is written into this page on purpose. Strong contracts at real volume are hard to beat with a shared panel — the built-in model is aimed at everyone who does not have them yet.

Do I need to connect a store or write code first?

Neither. Print from the dashboard, let Billy draft the label from a pasted order or a screenshot, or call the free REST API: all three quote the same carriers from the same built-in rates and spend the same prepaid balance.

How do I fund labels without a carrier account?

A prepaid wallet topped up with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH bank transfer, or crypto. Every funding method buys identical rates, carriers, and features, and there is no monthly fee on Free, up to 50 shipments a month.

No carrier accounts. No negotiation.

An EasyPost alternative with carrier rates built in

No carrier account needed.

GoatLabels ships with live USPS, UPS and FedEx rates (DHL on international lanes) out of the box, so there are no carrier accounts to open; on EasyPost, bringing your own accounts is a paid plan.

Create your account Log in

Four carriers, none of them yours to set up

USPS, UPS and FedEx quoted at live all-in rates, DHL on international lanes; no account numbers required.

DHL: international

Built-in rates From label one.

No contracts Nothing to negotiate.

Same via API Dashboard or endpoint.

One prepaid wallet, not four carrier bills

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto — and no invoices to reconcile afterwards.

One balance Four carriers behind it.

No minimum A quiet month on Free costs nothing.

Accepted voids credited Back to the balance.

Who brings the rates

Built-in rates here, two routes on EasyPost.

Both platforms sell labels with no carrier contract of your own. EasyPost also sells a paid plan for bringing your own accounts, so the question is whether you have contracts worth bringing.

	GoatLabels	EasyPost
What you need before your first quote	An account and a funded wallet. No carrier signup, no account numbers.	An account. Wallet carriers quote with no contract; your own accounts need the paid BYOCA plan.
Where the rates come from	GoatLabels' own carrier accounts, quoted as live all-in prices from label one.	EasyPost's Wallet-carrier rates, or on BYOCA, the contracts you negotiated yourself.
New seller with no shipping history	The same live, all-in pricing on both plans. Volume history is not a prerequisite.	Wallet carriers work from day one; a contract of your own is hard to win with no volume.
Who owns the carrier relationship	We do. That means one bill, one support path, and nothing to renegotiate annually.	EasyPost on Wallet carriers; you on BYOCA, with the leverage and the overhead that brings.
What arrives after the label	Nothing. The quote is the debit from your prepaid wallet, with no carrier invoice behind it.	Wallet carriers bill through the EasyPost Wallet; on BYOCA your carriers bill you and EasyPost invoices the plan monthly.
Carriers rate-shopped	USPS, UPS and FedEx quoted all-in on one screen or one API response for a domestic parcel, DHL on international lanes.	More than 100 carriers, far broader than four.

EasyPost is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with GoatLabels. EasyPost's plans, fees, and carrier options are dated and linked in the source block below; they change, so re-check before you decide.

Three costs of bringing your own carrier accounts.

You can't negotiate from zero

Carrier discounts are priced on volume you have already shipped, which is the wrong way round for anyone growing. Built-in rates skip that: your first label is quoted live and all-in, with no volume history to show.

Carrier accounts are ongoing work

Applications, account numbers, credentials to rotate, four invoices to reconcile, and a renegotiation every year. That is a real job, and it is a strange one to give a shop that just wants a cheaper parcel.

One number, not a number and an invoice

When the carrier bills you directly, the quote is an estimate and the truth arrives later as an adjustment. Here every quote is a single all-in figure and that exact amount leaves the prepaid wallet. Void an unused label and, after the carrier accepts the void, the credit posts back to that wallet.

And when EasyPost is the right choice

You already hold strong negotiated carrier contracts — at real volume, your own rates will beat any platform's panel and you should keep them.
You need a carrier or service outside USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL, which is exactly what a bring-your-own-account platform is good at.
Your finance team requires carrier invoices in your own name for accounting or customs reasons.

