Instabee API

Globe Pickup Points integrates with Instabee through the Instabee API, which serves Instabee’s brands Instabox, Budbee and Porterbuddy. With this integration, you can:

• Export orders to Instabee directly from Shopify
• Print shipping labels within Shopify, on a 10x15 cm label printer or as A6 labels on A4
• Ship to Instabox lockers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark
• Ship to Budbee lockers in Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium, with live locker availability in checkout
• Ship to the customer’s home with Budbee, Porterbuddy or Instabox
• Track parcels with Instabee’s tracking link

There is no cash on delivery. See Cash on delivery (COD).

Beta

The Instabee integration is in beta. It is new in Globe: if a label does not come out right, use Contact support on the integration’s page in Globe, or write to help@appfleece.com.

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Enabling Instabee API integration

You need an Instabee contract and the API key Instabee issues with it. Your Instabee Implementation Manager has the key. Instabee decides which products the key may use.

1. In your Shopify admin, open Globe Pickup Points and navigate to Shipping labels. Click Add carrier and select Instabee (Instabox, Budbee).

2. Enter your API key.

3. Select the Environment: Production creates real parcels. Development uses Instabee’s sandbox: it answers test lockers, prints test labels and works only with a sandbox key.

4. Select the Home delivery brand, the brand Instabee delivers your home parcels with:

   • Automatic by country follows Instabee’s split: Porterbuddy in Norway, Budbee in the other countries.
   • Budbee, Instabox or Porterbuddy sends every home parcel with that brand.

   Orders with a locker chosen in checkout go to the locker.

5. Optionally, click Show advanced settings:

   • Parcel id prefix: the customer number prefix of your Instabee parcel ids, for example ABC. Your Instabee contact has it. See Parcel ids.
   • Default weight (kg): used when an order has no weight.

6. Configure fulfillment and tagging options as needed:

   • Automatically fulfill orders: Never, Yes, send order shipped email with the tracking number or Yes, do not send order shipped email. When enabled, the order is fulfilled after export with the parcel id as the tracking number, the brand (Budbee, Instabox or Porterbuddy) as the carrier and Instabee’s tracking link.
   • Automatically tag orders with tracking number adds the parcel id as an order tag.
   • Custom tag after export adds your own tag after every successful export.

7. Map your Shopify shipping methods to an Instabee product. The mapping is optional. You can change the product for each order when you create the label.

To show Instabee’s lockers live in checkout, see Live locker availability in checkout.

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Products

Product in Globe	Delivery
Instabee (Instabox locker if selected, otherwise home delivery)	To the locker the customer picked in checkout, otherwise home with the Home delivery brand. Also used when no product is set.
Instabox locker	To the locker the customer picked in checkout: an Instabox locker, or a Budbee locker from the live checkout. An order without a locker is refused.
Instabee home delivery	Home with the Home delivery brand, also when the order has a locker.

Home delivery goes to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium. Before every home delivery label, Globe asks Instabee whether it offers the brand at the customer’s postcode for your key. If it does not, the order is not exported: ask your Instabee contact to enable it, or choose another brand or product.

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Exporting and printing labels

You can export orders to Instabee and print shipping labels directly from Shopify, either in bulk or individually. For the label workflow itself, see Creating shipping labels.

Exporting an order creates one Instabee order with one parcel, packed and ready. The parcel id is the barcode on the label and the tracking number. The Shopify order number is sent as the order number and printed on the label as Cart ID. The customer is the recipient, also for a locker parcel. The customer’s e-mail address and phone number go along when the order has them.

Globe uses the tracking link Instabee returns for the parcel. If Instabee returns no link, Globe uses https://track.instabox.com/<parcel id>.

The parcel weight comes from the order. If the order has no weight, the Default weight (kg) is used. If neither is set, the parcel is sent without a weight. Instabee takes parcels up to 20 kg.

Globe sends the orders of a batch one after another. When Instabee refuses the API key, the remaining orders fail without further calls. An answer from Instabee with an error means nothing was created.

If Globe cannot tell whether Instabee created an order, for example because Instabee did not answer in time, the error asks you to check Instabee’s partner portal (partner.instabee.com) before you create the label again. Globe then stops before the next order of the batch. The orders it did not send can be exported again safely.

Globe does not cancel Instabee orders. Cancel them in Instabee’s partner portal. Creating the label for the same order again books a second parcel.

The integration does not sync delivery statuses back to Shopify.

Parcel ids

Without a Parcel id prefix, Instabee numbers the parcel, and Globe does not repeat a booking that got no answer.

With the prefix, Globe numbers each parcel itself. After a lost answer, Globe repeats the booking once with the same parcel id, and Instabee updates that parcel instead of adding one. The prefix must be the one Instabee gave you, or Instabee refuses the parcel.

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Pickup points

The customer selects the locker at checkout; to offer Instabox lockers, add the Instabox pickup point carrier. See Adding pickup point carriers.

Globe’s own Instabox lockers carry the id of Instabox’s map, which the Instabee API does not know. For such a locker, Globe asks Instabee which lockers it offers near the customer’s address and near the locker, and books the offered locker at the same position. A locker Instabee does not offer, for example because it is full, closed or outside your agreement, is refused. It is never swapped for another locker.

A locker from the live checkout carries Instabee’s booking token and sort code, and Globe books it with them.

The locker must be in the country of the shipping address. Instabox lockers are in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Budbee lockers in Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium come only from the live checkout.

