How to use An Post with Shopify in Ireland

The manual way works, until it gets slow

The basic Shopify workflow is simple. Open an order, buy the An Post label somewhere else, then return to Shopify and mark the order fulfilled. Shopify lets you add a tracking number when you fulfil the order, and that tracking number can be shown to the customer in Shopify emails and on the order status page.

That is fine for a few orders. It gets messy when you are copying names, addresses, phone numbers, weights, customs details, and tracking numbers across tabs every day.

What you need before connecting anything

EirLink works in two modes. Connect your own An Post eCommHub account and postage bills to it directly. No eCommHub account? Connect EirPost and prepay postage there; the labels are still real An Post labels. Either way, labels created in EirLink are live.

Before you start, gather the basics. You will save yourself a lot of back and forth.

• A Shopify store with physical products.
• An An Post eCommHub business account, or an EirPost account with balance on it.
• API access enabled on the eCommHub account (not needed with EirPost).
• Your eCommHub API key, or the Connect EirPost button.
• A sender and returns address.
• Product weights and customs details for international orders.

How EirLink changes the Shopify and An Post workflow

EirLink sits between your Shopify store and the account that pays for postage: your own An Post eCommHub account, or an EirPost balance. It uses your eCommHub API key to create labels on your An Post account, or the EirPost connection to create them from your balance. EirLink itself adds no markup and processes no payments.

Once Shopify is connected, new unfulfilled orders import automatically. EirLink also imports recent unfulfilled orders when you connect a store, so you are not starting from an empty dashboard.

1. 1Create an EirLink account.
2. 2Verify your email.
3. 3Paste your An Post eCommHub API key into Settings, or press Connect EirPost.
4. 4Add your sender address.
5. 5Connect your Shopify store and approve the requested access.
6. 6Pick an imported order and create the An Post label.
7. 7Print the label and hand the parcel to An Post.

What happens after a label is created

This is the part that usually saves the most time. When EirLink creates the An Post label, it stores the shipment, keeps the label available, and sends the tracking number back to Shopify.

Shopify is then updated with the fulfilment and customer notification, so the customer is not left waiting for a manual email. EirLink also polls An Post for tracking scans, which keeps the shipping dashboard useful after the parcel leaves your desk.

When EirLink is a better fit than a manual setup

EirLink is worth using when shipping is regular enough that manual work is costing you focus. That can happen sooner than people think. If you are shipping ten orders after a market weekend or a product drop, copying tracking numbers by hand is already a risk.

The fit is strongest when you want a Shopify shipping workflow that feels joined up, whether you ship on an eCommHub account of your own or prepay through EirPost.

• You ship Shopify orders with An Post most weeks.
• You want postage billed to your own carrier account, or prepaid through EirPost.
• You want Shopify orders imported without CSV exports.
• You want tracking pushed back to Shopify automatically.
• You need CSV or manual orders for non-Shopify sales too.

What EirLink does not do

Good shipping software should be clear about its limits. EirLink is not a courier marketplace. You need either a valid eCommHub account with a working API key, or an EirPost account with balance on it.

It also stays out of the money flow: no postage markup and no payment processing. Postage is billed by your carrier, or prepaid on eirpost.ie.