What EasyPost's own pages say, checked 2026-10-17

The Free Access plan includes up to 3,000 labels a month on EasyPost Wallet carriers, with postage paid separately. (EasyPost Support: Billing and Payments)
Bring Your Own Carrier Accounts (BYOCA) costs $20 a month and includes no free monthly labels. (EasyPost Support: Billing and Payments)
The Enterprise plan is custom pricing based on volume, quoted by sales. (EasyPost pricing)
Each Wallet-carrier label past 3,000 in a month costs $0.08, and every BYOCA label costs $0.08. (EasyPost Support: Billing and Payments)
Rating more than three times as many shipments as you buy labels for costs $0.02 per extra rated shipment. (EasyPost Support: Billing and Payments)
EasyPost lists more than 100 carriers, and its Wallet carriers need no carrier contract of your own. (EasyPost carriers)
A label can be refunded only before the shipment starts moving, USPS refunds must be requested within 30 days, and a successful carrier refund also returns EasyPost's label fee. (EasyPost Support: Refunds)
Refunds on Wallet-carrier labels return to the EasyPost Wallet once the carrier approves them, which EasyPost says takes 2 to 4 weeks. (EasyPost Support: Request a refund for an unused shipping label)
Besides the API, EasyPost offers a no-code Create Label interface in its dashboard, with CSV upload of up to 500 labels at once. (EasyPost Create Label)
EasyPost's Luma AI products, sold through its sales team, answer questions about your shipping data and automatically choose a shipping option. (EasyPost Luma AI Advisor)

Checked on 2026-10-17 from EasyPost's own pages. Plans, fees and policies change, so confirm on the vendor's current page before you decide. EasyPost is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with GoatLabels.

No setup step

Account, wallet, label. No carrier onboarding in between.

The usual first week of a shipping project is carrier applications: an account number here, a credential there, a discount tier you cannot qualify for yet. None of that exists here. Create an account, fund a prepaid wallet with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto, and the first quote you request already returns live USPS, UPS and FedEx prices on a domestic parcel, and a DHL price on an international one. Orders arrive from a connector, the API, a pasted message, or a screenshot, Billy drafts the parcel and the service, and the number you accept is the number debited — with no carrier invoice following it a week later.

Any order shape in

Store sync, API, DM, or screenshot

maya_boutique

Hey! 2x hoodies (M) 1x tee (L) 😅 Ship to: Maya R. Austin, TX 78701

Shopify

Synced into To Ship

Etsy

Synced into To Ship

DM screenshot

Order: #1847
Customer: Jordan Lee
Items: 1x Hoodie (L)
Address: Brooklyn, NY

Drop the screenshot or paste the DM

No carrier credentials to collect at any intake path — the rates are already on the account.

Billy AI

Straight to the rate, skipping the paperwork.

Reads a pasted order, a screenshot, a voice note, or a synced record
Fills the addresses and the package details
Rate-shops USPS, UPS and FedEx on domestic parcels, with DHL on international lanes, at live all-in prices
Hands the drafted label back for you to confirm

Drafted. Checked. Yours to confirm.

Clean label out

Bought from the wallet

Paid from your prepaid balance

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto

$12.47

Label purchased

USPS Priority Mail — all-in rate

$12.47

One debit, four carriers behind it, and no carrier statement to reconcile at month end.

Where your orders actually come from.

Connectors for the storefronts, rates already attached.

Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix sync into To Ship and get tracking pushed back when you print, and every order in that queue is quoted at the built-in rates. There is no per-store carrier setup and no account linking behind any of it.

Shopify

Etsy

WooCommerce

eBay

Wix

Connect a store Or use the API

The rates are the feature. The rest still comes with it.

Carrier rates you didn't have to set up.
Plus everything else.

Built-in pricing would not be worth much attached to a thin tool. It arrives with rate shopping across USPS, UPS and FedEx on domestic parcels (DHL on international lanes), a free unlimited REST API, store connectors, AI drafting, and a prepaid wallet — none of which asks you for a carrier account number.

One prepaid wallet,
five ways to fund it

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH bank transfer, and crypto all top up the same balance, and every method buys identical rates, carriers, and features. Instead of four carrier statements, there is one balance going down.

