FedEx Shipping Knowledge Patch
Use this skill when implementing or reviewing FedEx shipping integrations that touch tracking, rating, pickup charges, shipment creation, special services, customs, labels, trade documents, or migration from FedEx Web Services.
Reference index
| Reference | Topics |
|---|---|
| tracking-and-notifications.md | Account webhooks, Basic Integrated Visibility, timestamps, and email notifications |
| rating-pickups-and-locations.md | Hold at Location filtering, One Rate, pickup charges, surcharges, and U.S. rating rules |
| shipments-and-services.md | Shipment fields, Authenticated Delivery, C.O.D., email returns, and EU services |
| customs-and-trade.md | Regulatory data, European commodity shipping, trade-document images, and export/address requirements |
| labels-and-migration.md | Thermal labels, German handling icons, and Web Services migration |
Critical compatibility changes
Migrate away from FedEx Web Services
FedEx Web Services entered maintenance-only support on July 1, 2026 and is approaching retirement. Migrate integrations to FedEx APIs instead of expecting further Web Services development.
See labels-and-migration.md.
Do not offer retired U.S.-destination C.O.D.
Since July 31, 2023, C.O.D. and E.C.O.D. are unavailable for FedEx Express and Ground shipments destined for the U.S.
The retirement does not affect:
- Intra-Canada shipments.
- FedEx Ground U.S.-to-Canada shipments.
- Other supported regions.
See shipments-and-services.md.
Enforce the Canadian export-reporting threshold
For Canadian exports, electronic reporting is required for goods valued at CAD 2,000 or more. Customs workflows must not silently omit the declaration at that threshold.
See customs-and-trade.md.
Treat date-only webhook timestamps as UTC
Advanced Integrated Visibility events without a time component use
00:00:00+00:00. Interpret that value as UTC midnight, not local time.
See tracking-and-notifications.md.
Rating and pickup quick reference
One Rate result selection
rateDisplayOption accepts:
LOWER_RATE.SELECTED_RATES_INCLUDING_F1R.SELECTED_RATES_EXCLUDING_F1R.
LOWER_RATE compares One Rate with standard rates. It is also the fallback
when the input is omitted or invalid. With LOWER_RATE, omitting dimensions
returns only the customer-supplied-packaging rate.
Request pickup charges with the required fields
Set:
processingOptions=INCLUDE_PICKUPRATES
For a future-day quote, also set:
pickupDetail.requestType=FUTURE_DAY
requestedShipment.pickupDetail.readyPickupDateTime
requestedShipment.pickupDetail.latestPickupDateTime
Single on-call pickup rates are charged per stop in the U.S. and Canada, excluding Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. Regular automated pickup charges are weekly and based on the selected pickup days.
Pre-validate Hold at Location acceptance
Locations Search can accept these optional inputs in addition to weight and dimensions:
- Total Customs Value.
- Declared Value.
- Package Type.
- Package Count.
- Special Handling.
- Duties and Taxes payor data.
Weight and dimensions alone still work. Incomplete pre-validation can select a site that refuses the package or causes a Ship API error.
See rating-pickups-and-locations.md for packaging, surcharge, and inbound-rating details.
Shipment quick reference
Validate party and contact fields
Use soldTo to identify the purchaser when that party differs from the
recipient or importer of record.
Under shipper/contacts, provide at least one of personName or companyName.
Leaving both blank returns an error.
Request Authenticated Delivery
For eligible U.S. and Canadian shipments, place
FEDEX_AUTHENTICATED_DELIVERY in
shipmentSpecialServices.specialServiceType.
Cancel an email return shipment
The Cancel Shipment endpoint requires emailreturnshipment: true to identify
and cancel an email return shipment.
{ "emailreturnshipment": true }
See shipments-and-services.md for the complete service and shipment-field guidance.
Tracking quick reference
Push and pull tracking
The Tracking Account Number Webhook API pushes near-real-time events for every shipment associated with a subscribed account, including inbound, outbound, and third-party-billed shipments. A subscription can send either the full tracking history or only the current event and can push estimated-delivery date or time-window changes.
Basic Integrated Visibility, formerly the Track API, is pull-based and limited to 100,000 calls per day.
Read the current response fields
scanEvents.eventTypecan reportAEfor early orAOfor on-time.deliveryOptionEligibilityDetails.optioncan includeDISPUTE_DELIVERY,RETURN_TO_SHIPPER, orSUPPLEMENT_ADDRESS.- The estimated window is under
estimatedDeliveryTimeWindow.window.beginsandestimatedDeliveryTimeWindow.window.ends.
See tracking-and-notifications.md for notification-recipient and locale behavior.
Customs and international quick reference
Attach per-commodity regulatory data
Ship accepts a regulatoryDetails array alongside customs declarations for
per-commodity compliance data such as CPSC certification. The related
Regulatory API can supply that data.
Apply destination and regional requirements
- Merchant address data for Ireland must account for the announced Eircode postal-code requirement instead of treating postal code as optional.
- For goods already in free circulation between European countries, Simplified Commodity Shipping permits a commodity description instead of full commodity details in the ship request.
- Ship supports the EU domestic services FedEx First, Priority Express, Priority, Priority Express Freight, and Priority Freight.
See customs-and-trade.md for trade-document upload and reporting details.
Label quick reference
Ship supports 300 DPI thermal output without a label-format change. It also
accepts these labelStockType values:
STOCK_4X85_TRAILING_DOC_TABSTOCK_4X105_TRAILING_DOC_TAB
For inbound-to-Germany and domestic German parcel and freight shipments, labels automatically include 10+ kg or 20+ kg handling icons. This applies to every automated label channel and replaces the former manual-sticker workaround.
See labels-and-migration.md.