Table of contents
Carrier-agnostic error messages
The origin location is invalid
As the error message itself suggests, it shows up when the origin location - this is most likely the city name or the postcode being incorrect, but please ensure that you've reviewed all address data first before proceeding.
Customs
Usually, international shipments require either VAT or EORI numbers within the origin address section. VAT numbers are usually compulsory, while EORI numbers are for shipments sent from the UK. If they aren't added, the shipment cannot be booked.
If the shipment is between two countries that are part of a free trade agreement, ( for example the European Union), leave the VAT and EORI sections of both the origin and destination address blank. There is a character limit to these fields, so be sure to only add the numbers needed.
'NoneType' object has no attribute 'name'
This error usually occurs when the account you're choosing to ship with hasn't been properly set up. If this issue occurs, try using a different account to ship with and let us know about the error.
Booking cannot be booked as it has been soft-deleted
This can happen when the order that created the booking is changed: the booking may have become invalid due to e.g. a destination being changed on the order, and it is "soft deleted" and a new booking created.
Action:
- Search for the booking in the Send search page by reference, and if this has happened a new booking will appear which you will need to edit again and then book.
DHL error messages
Account not allowed for this service
This error usually means that there is an error on DHL's side, or on the configuration itself. If we don't have your DHL account manager's details, we encourage you to provide them, so we can reach out to DHL on your behalf and work to resolve this issue. I will reach out to you via our the support@the7bridges.com email.
Paperless shipment service is not allowed
For any accounts that use the DHL Paperless shipment service, you might get an error when trying to ship to some locations. This may be due to either 1) the destination country does not support the DHL Paperless Trade service, 2) the product doesn't support paperless or 3) the declared value of the products you're trying to ship, exceeds the limits DHL have placed. For more information, please check this DHL document that highlights the countries that don't currently support DH Paperless Trade, and value limits as well.
We recommend you speak to your DHL account manager for more clarity if you're still uncertain as to how to proceed.
'Cannot determine destination service. Please check the recipient...
This means that DHL does not think it can deliver to the area. They have an internal list of areas they can deliver to, as can be read on this site, and if the address looks well-formatted but they can't find the location in their list, they return this error.
Action:
- check that the recipient details look correct
- in particular check the postcode very carefully, preferably by cross-referencing with some mapping provider, such as google maps. This error will come up if everything looks right but DHL doesn't recognise the postcode. For American postcodes this is particularly easy to get wrong, e.g. 25318 instead of 23518.
- if no obvious errors are found, then a different service should be selected from the "Rate" tab
- if there are no other provider options, then get in contact with 7 Bridges support who will endeavour to find an alternative
'The requested Special Service Codes DD is not available'
This is an issue specific to DHL. If you get this error, you won't be able to book to with DHL using the DDP incoterm to the destination address. The solution here is to use another provider, not change the incoterm (this is set internally and will impact invoice charges).
TNT error messages
'Sender address: town could not be found'
TNT has strict validation on the origin and destination addresses when booking a shipment.
This issue means that TNT was not able to match the entered origin town with their list of locations.
This is usually because TNT either uses a differently spelled version of the town, or the name of a different nearby town.
To find which town name to use, please visit https://www.tnt.com/express/en_lu/site/shipping-tools/search-postcode.html# and enter in the country and postcode. This tool will then return a town name that, when entered in to Send, will enable the shipment to be booked.
The Shipper's shipper number cannot be used for the shipment
If you see the error above, this is likely an error directly with the provider account. It may mean that the account has been completely removed from the carrier setup, or that the account has been suspended. Reach out to the team responsible for managing these accounts for an explanation.
UPS error messages
The country associated with Shipper's ShipperNumber must be the same as the shipment's Shipper's country
This error message means that the account in question you are trying to book with isn't configured to ship from the outbound country you have selected. Please reach out to your UPS account manager and ask them to check the configuration for the account to be enabled to ship from the selected outbound location
HTTPSConnectionPool(host='api-eu.pusher.com', port=443): Read timed out. (readtimeout=5)
This is a connectivity issue with the shipping API at UPS, where the task to book the shipment is taking too long to respond. This should resolve itself eventually (the average from what we have seen is 30 minutes).
The Shipper's shipper number cannot be used for this shipment
If you receive this error message upon booking, please reach out to your UPS account manager. This usually means that there is an issue with the account itself, and is something that you should be able to resolve with the guidance of your accounts manager.
The Sold To party's country code must be the same as the Ship To party's country code with the exception of Canada and satellite countries
UPS require the buyer address (importer of record address) to be in the same country as the recipient address. The buyer address is kept internally on our database, it is not possible to edit it on the platform directly. Please make sure that the data that is passed through respects this rule if you would like to ship with UPS.
A package in a Mexico shipment must have a Merchandise Description
This is a recent (as of 3rd April 2023) UPS requirement, where they now require a package description for all international shipments going into Mexico. This relates to the Customs section via Shipments, more specifically the type of package question, as the below screenshot shows.
Unless there is another specified default value, this will be set as Merchandise automatically. We do not support a description text area to specify the type of package yet. We are working on a resolution here.
To overcome this issue, please select Other, as displayed above, and describe the package you are sending. Once this is done, you should be able to book successfully.
UPS: The UserID is currently locked out. Please try again in 30 minutes.
This is an error with UPS and is usually as a result of incorrect configurations (usually the wrong password) being used multiple times to book a shipment via our shipping APIs. Please contact support@the7bridges.com if this ever happens and we can check for you.
FedEx error messages
FedEx returned error: Authentication failed
This error usually implies that this is an issue with the configuration of the account on FedEx's side, so the account manager would need to be contacted to understand what the issue is.