Sending WooCommerce orders to your shipping platform?
Shipping platforms need specific order data to fulfill orders correctly, and your WooCommerce orders already contain everything they need. While many platforms offer direct WooCommerce integrations, those that don't require a different approach: exporting your order data in a format the platform can read.
In this guide, we'll walk you through the order export process for shipping platforms and also cover some advanced cases.
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Why Shipping Platforms Need Clean Order Data
Your shipping platform's job depends on having the right order data, in the right format, at the right time. Clean WooCommerce order data is what makes that possible, and your store already has everything it needs.
Here's what you can do with the order export data:
- Push orders to ShipStation for label generation
- Sync with EasyPost for rate shopping and label printing
- Connect to 3PL platforms for outsourced fulfillment
- Sync with multi-carrier setups (USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL)
- Route orders to multiple warehouses based on destination
- Schedule daily fulfillment exports
- Filter orders by shipping method or destination
- Track international shipments with customs data
However, WooCommerce doesn't provide a built-in option to export all the order data your shipping platform needs. To fill this gap, WP All Export lets you export any order data in the format your shipping platform requires.
Below, we'll start with the basic order export process, which takes just a few minutes. After that, we'll cover some advanced shipping workflows to give you a better sense of what's possible using WP All Export.
How to Export WooCommerce Orders for Shipping Platforms
Exporting orders to a shipping platform follows a familiar process, with a few considerations for the fields your shipping provider needs. Here's how it works.
If you want to follow along, you can use our convenient sandbox feature and select WooCommerce Store as the demo type.
1. Start a new WooCommerce order export
Head to All Export in your WordPress dashboard and click New Export. Choose Specific Post Type, then select WooCommerce Orders from the dropdown. You'll see a summary showing the total number of orders available to export.
2. Add filters to export completed orders (optional)
Most shipping exports need to focus on a specific scope, like today's fulfillment queue, orders shipping to a specific country, or orders using a particular carrier. Expand the Add Filtering Options panel to set this up. You can filter by order status (to include only processing orders), by order date, or by shipping method.
3. Build your WooCommerce order export file
Click Customize Export File to open the Drag & Drop screen. On the left is your column selection area, and on the right is the Available Data panel with all order fields organized by category.
For shipping, you'll want to focus on the fields your shipping platform needs: shipping address, line items with weights, product dimensions, shipping method, and carrier service. Drag the relevant fields from the Available Data panel into your column selection area.
4. Choose your export file type
Expand the Export Type panel near the bottom of the screen. You have two options:
- Spreadsheet: For CSV or Excel. CSV is the default, and you can also pick Excel File (XLS) or Excel File (XLSX) for true Excel output.
- Feed: For XML. Pick Simple XML Feed for standard XML, or Custom XML Feed for full structural control.
For most shipping platforms, CSV or XML works well. Choose the format that matches what your shipping platform requires.
5. Configure and run the order export
From the Drag & Drop screen, click Continue to reach the Export Settings screen. Here you can:
- Schedule the export to run automatically through Automatic Scheduling or manual cron jobs
- Adjust Advanced Options like batch size, real-time exports, or splitting large exports into multiple files
- Give your export a custom name
When you're ready, click the green Confirm & Run Export button.
6. Download your WooCommerce order file
Once the export finishes, the Confirm & Run screen will show that your file is ready. Click CSV (or Excel or XML, depending on your earlier choice) to download it.
That's the basic process. Most stores have their shipping data ready in under five minutes.
What Order Data Shipping Platforms Need
For accurate fulfillment, your export should include the following fields:
- Order ID: The unique identifier for each order
- Order date: When the order was placed
- Customer shipping info: Name, street address, city, state, zip code, country, phone, email
- Line items: Product name, SKU, quantity, weight, dimensions
- Shipping method: The selected shipping method (flat rate, free shipping, etc.)
- Order total: The total amount (for insurance and customs documentation)
- Currency: The currency in which the order was placed
Drag any of these from the Available Data panel into your column selection area. For most shipping platforms, including the shipping address, line items with weights, and carrier service is essential.