Wallet balance

$1,247.36 USD

AI drafting instead of
account admin

A DM, a comment thread, a voice note, a screenshot — Billy reads any of them and drafts the whole label at the built-in rates. The setup work you were expecting simply is not in the path.

Billy LIVE

Where's the package to Maya?

It's in transit via UPS. Expected Friday, Aug 7.

1Z8923A6B05G4123456

In transit

Austin, TX → Dallas, TX

Ask Billy anything...

No monthly fee
to print

Fund the wallet, pay per label, and ship nothing in February without paying for February on Free, which covers 50 shipments a month. Past that, Pro is one flat $40 monthly plan with unlimited shipments.

Shipment summary

UPS Ground $12.49

Insurance $0.75

Fuel surcharge $0.32

Total $13.56

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL
in one account

Live all-in rates side by side from the platform's own panel, and the number you see is the exact amount that leaves your balance. If you need a carrier outside that four, a bring-your-own-account platform is the honest recommendation.

Compare rates

UPS $12.48

FedEx $13.22

DHL $14.10

USPS $11.79

Duties inside the quote where DDP applies

The API asks for a token,
not an account number

REST and JSON, one Bearer header, idempotency keys so a retry cannot double-buy a label, and signed webhooks for tracking and label events. Your first call returns live rates with no carrier credentials configured anywhere.

POST /v1/shipments

{

"to": { "name": "Maya" },

"from": { "name": "Alex" },

"service": "ups_ground",

"label_format": "pdf"

}

Webhook delivered

GoatLabels mobile shipments queue with all-in carrier prices

Billy drafting a label from a pasted DM on mobile

Label ready

CL-1038 · Brooklyn, NY

From signup to first label

Live rates on the first parcel.

Nothing about getting a quote here happens off-platform. There is no application to submit, no account number to paste into a settings screen, and no waiting to be approved before you can see what a parcel actually costs.

Paste the DM, snap the thread, or drop the screenshot — Billy pulls the name, the address, and the parcel out of it.

No carrier signup, no account numbers, no approval wait before the first quote.

USPS, UPS and FedEx come back as all-in prices on one screen, DHL on international lanes.

Buy from the prepaid balance and one-tap print to a share sheet or a thermal printer over Wi-Fi.

Hold the mic at the packing table and say the address — Billy drafts it and reads the rate back.

One relationship, not four

Talk to Billy, not to four carrier portals.

When the carrier accounts are yours, so is every login, every claim, and every invoice question. Here you ask one place. Hold the mic, say who it is going to, and Billy rate-shops USPS, UPS and FedEx (DHL on international lanes), queues the label against your prepaid balance, and answers for it afterwards. This is the real product, not a render.

Billy reading back a parcel's tracking history over the purchased labels list

Listening

"Where's Maya's package?"

Out for delivery

CL-1039 · Austin, TX · by 6 PM

Plain English in — names, addresses, weights, carriers, services · no carrier credentials anywhere in it · reads the all-in rate back before a cent leaves the wallet · phone, browser, or Telegram on Pro.

All-in quotes

The quote is the debit.

Three carriers on the same parcel, each an all-in number that is the exact amount leaving your prepaid balance. When the carrier bills the platform rather than you, there is no statement arriving later with a surcharge on it, and an accepted void credits the wallet.

CA → NY 2.6 lbs 12×8×4 in

USPS

Ground Advantage

2 to 5 days

$11.40

all-in · no surprises

Cheapest

UPS

Ground

1 to 5 days

$9.85

all-in · no surprises

FedEx

Ground

1 to 5 days

$11.20

all-in · no surprises

No carrier invoice the day after Accepted void → credit back to the wallet you funded Multi-currency display

Public API v1

Rates in the first call. No accounts to attach.

REST, JSON, one Bearer header. Real idempotency keys so a retried request cannot double-buy a label, signed webhooks for tracking and label events instead of polling, and errors that name what to fix. Nothing in the request expects a carrier account id, because the rates live on the account already.

