How to connect Shopify to Royal Mail Click & Drop
Click & Drop is Royal Mail's online postage service. Connecting it to Shopify means each paid order appears in your Click & Drop account without retyping, and the tracking number comes back to the Shopify order when the label is printed. These are the steps with AK: Royal Mail Click and Drop, which sends orders through Click & Drop's own API using your key. Postage stays between you and Royal Mail, under your own account.
1. Copy your Click & Drop API key
In Click & Drop, open Settings, then Integrations, and add "Click & Drop API" (or open the one you already have). Copy its key. Any Click & Drop account has one: a standard account and an Online Business Account both work.
2. Install the app and paste the key
Install AK: Royal Mail Click and Drop from the Shopify App Store and choose a plan (7-day free trial). On the app's Home, paste the key and press Connect. To see how it works before using your real account, press "Try it with sample orders first": a practice Click & Drop inside the app prints labels and sends tracking back the same way.
3. Choose when an order goes across
By default a paid order goes to Click & Drop as soon as Shopify says it's paid. In Settings you can send only orders you tag, or hold each order a few minutes so an upsell or an address fix lands first. Local delivery and store pickup orders are left out unless you include them. Orders that were already paid when you connected are picked up too.
4. Pick services and package formats
Set a default Royal Mail service, or leave the choice to Click & Drop. Shipping rules choose a service and package format by country, postcode, weight, order value, tag, SKU or the shipping option the customer picked at checkout, and a rule can also leave an order out. Postage bands work without weighing every variant: tag each kind of parcel (badges as large letters, books as small parcels), and a rule by tag picks its service and format and can add grams. An item with no weight in Shopify takes the weight you set in Settings, and the packaging weight is added to every parcel.
5. Set up customs for orders abroad
An order leaving the UK needs a customs description, an HS code and a country of origin for each item. In Settings the description comes from the product type, the product title, a metafield or your own words, and when the chosen field is empty the product title is used and the order says so. The HS code and country of origin come from Shopify's own product fields or a metafield. Delivery terms (who pays duty and tax on arrival) and your IOSS number for EU orders are set there too. Click & Drop customs declarations for Shopify orders goes through each field.
On EU parcels of goods sold, Royal Mail asks for each item's SKU and a product code from 1 November 2026, and the app sends both: the code is the variant's GTIN, else another barcode or the SKU, else the Shopify variant number, and the order says when it fell back. A parcel to the USA carries a link to each product's page on your online store, and an HS code Shopify holds for the destination country goes before the general one.
6. Print the labels
On a standard Click & Drop account you buy and print labels in Click & Drop as usual. On an Online Business Account you can also print labels, manifest the day's parcels and make return labels from Shopify.
7. Tracking comes back to Shopify
When a label is printed, the app marks the order fulfilled in Shopify with Royal Mail's tracking number, so your customer gets Shopify's shipping confirmation. An order you cancel in Shopify before printing is removed from Click & Drop, and a change made in Shopify before printing replaces it.
When an order isn't in Click & Drop
Open the app's Orders page and find the order. Every order is listed with its state: waiting, in Click & Drop, fulfilled, skipped by a rule you named, or refused with the reason (an address with no name, a parcel over Royal Mail's 30 kg). Fix it in Shopify or Settings and press Send again. A check every morning sends any paid, unshipped order that is missing. Shopify orders not showing in Click & Drop lists every reason an order can stay out, and Click & Drop not updating Shopify covers tracking that doesn't arrive.
Questions people ask
Do I need a Royal Mail Online Business Account?
No. A standard Click & Drop account works; printing labels, manifests and returns from Shopify needs an Online Business Account.
Does the app keep my customers' addresses?
No. Names, addresses, emails and phone numbers go straight to Royal Mail under your account and aren't stored by the app.
What does it cost?
- Starter: $12 a month, 500 orders a month
- Growth: $19 a month, 1,500 orders a month
- Pro: $29 a month, 3,000 orders a month
- Scale: $99 a month, 10,000 orders a month
Every feature is on every plan. Prices can change.
This app isn't made by Royal Mail. Questions: write to me at support@aislekit.app.