Ship by Loop (SBL) is Loop's built-in shipping integration. It lets you generate return labels, manage carrier accounts, and handle billing all from within the Loop platform — no separate shipping portal required.

This article covers everything you need to get started and troubleshoot issues.

• Set up shipping in minutes, directly inside Loop Admin

• Access Loop-negotiated carrier rates or connect your own carrier accounts

• Manage billing, labels, and reporting in one place

Ship by Loop connects your carrier accounts to Loop. When a shopper initiates a return, Loop generates a return shipping label using the carriers and settings you have configured.

Watch a step-by-step overview of setting up Ship by Loop, adding funds, and configuring carriers in the published Help Center article.

Step 1: Go to Shipping Settings

1. Log in to Loop Admin.

2. In the left menu, go to Returns management > Shipping > Shipping services.

Step 2: Connect Ship by Loop

3. Click Connect shipping service.

4. In the modal, click Connect next to Ship by Loop.

Step 3: Complete account setup

5. Fill in your Primary contact name, Phone number, and Email address.

6. Click Submit.

Step 4: Add a payment method

7. After submitting, you will be taken to the Ship by Loop settings page.

8. If you see a 'No payment method added' banner, click Add Payment Method and follow the prompts.

Step 5: Connect your carriers

9. On the Ship by Loop page, click Manage carriers.

10. Browse available carriers and connect the ones you want to use.

After connecting Ship by Loop, you will see a catalog of available carrier tiles. Some carriers are available with Loop-negotiated rates; others require you to connect your own account.

Loop offers pre-negotiated rates for select carriers — no carrier account of your own is required. Use the Negotiated rate filter on the carrier page to browse these options.

Each negotiated rate carrier also supports Bring Your Own Account (BYOA) if you prefer to use your own contract rates. Click the carrier tile, enter your account details, and click Connect. To use Loop's rates instead, click Enable on the tile.

For the full list of available carriers, see the Ship by Loop — Carriers article.

You can connect additional carriers using your own account credentials through EasyPost. Search for your carrier, enter the required account information, and click Enable.

Carrier Choice lets shoppers select their preferred carrier during the return flow, based on what's available near them. Instead of being assigned a carrier automatically, shoppers see a list of carriers and their nearby drop-off locations, and choose the option that's most convenient.

The shopper experience looks like this:

• After initiating a return, the shopper is presented with available carrier options.

• Each carrier option shows nearby drop-off locations based on the shopper's address. (when available)

• The shopper selects the carrier that works best for them.

• A label or QR code is generated for the selected carrier.

Carrier Choice is enabled per return policy using a toggle in policy settings.

To turn on Carrier Choice for a policy:

1. Go to Returns management > Policies and select the policy you want to update.

2. In the policy settings, find the Carrier Choice toggle and turn it on.

3. Save your policy.

Some carriers let shoppers choose a nearby drop-off or pickup location during the return flow, instead of printing a label for home pickup. When configured, location options appear automatically in the return portal based on the shopper's address.

To configure locations for a carrier:

15. Go to Returns management > Shipping > Shipping services > Manage integration (Ship by Loop) > Manage carrier for the relevant carrier.

16. Under the Configurations tab, look for the Locations section.

17. Enable drop-off or pickup options as available for that carrier.

You can customize what appears on your return shipping labels — such as RMA numbers, order IDs, or custom reference fields — to match your warehouse's receiving process.

To set up label customizations:

18. Go to Returns management > Shipping > Shipping services.

19. Click Manage integration next to Ship by Loop.

20. Under Manage Carriers, find the carrier and click Customizations.

21. Scroll to the Label Customization section and edit the available fields.

22. Click Save, then generate a test label to confirm the output.

Label costs for Loop's pre-negotiated carriers are charged to a prepaid wallet. Final billing comes from EasyPost — see EasyPost Fee Structures for details.

You can add a bank account or credit card:

• Bank account (ACH transfer): No fees. Payments take 3–5 business days to process. Managed through Stripe.

• Credit card: Instant processing. A 3.75% convenience fee applies. See EasyPost Fee Structure for details.

Set a Recharge Threshold and Recharge Amount. When your balance drops below the threshold, your wallet is automatically topped up with the recharge amount.

• Bank account default: $20 threshold / $100 recharge amount

• Credit card default: $0 threshold / $100 recharge amount
  

Both values can be adjusted to fit your volume.

Once your billing information and carrier accounts are set up, your wallet balance is visible from Returns management > Shipping in Loop Admin.

For negotiated rates with carriers based in Europe , the label charges are added to your Loop bill in Ordway.

For a list of carrier and how they are billed check out our Ship by Loop — Carriers article.

If a return shows PAYMENT_REQUIRED - Insufficient funds in the return notes, your wallet balance has hit zero because an automatic recharge failed.

1. Go to Loop Admin > Shipping > Shipping services > Manage Integration (Ship by Loop) > Manage payments.

2. Click the trash icon next to your current payment method and remove it.

3. Add a new payment method with confirmed available funds.

4. Once your balance is restored, go to your returns, filter by 'No Label', and click Create Shipping Label in each affected return.

This error means the carrier could not find a valid rate for the return's origin-to-destination route.

Common causes:

• The route is not supported by that carrier through EasyPost — contact support@loopreturns.com to confirm coverage.

• The shopper's address has a formatting error. Open the return, check the street address and zip code, correct any errors, and click Create Shipping Label to retry.
  

If a shopper completed the return flow but the return shows 'No Label' in your Loop Admin, label creation likely failed after the shopper submitted their return — most commonly because no rate was available for the configured carrier and service type.

To resolve: filter your returns by 'No Label' and click Create Shipping Label within each affected return.

Three CSV reports are available from the Ship by Loop settings page:

• Payment Log — individual charges against your payment method, including charge type.

• Shipment report — all shipments generated via SBL, including carrier, tracking number, and origin/destination.

• Shipment Invoice — postage adjustments from the carrier (for example, USPS rate adjustments at drop-off).

1. On the Ship by Loop settings page, click View Shipping Report History.

2. Select the report type and a date range (maximum 30 days; do not include today's date).

3. The report starts in Pending state. Refresh after a few seconds — it will show as New (data available) or Empty (no data for that range).

Can I generate QR codes with SBL? Yes! This is carrier specific. Read more in our printerless returns article.

Can I use label customizations with SBL? Yes! Learn more in Loop's Shipping Label Customizations article.

Can I use my own USPS account through SBL? SBL only supports creating a Platform Account at this time but if wanting to use a pre-existing USPS account, merchants must have an NSA (Negotiated Services Agreement) with USPS and connect that via EasyPost.

Can I use both SBL and EasyPost? Merchants can only have SBL or EasyPost enabled. We do not support having both providers enabled as they are the same provider.

Can I use both SBL and Ship by Loop Worldwide? Yes, merchants can leverage both shipping services for different policies, but Return Service settings happen at the shop level and are not able to be set by policy or shipping service.

Is Loop responsible for lost, missing, or damaged packages? No, but some carriers support filing claims to recoup losses suffered. Loop may be able to assist in submitting a claim, reach out to support for more details.

BETA - Can I charge shoppers a label handling fee when using Carrier Choice? No. Label cost handling fees are not supported for Carrier Choice in this release. If your return policy uses label cost handling fees, those settings will not apply to returns processed through Carrier Choice. This will be addressed in a future release.

For further questions, please contact support@loopreturns.com.