Create, rate-shop, and buy, with live rates on the very first call

Signed webhooks for tracking and label events instead of polling

Real idempotency keys — a retried request never buys two labels

OpenAPI 3.1 spec, no SDK lock-in, unlimited calls on every plan

Read the API docs Get an API key $0 on every plan

curl https://api.goatlabels.io/api/v1/shipments

201 Created · 187ms

request response

POST /api/v1/shipments
Authorization: Bearer sk_live_…
Idempotency-Key: ord_8421

{
  "to": { "name": "Joyce", "city": "Berlin", "country": "DE" },
  "parcel": { "weight": 2.6, "weight_unit": "lb" },
  "service": "fedex_intl_priority"
}

← 201 Created // buy it with POST /api/v1/shipments/{id}/purchase
{
  "id": "shp_44819",
  "status": "draft",
  "amount": { "subtotal": 72.25, "duty_and_tax": 14.20, "total": 86.45 }
}

No contracts to qualify for

The rates come with the account.

Free covers 50 shipments a month with the public API, the store connectors, and Billy all unlimited underneath it — the quoted label price is what you pay from a prepaid wallet. Pro is a flat monthly fee for unlimited shipments, with no volume contract to negotiate carrier by carrier.

Pro

Free

$0 / forever

Carrier rates without a carrier account.

50 shipments a month, no monthly fee

USPS, UPS and FedEx on every domestic parcel; DHL on international lanes

The full REST API with unlimited calls and signed webhooks

Billy AI in the web app, unlimited — paste, screenshot, or speak

Store connectors included: Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix

Start free

Billy is not a paid tier

The assistant that reads a DM, a screenshot, or a voice note into a drafted label runs unlimited in the web app on Free. Pro adds Billy on Telegram.

Web, every plan

Telegram, Pro

API free on every plan

GET /api/v1/shipments

200 OK · plan: free

Unlimited calls on Free — still unlimited on Pro.

Bring the invoice you pay today

High-volume shippers can ask about custom pricing, which we review account by account. Compare it against what you pay on

ShippoPirate ShipShipStation

No contracts No monthly fee Free to sign up

Label prices are quoted live from USPS, UPS and FedEx (plus DHL on international lanes) and shown as one all-in number, the same number that leaves your wallet. EasyPost's plans and fees are in the dated source block on this page, linked to EasyPost's own pages. Full pricing details

Who benefits from built-in rates

Built-in wins below contract volume.

Above a certain scale your own negotiated carrier contracts will beat any shared panel, and this page says so. Below it, built-in rates save you the applications, the credentials and the annual renegotiation.

New shops with no shipping history

TikTok Shop & live commerce

No accounts

Carriers price on volume you have already shipped. Starting from zero, a built-in panel lets you ship now instead of applying first.

carriers side by side no carrier accounts no monthly fee

GoatLabels shipments queue with purchased labels

Sellers who don't want the admin

Etsy & independent creators

Four carrier logins, four invoices, and an annual renegotiation is a job. One wallet and one all-in number per label is not.

One bill, four carriers

Order #1024 · quoted price = wallet debit

Sellers living in the DMs

The orders that never became JSON

got the dress! can you ship to Austin?

Label drafted · CL-1024

Devs shipping for someone else's shop

REST and the UI, one balance

carrier accounts to collect from your client

Real sellers, real words

Sellers shipping on rates they never negotiated.

A video took off and I had 80 TikTok Shop orders by morning. I printed every label from my phone on the bus to the post office.

Early customer · TikTok

TikTok Shop seller

TikTok Shop

I run my Etsy shop from the kitchen. The AI reads the order, picks the carrier, the label prints. That's the whole workflow now.

Early customer · Etsy

Etsy maker

Etsy

The API is what every shipping API pretends to be. Idempotency that actually works.

Sasha R.

