What actually carries over from ShipStation?

Your stores reconnect rather than transfer: Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix link to GoatLabels directly and orders flow into the To Ship queue. Your carrier choice carries over conceptually: USPS, UPS and FedEx are rate-shopped on every domestic parcel, with DHL on international lanes. Order history and configured automation rules do not port, so export the history you want to keep before cancelling.

Do I have to cancel ShipStation before trying GoatLabels?

No, and you shouldn't. GoatLabels has no subscription on Free and no minimum, so running both side by side costs only the labels you print here. Ship a few real orders through, compare all-in rates and workflow, and cancel only when the new setup has proven itself.

What replaces my ShipStation automation rules?

Often, nothing needs to. Many rules exist to route and reshape structured orders; Billy drafts labels from raw input — a pasted DM, a screenshot, a spoken address — so the reshaping step disappears. For genuinely custom logic, the REST API is free and unlimited on every plan, with signed webhooks and idempotency keys.

I used ShipStation's API. What does migration look like?

Rebuild against a smaller, cleaner surface: REST and JSON, one Bearer header, idempotency keys so retries cannot double-buy labels, and signed webhooks for tracking and label events. There is no plan tier to qualify for — API access is unlimited on Free, which may itself be one of your reasons for moving.

How does billing change after the switch?

The subscription disappears and a prepaid wallet replaces it. Top up by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto and each label debits the balance at its all-in quoted price. On Free (50 shipments a month) a quiet month costs nothing and a busy one costs its labels; past 50 a month, Pro is one flat $40 monthly plan with unlimited shipments.

Will tracking still flow back to my stores?

Yes. When a label prints for a synced order, tracking is pushed back to the store it came from — the same loop ShipStation ran, without the plan under it.

How long does the whole switch take?

Reconnecting a store takes minutes; a cautious full migration — overlap week, workflow week, cutover — fits comfortably inside a month, which matters because that is at most one final subscription cycle. Shops without custom API integrations routinely finish in an afternoon.

A migration guide, not a sales page.

Switching from ShipStation, step by step

Overlap first. Cancel last.

Cancel-and-switch from ShipStation is low-risk: GoatLabels needs no annual commitment, drafts labels with Billy AI, and its unlimited free API covers custom workflows ShipStation gated behind higher tiers.

Create your account Log in

The carriers come with you

USPS, UPS and FedEx rate-shopped on every domestic parcel from day one of the overlap; DHL on international lanes.

DHL: international

Live quotes One all-in price each.

Quote = debit No day-after invoice.

Same via API Dashboard or endpoint.

The subscription doesn't

A prepaid wallet replaces it: card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto, spent label by label.

Prepaid Spent label by label.

No commitment Nothing annual to sign.

Accepted voids credited Back to the balance.

The migration inventory

What carries over, what doesn't, what stops mattering.

The fear in leaving an entrenched tool is losing something you forgot you depended on. So here is the inventory up front — every category of thing a ShipStation account contains, and what happens to it on the other side.

	GoatLabels	ShipStation
Store connections	Reconnect any of Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay or Wix in minutes; orders flow into To Ship.	Your existing store syncs keep working until the billing cycle you cancel in ends, so there is no forced cutover date.
Order history	Starts fresh here; export your ShipStation history first if you want the archive.	Lives in their system — export it before the subscription ends.
Automation rules	Mostly unnecessary: Billy drafts labels from raw orders, so there is less to automate around.	Configured rules do not port — list the ones you actually use before assuming you need them.
Custom workflows / API	REST API free and unlimited on every plan — rebuild integrations without a tier requirement.	API access is tied to plan level — one of the things you stop paying tiers for.
Cost of overlap	Zero. No subscription on Free and no minimum means running both during the trial costs only the labels.	One more month of the subscription while you verify the new setup.
Commitment	None — no annual contract, so switching back is as easy as switching in.	Check your plan's billing terms before cancelling mid-cycle.

ShipStation is a trademark of its owner and is not affiliated with GoatLabels. Their plans, export tools, and billing terms change — verify them in your own account before you cancel.

The three-week switch, de-risked.

Week one: run both, risk nothing

Keep ShipStation exactly as it is, reconnect one store here, and ship a handful of real orders from the GoatLabels queue. No subscription on Free and no minimum means the overlap costs only the labels themselves — the entire trial is reversible on any day of it.

