Skip to content
Contact Support
StarShipit Integration

How to Connect Starshipit with Your eCommerce Platform or ERP: A Complete Guide

Jeff A.
Jeff A.

Table of Contents

If you're processing ecommerce orders in Australia, chances are Starshipit is already on your radar. It's one of the most widely-used shipping and fulfilment platforms for Australian and New Zealand businesses, connecting you to carriers like Australia Post, StarTrack, DHL, Couriers Please, and more.

But Starshipit on its own is only part of the picture. The real value comes when it's properly integrated with the rest of your business: your online store, your accounting software, and potentially your warehouse or ERP system. When those connections are working, an order comes in, gets picked and packed, a label gets printed, tracking goes to the customer, and your inventory and accounts update, all without anyone manually doing anything in between.

When those connections aren't working, or aren't set up at all, your team is doing a lot of copy-pasting between systems, and things fall through the cracks.

This guide covers how to set up a Starshipit integration properly, what the common options are, and what to watch out for.

 

What Is Starshipit and What Does It Connect To?

Starshipit is a shipping and fulfilment platform that centralises your carrier management. Instead of logging into Australia Post's portal, then DHL's portal, then Couriers Please, you manage everything from one place: print labels, book pickups, track shipments, handle returns, and send customer notifications.

Out of the box, Starshipit has native integrations with several popular platforms including Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and a handful of marketplaces. For these platforms, connecting Starshipit is relatively straightforward.

The more complex scenario is when you need Starshipit to talk to your ERP or accounting system as well. That's where a dedicated Starshipit ERP integration comes in.

 

Why Your Starshipit Integration Matters More Than You Think

A lot of businesses set up Starshipit, connect it to their store, and stop there. That's a good start, but it leaves a significant gap: your fulfilment system and your accounting or ERP system are still disconnected.

Here's what that gap looks like in practice:

  • A shipment is dispatched in Starshipit, but your inventory in MYOB or Xero doesn't update until someone manually reconciles it
  • Freight costs captured in Starshipit don't flow into your accounting records automatically
  • Tracking information isn't visible to your customer service team unless they log into Starshipit separately
  • Backorders and split shipments aren't handled cleanly, creating confusion between your warehouse and your accounts

For a small business doing low order volumes, manually bridging these gaps is manageable. For a growing distributor or multichannel retailer, it's a real operational problem.

A complete Starshipit integration means connecting Starshipit to both your ecommerce platform and your back-end system, so data flows end-to-end without manual intervention.

 

How to Connect Starshipit to Your eCommerce Platform

Shopify

Starshipit's Shopify integration is straightforward to set up. From your Starshipit account, go to Settings, select Integrations, and add Shopify. You'll connect using your Shopify store URL and authenticate via OAuth. Once connected:

  • New orders from Shopify appear automatically in Starshipit's fulfilment queue
  • When you dispatch a shipment, Starshipit updates the order status in Shopify and sends tracking information to the customer
  • Fulfilled orders are marked complete in both systems

WooCommerce

The WooCommerce integration works similarly. Starshipit connects to your WooCommerce store via API. You'll need your store URL, a WooCommerce API consumer key, and a consumer secret, all generated from your WordPress admin under WooCommerce settings.

Once connected, orders flow into Starshipit, and fulfilment events push back to WooCommerce. Make sure your WooCommerce store's permalink structure is set to something other than the default plain format, as the API won't work correctly with the default setting.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce connects to Starshipit in a similar way to Shopify. The integration is available from Starshipit's integrations page and uses BigCommerce's API credentials. Order flow and tracking update behaviour is consistent with the other platform integrations.

Marketplaces

If you sell on eBay or other marketplaces, check whether those platforms feed into your ecommerce platform first (for example, through a Shopify sales channel) or whether they need a separate connection. In many cases, marketplace orders can be centralised through your primary store before reaching Starshipit.

 

How to Connect Starshipit to Your ERP or Accounting System

This is where most guides stop, and where most businesses still have a gap. Connecting Starshipit to your ecommerce store is step one. Connecting it to MYOB, Xero, or your ERP is step two, and it's the step that eliminates the remaining manual work.

What a Starshipit ERP Integration Does

A properly built Starshipit ERP integration typically handles:

Fulfilment confirmation. When Starshipit dispatches an order and generates a tracking number, that fulfilment event is written back to your ERP or accounting system, updating the sales order status.

Inventory adjustment. Dispatched items are decremented from stock in your accounting system at the point of fulfilment, not at the point of order, keeping your inventory accurate.

Freight cost capture. The freight charge applied in Starshipit, including any carrier fees or fuel surcharges, is passed back to the order record in your accounting system so your cost of fulfilment is accurate.

Returns handling. When a return is processed in Starshipit, the corresponding credit or stock adjustment is triggered in your accounting system.

