How does the Real-Time Rates at Checkout API work?

Your checkout sends Easyship the order details it already holds, and the API returns every eligible carrier service with its price, delivery estimate and applicable import taxes and duties. Your storefront decides what to display and how to rank it.

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Send origin, destination, product and parcel details
Receive eligible services, prices and delivery estimates
Calculate taxes and duties for international orders
Carry the shopper's chosen service into fulfillment

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Why showing live rates at checkout increases conversion

Independent industry research consistently finds unexpected shipping costs as the top reason shoppers abandon a cart. Showing the rate, duties and a delivery estimate before the buy button removes that doubt, and stores on Easyship's network see up to 3X higher checkout conversion with international checkout with DDP/DDU.

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Offer economy, standard and express options at checkout

For each order the API evaluates every eligible service, so you can map them to three plain labels. Standard may be USPS on one lane and DHL Express or Royal Mail on the next. The shopper sees a simple choice while the carrier selection underneath stays dynamic.

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Show live rates at checkout without a custom build

The module is prebuilt for Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento and Shopline, so live options switch on without a build. Custom builds call the same engine as the Shipping Rates API. Shopify merchants need carrier-calculated shipping enabled on their plan.

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What is a Rates At Checkout API for eCommerce?

A Rates at Checkout API calculates live shipping prices and delivery options while a shopper is completing a purchase. Your checkout sends the destination and shipment details, and the API returns the services actually available for that order with price, carrier service, delivery estimate and any import taxes and duties.

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Built For Developers & Enterprise Brands

From merchants and marketplaces to global brands and retail operations, Easyship’s Calculated Rates At Checkout API displays the cheapest, fastest and best value delivery options with fully landed cost transparency to maximize conversions.

eCommerce Brands

Instantly save on shipping and fulfillment costs with one unified shipping solution for every sales channel worldwide.

For Stores

Global Marketplaces

Offer a completely integrated global shipping experience for buyers and sellers with transparent rates, duties, insurance and discounts.

For Marketplaces

Technology Platforms

Connect and embed global shipping services directly into your application for seamless shipping, returns and payment flows.

For Platforms

Fulfillment & Warehousing

Automate shipping workflows, rate shopping, manifests, pickup scheduling, and analytics while reducing complexity and overheads.

For Logistics

Get started with Easyship's Rates At Checkout API

Power every shipping workflow—from startups to global enterprises—with a developer-first API built for performance, reliability, and scale. Clean JSON, predictable calls, and full flexibility mean you integrate once and ship anywhere.

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Rates At Checkout API FAQs

How do I add calculated shipping rates at checkout?

Send the destination and prospective shipment details to Easyship's rates endpoint. The API returns the eligible services and prices for that actual order, ready to display. Rates depend on origin, destination, weight, dimensions and value, so richer cart data produces a sharper quote. Your application decides how the returned rates are filtered, ranked and presented.

Can I show estimated delivery dates at checkout?

Yes. Every returned service carries a delivery estimate built from real carrier transit data, expressed as a range such as 2 to 5 days. For Amazon Buy Shipping and Shopify Shop Promise shipments, the checkout can show a specific promised date instead, for example Deliver by April 7.

Which eCommerce platforms support Rates at Checkout?

Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento and Shopline all support the prebuilt Rates at Checkout module, and any custom storefront can integrate directly through the API. Shopify merchants need carrier-calculated shipping enabled on their plan before third-party rates display at checkout.

Can I show fully landed costs at checkout?

Yes. For international orders, tax and duty calculation runs in the same call as the rate, so the shopper sees the shipping charge, import tax, VAT or GST where applicable, customs duties and a delivery estimate before paying. Customs charges stop arriving as a surprise after the parcel ships.

What is the difference between DDP and DDU at checkout?

Under Delivery Duty Paid, the seller settles duties and taxes in the shipping flow, so the buyer sees one landed total and owes nothing on delivery. Under Delivery Duty Unpaid, the recipient pays those charges on arrival. Showing them at checkout gives the customer the full picture either way.

Do I need to integrate with every carrier directly?

No. Your application, store or marketplace integrates once with Easyship's normalized API, and Easyship maintains the carrier connections behind it. UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL Express, Royal Mail, Canada Post and Australia Post all return through the same request and response schema. Carrier authentication, differing request formats, service mappings and API version churn stay our problem, along with the build time each new carrier would cost you.

What happens if a rate call fails at checkout?

Easyship runs 99.9% API uptime and is SOC 2 compliant, so rate calls in the buy flow are dependable. No external call should be a single point of failure in a purchase, so your integration controls its own fallback: backup rates or a default option when a response misses your latency budget.

What does it cost to use the Rates at Checkout API?

Easyship offers a free plan with no credit card required, and pricing is pay as you go as volume grows. Rates at Checkout carries no separate price. Carrier-calculated shipping is a Shopify plan feature billed by Shopify, and Easyship's Shipping Rules start at $29/month.

Try the composable shipping API for global eCommerce

Every Easyship API is modular. Allowing you to connect only what you need from rates to returns. Start with live pricing, then layer in label generation, tracking, duties and address validation as you grow.

Import Tax & Duty API

HS Code API

Insurance API

Rates At Checkout API

Address Validation API

Returns Management API

Automation Rules API

Shipping Analytics API

Own Carrier Account API

More Shipping API Resources

Technology

Shopify Australia

Easyship helped Shopify Australia enable it's merchants with access a diverse courier network, discounted rates and an integrated logistics solution leading to 4.5x growth in orders.

Technology

eBay

Find out how eBay leveraged Easyship to improve shipping efficiency, cut costs, and boost global sales, driving $3.68 billion in GMV across 200+ countries

Industry

Ostrichpillow

We helped this famous pillow improve their delivery service by expanding their distribution worldwide and reduce shipping costs by 62%.

Calculated Rates At Checkout API For Real-Time Carrier Quotes & Delivery Dates

Transparently show fully landed costs to 200+ countries and territories

Why Brands Ship with Easyship's Rates At Checkout API

How does the Real-Time Rates at Checkout API work?

Why showing live rates at checkout increases conversion

Offer economy, standard and express options at checkout

Show live rates at checkout without a custom build

What is a Rates At Checkout API for eCommerce?