Staff engineer, marketplace

API user

Shipping without carrier accounts FAQ

Can I ship via API without my own carrier accounts?: Yes. GoatLabels comes with USPS, UPS and FedEx rates (DHL on international lanes) built into the account, so your first API call returns a live, all-in quote without you applying for a carrier account, supplying an account number, or negotiating anything. Nothing is gated behind a bring-your-own-account step.
Why do some platforms charge for bringing my own carrier accounts?: Because on that path the platform is the integration layer rather than the rate source: you hold the contracts, it moves the requests, and a plan fee pays for the plumbing. EasyPost, for example, sells BYOCA as a monthly plan with a per-label fee, next to its own Wallet-carrier rates. Bringing your own is genuinely better at high volume, where your negotiated rates beat any shared panel. Below that volume, a built-in panel saves you the setup.
How are the built-in rates priced?: As live, all-in label prices quoted before you buy, the same on both plans. Every domestic parcel is quoted against USPS (up to 70 lb), UPS and FedEx at once, with DHL on international lanes, so the cheapest service that hits the date is always visible. If you are already getting better pricing somewhere, bring the invoice. High-volume shippers can ask about custom pricing, which we review account by account.
Is the quoted price final?: Yes. Each quote is a single all-in number and that exact amount is debited from your prepaid wallet balance when you buy. There is no carrier invoice arriving days later with an adjustment on it, and an accepted void credits the wallet.
What if I already have carrier contracts?: Then the honest answer is that a bring-your-own-account platform may serve you better, and that is written into this page on purpose. Strong contracts at real volume are hard to beat with a shared panel — the built-in model is aimed at everyone who does not have them yet.
Do I need to connect a store or write code first?: Neither. Print from the dashboard, let Billy draft the label from a pasted order or a screenshot, or call the free REST API: all three quote the same carriers from the same built-in rates and spend the same prepaid balance.
How do I fund labels without a carrier account?: A prepaid wallet topped up with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH bank transfer, or crypto. Every funding method buys identical rates, carriers, and features, and there is no monthly fee on Free, up to 50 shipments a month.

Comparing further? Read GoatLabels vs EasyPost, the pricing teardown, or how label pricing works here. Building on the API? See the EasyPost alternative for startups, EasyPost vs a free shipping API, and GoatLabels pricing.

Quote a real parcel before you apply for anything.

Skip the carrier paperwork.
See the real price first.

Fund a wallet with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto, drop in your next order, and compare the built-in all-in USPS, UPS and FedEx rates, plus DHL on international lanes, against what you pay today.

Create your account Talk to us

No card required. No contract. No carrier accounts.

An EasyPost alternative with carrier rates built in

Four carriers, none of them yours to set up

One prepaid wallet, not four carrier bills

Built-in rates here, two routes on EasyPost.

Three costs of bringing your own carrier accounts.

You can't negotiate from zero

Carrier accounts are ongoing work

One number, not a number and an invoice

And when EasyPost is the right choice

What EasyPost's own pages say, checked 2026-10-17

Account, wallet, label. No carrier onboarding in between.

Straight to the rate, skipping the paperwork.

Connectors for the storefronts, rates already attached.

Carrier rates you didn't have to set up. Plus everything else.

One prepaid wallet, five ways to fund it

AI drafting instead of account admin

No monthly fee to print

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL in one account

The API asks for a token, not an account number

Live rates on the first parcel.

Talk to Billy, not to four carrier portals.

The quote is the debit.

USPS

UPS

FedEx

Rates in the first call. No accounts to attach.

The rates come with the account.

Pro

Free

Billy is not a paid tier

API free on every plan

Bring the invoice you pay today

Built-in wins below contract volume.

New shops with no shipping history

Sellers who don't want the admin

Sellers living in the DMs

Devs shipping for someone else's shop

Sellers shipping on rates they never negotiated.

Shipping without carrier accounts FAQ

Skip the carrier paperwork. See the real price first.

Carrier rates you didn't have to set up.
Plus everything else.

One prepaid wallet,
five ways to fund it

AI drafting instead of
account admin

No monthly fee
to print

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL
in one account

The API asks for a token,
not an account number

Skip the carrier paperwork.
See the real price first.