Connecting Starshipit to MYOB

Starshipit doesn't have a native MYOB integration. Connecting the two requires either a middleware connector or a custom integration built to use both platforms' APIs. Web Ninja's Starshipit integration handles this for Australian businesses running MYOB AccountRight or MYOB Business, mapping fulfilment events, inventory changes, and freight costs back into MYOB automatically.

Connecting Starshipit to Xero

Starshipit has a basic Xero integration available in its settings, but it has limitations. It can create invoices in Xero based on dispatched orders, but it doesn't handle inventory adjustments or freight cost mapping in detail. For businesses that need those capabilities, a more complete integration built on top of the native connection is usually necessary.

 

Common Starshipit Integration Issues and How to Fix Them

Orders Not Appearing in Starshipit

If new orders from your store aren't showing up in Starshipit's queue, the most common causes are:

  • The API connection has expired or credentials have been rotated and need updating
  • The order status in your store isn't matching the trigger condition Starshipit is watching for (for example, Starshipit is set to pull orders with "processing" status but your orders sit at "pending payment")
  • A WooCommerce plugin has changed how order statuses work

Check your integration settings in Starshipit, confirm the API credentials are current, and verify that orders in your store are reaching the correct status to trigger the sync.

Tracking Not Updating Back to Your Store

If customers aren't receiving tracking emails or your store isn't showing fulfillment status, the issue is usually in the outbound webhook from Starshipit. Check that the webhook endpoint for your store integration is correctly configured and that your store's API user has permission to update order status.

Freight Costs Not Flowing into Your Accounting System

This is almost always a configuration issue in whatever middleware or connector sits between Starshipit and your accounting system. Check that freight line items are mapped to the correct account code in your accounting system and that the integration is set to capture freight separately from product line items.

Duplicate Orders

Duplicates in Starshipit typically occur when an order is imported more than once, often because the integration is set to pull on both webhook and polling intervals. Review your integration settings to ensure orders are only being imported through one trigger mechanism.

 

When a Custom Starshipit Integration Makes Sense

For many Australian businesses, Starshipit's native ecommerce integrations plus a middleware connector to their accounting system is sufficient. But there are scenarios where a more custom integration is the right approach:

  • You operate multiple warehouses and need Starshipit to route orders to the correct fulfilment location based on stock availability or geography
  • You have a 3PL (third-party logistics) arrangement and need Starshipit to communicate with your 3PL's system as well as your own
  • You're running a B2B operation where orders may be split across multiple shipments and each shipment needs to be tracked and costed separately
  • Your ERP has unusual data structures or business logic that off-the-shelf connectors don't handle well

In these cases, a purpose-built integration designed around your specific workflow is worth the investment.

 

How Web Ninja Integrates Starshipit for Australian Businesses

Web Ninja builds Starshipit integrations for Australian ecommerce businesses and distributors, connecting Starshipit to both your storefront and your back-end accounting or ERP system.

Our integrations handle:

  • Order flow from your ecommerce platform into Starshipit
  • Fulfilment confirmation and tracking update back to your store and your customers
  • Inventory adjustment in MYOB or Xero when orders are dispatched
  • Freight cost capture mapped to the correct accounts in your accounting system
  • Returns processing with corresponding adjustments in your back-end system

We work with businesses running Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce on the front end, and MYOB or Xero on the back end. Our team is based in Australia, so support is available when you need it.

If you're managing fulfilment through Starshipit but still spending time manually reconciling it with your accounting system, get in touch with Web Ninja to talk through a proper integration.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Starshipit integrate directly with MYOB?

Starshipit doesn't have a built-in MYOB integration. Connecting the two requires a middleware connector or a custom integration. Web Ninja provides a Starshipit MYOB integration that handles fulfilment confirmation, inventory adjustment, and freight cost capture between the two platforms.

Can Starshipit work with multiple carriers at the same time?

Yes. One of Starshipit's core strengths is carrier management across multiple providers from a single platform. You can have accounts with Australia Post, DHL, Couriers Please, and others all managed through Starshipit, and you can set rules to automatically select the best carrier for each shipment based on weight, destination, or cost.

Does the integration work for B2B businesses with large order volumes?

Yes, but the integration needs to be configured to handle B2B-specific scenarios like split shipments, partial fulfilments, and freight cost allocation per order. Standard ecommerce integrations don't always handle these well out of the box.

What happens if Starshipit is down? Will my orders be lost?

A well-built integration includes error handling and a retry queue so that if Starshipit is temporarily unavailable, orders are held and retried rather than dropped. This is worth confirming with whoever builds your integration.

Can Starshipit send branded tracking emails to my customers?

Yes. Starshipit has built-in support for branded tracking notifications with your logo, colours, and messaging. These can be configured from your Starshipit account settings and are sent automatically when a shipment is dispatched.

How does the integration handle returns?

Starshipit has a returns portal feature that lets your customers initiate returns online. When a return is processed, your integration can be configured to trigger the corresponding credit note or stock adjustment in your accounting system, though this requires specific setup.

Share this post

Keep reading