The store already takes orders. Parcels already leave on Australia Post or StarTrack. The gap is rates at checkout, labels after payment, manifests, and tracking — on one API suite that needs a contract. We will tell you what the Shipping and Tracking APIs will do, and what a MyPost login will not.
Australian ecommerce team. We look at the store and the charge account before anyone talks about a connector.
01
What you have
02
What is safe to keep
03
Connect or leave
The store still takes orders. The warehouse still prints labels in another tab. That is why checkout quotes a made-up freight number, or a plugin that died when the auth model moved.
Australia Post is the national postal operator. StarTrack is the parcel and freight brand. One Shipping and Tracking API suite covers Australia Post and StarTrack, domestic and international products. It requires an eParcel contract or a StarTrack contract. That is the vendor’s rule, not ours. A personal MyPost account is not that contract.
You might recognise one of these:
You do not need a new storefront, or an international carrier pitch. You need a clear read on the contract and the store you already have.
The APIs are documented. The stall is rarely “AusPost has no API”. It is the contract, the version, and mixing brands in one request.
You need an eParcel or StarTrack contract.** Official type: REST, JSON, base https://digitalapi.auspost.com.au. Jobs: shipments, labels, manifests / order summaries, price and product lookup, tracking, dangerous-goods forms, address validation. The developer getting-started path is not a consumer MyPost signup. Without a 10-digit AusPost charge account or an 8-digit StarTrack account, there is nothing honest to connect. We will not tell you any MyPost consumer account can call Shipping and Tracking.
v1 docs: HTTP Basic (API key + password) plus an Account-Number header — 10-digit AusPost charge account, or 8-digit StarTrack. v2 docs: OAuth 2.0 client-credentials (client_id / client_secret → access token); for example POST https://digitalapi.auspost.com.au/shipping/v2/shipments. A plugin written for Basic auth will not “just work” on a v2-only credential. Ask which version the account is on before promising a date.
Tracking docs are explicit: do not mix AP and StarTrack ids in one request. StarTrack is the contract freight/parcel sibling on the same API suite, not a separate undocumented stack. It is still a different account number shape and a different id family. One call, one brand.
Typical store jobs: checkout rate (valid products for from/to/weight); create shipment and label after payment; manifest; track on “My account”; returns labels. The order still lives in the store or the ERP. Stock still lives in the warehouse system. GST still lives in Xero or MYOB. Australia Post will not fix those.
None of that makes the store or the charge account worthless. It does mean “install the AusPost plugin on Monday” is the wrong first move if you do not have a contract.
We start with the contract and the store, not with a carrier logo.
Store platform, eParcel versus StarTrack (or both), v1 versus v2 credentials, from-address and product list you are actually allowed to lodge, and whether labels already print elsewhere. We will tell you whether checkout can quote, or whether you only have a tracking job.
There are three honest outcomes. We recommend one, not all three.
Address and product lookup first, then rates at checkout, then shipment + label after payment, then manifest and tracking. A test consignment beats a Friday manifest of live orders.
Source, which version and which account number, and a short record of what creates a shipment.
We will not tell you a MyPost consumer account is enough. We will not mix AP and StarTrack ids in one tracking call. If Australia Post’s own merchant tools already print every label you need, that may be enough. If you want an honest fork in the road on the store, talk to us.
A store URL and whether you have a charge account is enough to start.
The first call is 30 minutes. You leave with a recommendation you can take to a manager, not a freight estimate for an account that does not exist.
We have not published an Australia Post or StarTrack ecommerce case. NESS and Windsor are store-and-ERP / store-and-inventory stories. Neither is a carrier integration we will claim.
CoSource is a Sydney software firm and a nopCommerce Gold Partner. Services include custom ecommerce on nopCommerce, AbleCommerce, and Shopify, including third-party systems. That is a capability, not an AusPost case study. A charge account still starts with its own assessment.
Thirty minutes. Bring a store URL and whether you have an eParcel or StarTrack contract. We will tell you whether to connect, fix the plugin, or leave labels where they already print.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call