Advanced Order Export for Shipping Workflows
The basic export handles most shipping needs, but there are advanced workflows that save time and improve accuracy. Here's how to handle the most common ones:
Schedule Regular Shipping Exports
Shipping operations run on tight schedules, and the data feeding them needs to arrive on a predictable cadence. Scheduled exports keep your fulfillment queue current without manual work.
WP All Export supports both automatic scheduling and manual cron jobs. Set up a daily or hourly export that runs at a specific time, delivering the file to your shipping platform via Zapier or a direct integration. Most stores do best with an hourly export during business hours, so new orders show up in the fulfillment queue without manual intervention.
You can schedule exports to run during off-peak hours if your shipping platform has rate limits, or multiple times per day during peak season. The file can be delivered via email, saved to cloud storage, or pushed directly to your shipping platform. For most stores, a schedule that matches their fulfillment cadence works best: hourly during business hours, less frequent overnight.
Format Your Data for Specific Shipping Platforms
ShipStation, EasyPost, Shippo, and other shipping platforms each have their own way of receiving order data. Getting the format right means less time reformatting and fewer errors during import.
WP All Export lets you build custom XML feeds and CSV layouts that match your shipping platform's exact requirements. You can rename columns, reorder them, and match the data structure each platform expects. For ShipStation, the import format follows their CSV template.
For EasyPost, you might need a specific JSON or CSV structure. For 3PLs, the format depends on the provider.
The most common format is CSV, which all major shipping platforms accept. The important thing is matching the column headers, date formats, and field order to what each platform expects. Once you set up the export format for your specific platform, you can save it as a template and reuse it for every export.
Handle Multi-Warehouse or Multi-Carrier Scenarios
Growing stores often ship from multiple warehouses or use multiple carriers, depending on destination, product, or service level. A single export to a single destination doesn't fit this setup, but WP All Export handles it well.
WP All Export supports custom export logic through filters and conditional rules. You can create multiple exports, each filtering orders by destination, product, or shipping method, and route each to a different warehouse or carrier.
Common setups include East Coast and West Coast warehouses (filter by shipping address state), domestic and international carriers (filter by shipping country), or standard and expedited shipping (filter by shipping method). Each export runs independently, so you can set up different schedules and delivery methods for each routing destination. This gives you the flexibility to scale fulfillment without changing your core order data.
Final Thoughts - Exporting WooCommerce Orders to Shipping Platforms
The clock starts the moment a customer places an order. Every minute between order placement and label generation is a minute closer to a late shipment. The export setup compresses that window by getting order data to your shipping platform quickly and in the format it expects.
Your shipping platform doesn't care about WooCommerce's data structure. It cares about addresses, weights, dimensions, and service levels. The export acts as a translator between your store and the shipping platform, converting WooCommerce order data into whatever format the platform needs to generate a label and track a package.
The same workflow handles everything from a single warehouse with one carrier to multi-warehouse operations with multiple carriers. What changes as you grow is the filter logic and the export destinations, not the underlying process.
Frequently Asked Questions - Exporting WooCommerce Orders to Shipping Platforms
Can I export orders with gift messages or delivery instructions?
Yes. Gift messages and delivery instructions are typically stored as order meta data. WP All Export captures these fields through the Custom Fields section in the Available Data panel. On import, these messages and instructions are restored to the correct order, so your shipping team sees them when fulfilling the order.
Can I export orders with tracking numbers for completed shipments?
WP All Export captures tracking numbers and shipment status as order meta data. These fields are available through the Custom Fields section in the Available Data panel. You can include them in your export to track which orders have been shipped and which are still pending. This is useful for reporting and reconciliation.
How do I handle orders with different package dimensions for the same product?
Package dimensions are typically stored at the product or variation level in WooCommerce. If different orders have different packaging requirements (e.g., gift wrapping adds size), you may need to use custom fields to capture the actual package dimensions per order. WP All Export can include these custom fields in your shipping export.