Week two: move the workflows, not the rules

Most ShipStation automation exists to compensate for structured-input rigidity. Before rebuilding rules, try the raw order on Billy: paste it, screenshot it, or say it, and the label arrives drafted. The rule you don't need is the easiest migration of all.

Week three: cut over and cancel

Point the remaining stores here, export your ShipStation order history for the archive, rebuild any custom integrations on the free unlimited API, and cancel the plan. Nothing on this side has an annual commitment, so the decision stays reversible even after it's made.

And when staying on ShipStation is the right call

You run multi-warehouse operations on ShipStation's automation rules, batching, and branded tracking at a volume where they earn the subscription back — that depth is real and we don't replicate all of it.
You need a carrier GoatLabels doesn't rate-shop: our carriers are USPS, UPS and FedEx on domestic parcels and DHL on international lanes, and that is the honest list.
You are mid-peak-season. Migrate in a quiet week, not during the rush your current setup is already handling.

If you track stock in ShipStation, the Operations hub on Pro covers stock per warehouse, pick lists and scan-to-pack, and you load starting counts from a CSV once your products are added, but automation rules do not carry over and it has no bin-level stock or wave picking.

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

A subscription can be cancelled at any time and stays active until the end of the current billing cycle, after which access is limited to the Payment and Subscription settings and reports can no longer be run. (ShipStation Help: Cancel Subscription)
For US accounts, a remaining ShipStation Balance is refunded automatically within 14 business days once the subscription has been closed for 30 days. (ShipStation Help: Cancel Subscription)
ShipStation sells three monthly plans priced by shipment volume, after a 30-day free trial: Starter starts at $14.99, Standard at $29.99 and Premium at $349.99 a month, each at 50 shipments a month. (ShipStation pricing page)
The price rises with the shipment tier inside each plan, for example Starter is $79.99 and Standard is $149.99 a month at 1,000 shipments a month. (ShipStation pricing page)
Its pricing FAQ says it charges nothing beyond the subscription unless you add users or certain add-ons, and that postage and insurance are paid separately. (ShipStation pricing page)
Bringing your existing carrier accounts is listed as a Standard plan feature, while Starter lists only Worldwide Express or Unishippers LTL accounts. (ShipStation pricing page)
The plan comparison marks API access as not included on Starter and included on Standard and Premium. (ShipStation pricing page)
The separate ShipStation API product has a Free plan that uses its own discounted carrier rates, and its Advanced plan, from $75 a month for 1,000 labels, adds your own carrier accounts and complete API access. (ShipStation API pricing page)
Refunds for voided labels are issued by the postage provider you bought the label from, under that provider's void and refund policy, and voided labels still count toward your plan's shipment limit. (ShipStation Help: Void Labels)
The copyright line on ShipStation's pricing page reads ShipStation Global, 2026 Auctane Inc. (ShipStation pricing page)

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

Day one of the overlap

The pipeline you land in. Familiar on purpose.

The first day on the other side should feel like the tool you left, minus the parts you left it over. Stores reconnect and orders flow into the To Ship queue with tracking pushed back on print — the loop you already run. What's new is the input ShipStation never had a field for: paste a DM, drop a screenshot, or dictate an address and Billy drafts the whole label for you to confirm. Every label debits a prepaid wallet funded by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto, so the subscription you are winding down is the last one in the stack. Rate-shop USPS, UPS and FedEx at the all-in price on every domestic parcel, with DHL on international lanes, from the first overlap order onward.

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

Connectors, REST API, DMs, and screenshots — one queue, no import mapping to rebuild.

Billy AI

The automation you don't have to configure.

Reads a DM, comment thread, voice note, or screenshot
Fills the addresses and the package details
Rate-shops USPS, UPS and FedEx at the all-in price, DHL on international lanes
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

Tracking pushes back to the store the order came from — the loop you already had, without the plan under it.

Reconnect, don't rebuild.

Your storefronts link here in minutes, not migrations.

Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix connect to GoatLabels directly — there is no export-import dance for the stores themselves. Orders sync into To Ship, tracking pushes back on print, and the DM and screenshot orders that ShipStation never saw get drafted by Billy in the same queue.

