Get live parcel shipping rates from a US origin
get_parcel_quoteLive shipping rates for one parcel sent from a US origin — inside the US, or to Canada, the UK, Germany or Australia — across USPS, UPS and FedEx, and DHL Express on the German and Australian lanes. Describe the item in plain words and the packed box size and weight are estimated. Give exact dimensions and weight to skip the estimate. Returns up to five purchasable services, each as one checkout total with the SMKlog fee inside it (the fee is itemized only on the checkout receipt) and, where the carrier publishes one, its own counter price for the same parcel beside it.
Not every request is priced. A shipment past parcel limits or described as a pallet or freight load returns mode not_a_parcel with no rates: SMKlog does not arrange pallet or freight shipments. More than one box returns mode multiple_boxes with no rates: one label per box, so quote each box with quantity 1. Shipping labels are bought on smklog.com, not through this tool.
Choosing between the tools: use this one to answer what a shipment would cost. Then hand the quote_id it returns to create_checkout_link once the human has settled on shipping this exact parcel, so the pair costs one carrier call rather than two. Use get_price_index instead for typical or historical prices: it is free, while this tool spends a rate-limited carrier call every time.
Parameter rules:
weight_lb, length_in, width_in and height_in count only as a set of four, each above zero. Leave any one out and all four are ignored in favor of the estimate, so never send weight alone.
One label per box. quantity counts units of the item: units that fit one box are priced as that box (two books go in one carton), and units that need more than one box return mode multiple_boxes, as does any quantity above 1 sent with exact dimensions, since those describe a single box. A box past the largest parcel any carrier here takes (150 lb, 108 in on the longest side, 165 in of length plus girth; USPS stops lower, and only services that take the box are listed) or a product described as a pallet or freight load (a pallet of, LTL, truckload, shipping container) returns mode not_a_parcel. Neither carries rates.
product is the item itself, up to 200 characters. A bare route ("to Canada"), a bare weight ("7 lbs") or a question is refused as product_not_recognized before any carrier is called.
from_zip must be a real 5-digit US ZIP (ZIP+4 is trimmed to five), or the call fails with invalid_us_zip.
to_zip follows to_country: a 5-digit ZIP for US, otherwise that country's own postal code handed to the carriers as typed. A to_country outside US, CA, GB, DE and AU is refused as international_unsupported_online, so do not retry it with a different box.
Allowance: 80 calls an hour per client, shared with the public /quote route.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| to_zip | Yes | Destination postal code: a 5-digit ZIP for the US, or the destination country's own postal code, e.g. M5V 2T6 for Toronto or SW1A 1AA for London. | |
| product | Yes | Plain-words item description, e.g. "65 inch flat screen TV in original box". | |
| from_zip | Yes | Origin US ZIP code, 5 digits. The origin is always in the United States. | |
| quantity | No | How many of the item ship together. Default 1. | |
| width_in | No | Packed box width, inches. | |
| height_in | No | Packed box height, inches. | |
| length_in | No | Packed box length, inches. | |
| weight_lb | No | Packed weight, pounds. Decimals allowed. | |
| to_country | No | Two-letter destination country: US (default), CA, GB, DE, AU. | US |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| mode | No | Quote mode: parcel_label_ready when rates are listed; not_a_parcel, multiple_boxes or parcel_restricted when they are not | |
| rates | Yes | Up to five purchasable services. Not cheapest first: they are ranked by best value, each rate scored as its checkout total in cents plus 175 per business day of transit (30 days when the carrier quotes none), lowest score first, and a rate that publishes a carrier counter price may lead a near-tie within 50 cents or 2 percent. Sort by amount yourself when you want the cheapest. | |
| package | No | The packed box the rates were computed for | |
| quote_id | No | Handle to this quote, good for 15 minutes. Pass it to create_checkout_link as quote_id and that call spends no second carrier call. Null when no rate came back, or when the handle could not be stored. |