Shopify

Etsy

WooCommerce

eBay

Wix

Reconnect a store Or use the API

The post-migration inventory.

What your stack looks like
after the cutover.

A migration is judged by what the second month feels like, not the first day. This is the standing setup once ShipStation is cancelled: fewer moving parts, one plan decision (Free up to 50 shipments a month, Pro past that), and two capabilities that did not exist where you came from.

One prepaid wallet
where the plan used to be

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH bank transfer, and crypto all top up the same balance. Every label debits it at the quoted all-in price, an accepted void credits it back, and no invoice arrives on the first of the month.

Wallet balance

$1,247.36 USD

AI drafting for orders
that are not JSON

A DM, a comment thread, a voice note, a screenshot — Billy reads any of them and drafts the whole label. The workflows you used to maintain automation rules for often just stop needing to exist.

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 commitment
in either direction

No annual contract and no minimum means the switch stays reversible after it's made. If GoatLabels stops earning its place, leaving is as cheap as arriving was — which is exactly the standard your last tool should have been held to.

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, USPS, UPS and FedEx on every domestic parcel and DHL on international lanes, and the number you see is the exact amount that leaves your balance. That is the honest carrier list — if your operation needs one outside it, ShipStation's broader network is a fair reason not to migrate at all.

Compare rates

UPS $12.48

FedEx $13.22

DHL $14.10

USPS $11.79

Duties inside the quote where DDP applies

The API tier you paid for,
now just the API

REST and JSON, one Bearer header, idempotency keys so a retry cannot double-buy a label, and signed webhooks for tracking events. Unlimited on every plan — rebuilding your custom workflows here removes a tier requirement rather than adding one.

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

The workflow that doesn't need the desk

Your shipping station is now whatever's in your hand.

ShipStation's center of gravity is a dashboard at a desk. After the switch, the queue, the carrier quotes, and the buy button travel with you: the packing table, the storage unit, and the post-office line are all valid places to finish an order.

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

No import mapping and no CSV step: the message is the order record.

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.

Replaces the rules you never finished configuring

Talk to Billy, skip the setup screen.

The most honest migration finding: much of what you configured in ShipStation was scaffolding around structured input. Hold the mic, say who the parcel is going to, and Billy looks up the buyer, rate-shops USPS, UPS and FedEx (DHL on international lanes), and queues the label against your prepaid balance, then 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 · nothing to import and nothing to map · 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.

Use the overlap week to verify this yourself: every carrier column is one all-in number locked at quote time, and that exact amount leaves your prepaid balance. No fuel line and no residential line, so the comparison you run is the price you pay; a carrier re-weigh posts as its own line on that shipment.

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

Rebuild the integration without the tier.

If custom workflows kept you on a higher ShipStation plan, this is the part of the migration that pays for itself. REST, JSON, one Bearer header, real idempotency keys so a retried request cannot double-buy a label, and signed webhooks for tracking and label events instead of polling — free and unlimited on every plan.

Create, rate-shop, and buy — the same three calls you already write

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 }
}

What billing looks like after the cutover

No plan to land on.

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. Past 50 shipments a month, Pro is one flat $40 monthly plan with unlimited shipments. Migrating shops under 50 a month usually start on Free during the overlap; above that, Pro covers the overlap too.

Pro

Free

$0 / forever

The landing plan for the overlap week — and often for good.

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

ShipStationShippoPirate Ship

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. ShipStation's plans and billing terms change, so verify yours in your own account before cancelling. Full pricing details

Who the switch pays off for fastest

Four migrations, four different first wins.

The switch lands differently depending on what kept you on ShipStation. These are the four common shapes and what each one notices first on the other side.

Sellers tired of the fee

TikTok Shop & live commerce

Prepaid

First win: no subscription invoice on Free. Pre-fund before a drop and print all night; on Free (up to 50 shipments a month) the quiet weeks after cost nothing.

4 carriers in one account no monthly fee bulk print

GoatLabels shipments queue with purchased labels

Shops with off-platform orders

Etsy & independent creators

First win: the DM commission and the market-stall sale land in the same queue as the store orders — no more running two workflows because one tool only understood one kind of order.

One queue, connector or not

Order #1024 · pasted from a comment thread

Sellers living in the DMs

The orders that never became JSON

got the dress! can you ship to Austin?

Label drafted · CL-1024

Devs leaving an API tier

REST and the UI, one balance

for the API access you used to pay tiers for

Real sellers, real words

Sellers who made the switch stick.

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

Switching from ShipStation, answered

What actually carries over from ShipStation?: Your stores reconnect rather than transfer: Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, eBay and Wix link to GoatLabels directly and orders flow into the To Ship queue. Your carrier choice carries over conceptually: USPS, UPS and FedEx are rate-shopped on every domestic parcel, with DHL on international lanes. Order history and configured automation rules do not port, so export the history you want to keep before cancelling.
Do I have to cancel ShipStation before trying GoatLabels?: No, and you shouldn't. GoatLabels has no subscription on Free and no minimum, so running both side by side costs only the labels you print here. Ship a few real orders through, compare all-in rates and workflow, and cancel only when the new setup has proven itself.
What replaces my ShipStation automation rules?: Often, nothing needs to. Many rules exist to route and reshape structured orders; Billy drafts labels from raw input — a pasted DM, a screenshot, a spoken address — so the reshaping step disappears. For genuinely custom logic, the REST API is free and unlimited on every plan, with signed webhooks and idempotency keys.
I used ShipStation's API. What does migration look like?: Rebuild against a smaller, cleaner surface: REST and JSON, one Bearer header, idempotency keys so retries cannot double-buy labels, and signed webhooks for tracking and label events. There is no plan tier to qualify for — API access is unlimited on Free, which may itself be one of your reasons for moving.
How does billing change after the switch?: The subscription disappears and a prepaid wallet replaces it. Top up by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto and each label debits the balance at its all-in quoted price. On Free (50 shipments a month) a quiet month costs nothing and a busy one costs its labels; past 50 a month, Pro is one flat $40 monthly plan with unlimited shipments.
Will tracking still flow back to my stores?: Yes. When a label prints for a synced order, tracking is pushed back to the store it came from — the same loop ShipStation ran, without the plan under it.
How long does the whole switch take?: Reconnecting a store takes minutes; a cautious full migration — overlap week, workflow week, cutover — fits comfortably inside a month, which matters because that is at most one final subscription cycle. Shops without custom API integrations routinely finish in an afternoon.

Still deciding rather than migrating? Start with GoatLabels vs ShipStation or the pricing teardown. Smaller shop? The small-business break-even page covers whether the subscription ever paid for itself, and the no-monthly-fee page covers the model you land on.

Start the overlap today. Cancel when it's proven.

The switch is three weeks.
The risk is one label.

Fund a wallet with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ACH, or crypto, reconnect one store, and ship one real order next to your ShipStation workflow. Everything after that is just repeating what worked.

Create your account Talk to us

Switching from ShipStation, step by step

The carriers come with you

The subscription doesn't

What carries over, what doesn't, what stops mattering.

The three-week switch, de-risked.

Week one: run both, risk nothing

Week two: move the workflows, not the rules

Week three: cut over and cancel

And when staying on ShipStation is the right call

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

The pipeline you land in. Familiar on purpose.

The automation you don't have to configure.

Your storefronts link here in minutes, not migrations.

What your stack looks like after the cutover.

One prepaid wallet where the plan used to be

AI drafting for orders that are not JSON

No commitment in either direction

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL in one account

The API tier you paid for, now just the API

Your shipping station is now whatever's in your hand.

Talk to Billy, skip the setup screen.

The quote is the debit.

USPS

UPS

FedEx

Rebuild the integration without the tier.

No plan to land on.

Pro

Free

Billy is not a paid tier

API free on every plan

Bring the invoice you pay today

Four migrations, four different first wins.

Sellers tired of the fee

Shops with off-platform orders

Sellers living in the DMs

Devs leaving an API tier

Sellers who made the switch stick.

Switching from ShipStation, answered

The switch is three weeks. The risk is one label.

What your stack looks like
after the cutover.

One prepaid wallet
where the plan used to be

AI drafting for orders
that are not JSON

No commitment
in either direction

USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL
in one account

The API tier you paid for,
now just the API

The switch is three weeks.
The risk is one label.