An order with a point from another carrier’s network is not exported. It is never shipped to the customer’s home instead. Choose an Instabox locker with the Modify pickup point action, or use Instabee home delivery.

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Live locker availability in checkout

This is a separate setting on the Instabox pickup point carrier, with its own key. Setting up the label integration does not change the checkout.

• Without a key, the checkout shows Instabox lockers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark from Globe’s own copy of Instabox’s map.
• With your Instabee API key, the checkout asks Instabee which lockers it offers the customer and shows them in Instabee’s order: Instabox lockers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, Budbee lockers in Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium.

To turn it on:

1. In your Shopify admin, open Globe Pickup Points and navigate to Pickup points. Open the Instabox carrier, or click Add pickup points and select Instabox.
2. In the section Live availability from Instabee (optional), enter the Instabee API key: the key Instabee issued with your contract, the same one as in the label integration.
3. Select the Environment: Production for your store’s checkout. Test / Development uses Instabee’s sandbox, with test lockers, and works only with a sandbox key.
4. Click Verify connection. Pickup point search verified means Instabee offered lockers for the key.
5. Save the carrier.

To go back to Globe’s own list, clear the Instabee API key and save.

In checkout

• The checkout waits up to 4 seconds for Instabee. When Instabee does not answer, answers with an error or answers without a booking token, the checkout shows Globe’s own lockers for that search. Globe’s own list has no lockers in Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium.
• When Instabee does not offer lockers in the country for your key, the checkout shows no Instabee lockers there.
• Instabee’s lockers keep Instabee’s order among themselves. Points of other carriers on the same shipping method are merged in by distance.

On the label

The locker the customer picks carries Instabee’s booking token and the locker’s sort code to the order. The label export books the locker with them, without asking Instabee again, when:

• the token is younger than 14 days,
• it was issued for the same Environment and the same API key as the label integration, and
• no earlier label of your store used it.

Otherwise Globe asks Instabee for availability when the label is created and finds the locker by its position, as for a locker from Globe’s own list. If Instabee refuses the checkout’s token, nothing is created, and Globe asks for a fresh token and books again.

A locker chosen with the Modify pickup point action comes from Globe’s own list and has no token.

The default order attributes of the Instabox carrier include InstabeeSortCode and InstabeeAvailabilityToken, for systems that book Instabee themselves. Both are empty for a locker from Globe’s own list. See Order attributes.

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Cash on delivery (COD)

Instabee has no cash on delivery: its API has no field for it. An order with a COD amount is not exported. Set the COD amount in the label panel to 0 if the order is already paid, or ship the order with another carrier.

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Label printing

Globe asks Instabee for its A6 label. The following formats are available:

Format	Labels
Label printer, 10x15 cm (A6)	One label per 10 × 15 cm page, upright
A6 on A4	Four labels per A4 sheet

When printing A6 labels on A4, you can select the starting position on the sheet (positions 1–4) to reuse partially used sheets.

Globe fetches the labels from Instabee each time you print, so a label can be printed again later. Labels for several orders are combined into one PDF. If Instabee does not hand out some labels, Globe prints the others and names the missing ones.

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Resolution
Instabee settings are incomplete	Enter the API key in the carrier settings.
Instabee did not accept the API key in the integration settings	Check the API key and the Environment. A sandbox key works only with Development.
Instabee's API key in the integration settings is not enabled for …	Instabee decides which products a key may use. Ask your Instabee contact to enable it, or choose another Instabee product.
Instabee does not offer … home delivery to postcode …	Check the Home delivery brand, or ask your Instabee contact which brands your agreement covers.
Instabee does not offer … lockers in … for the API key	Ask your Instabee contact to enable lockers, or choose Instabee home delivery.
Instabee did not offer the … locker "…" for order …	The locker may be full, closed or outside your agreement. Choose another locker with the Modify pickup point action, or choose Instabee home delivery.
… without the position Globe needs to find it at Instabee	Choose the locker again with the Modify pickup point action, or choose Instabee home delivery.
… is not an Instabox locker, and Instabee cannot deliver there or Wrong carrier for this order	Choose an Instabox locker with the Modify pickup point action, or choose Instabee home delivery.
Order … has no Instabox locker, but "Instabox locker" was chosen or This product delivers to a pickup point, but the order has none	Choose a locker with the Modify pickup point action, or choose Instabee home delivery.
"…" is not an Instabee product	Choose an Instabee product for this shipping method in the carrier settings.
Instabee's lockers are in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium	The locker is in another country. Choose another locker, or ship the order with another carrier.
Instabee delivers only to a locker in the country of the shipping address	Choose a locker in the country of the shipping address, or choose Instabee home delivery.
Order … goes to … Instabee delivers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium	Ship the order with another carrier.
Instabee does not offer cash on delivery or This carrier's labels cannot carry cash on delivery	Set the COD amount to 0 if the order is already paid, or ship the order with another carrier.
Order … weighs … kg. Instabee takes parcels up to 20 kg	If the weight is wrong, correct Shipment weight (kg) in the label panel. Otherwise ship the order in more parcels or with another carrier.
… the shipping address needs …	Add the missing name, street, postcode or city in Shopify and create the label again.
Instabee refused order …: it needs …	Add what the message names to the order, for example the customer’s e-mail address or phone number, and create the label again. Instabee takes 6 to 15 digits for a locker and 10 to 15 for home delivery.
Instabee does not deliver … to postcode … for order …	Check the postcode of the shipping address, or choose another Instabee product.
invalid parcel id, must start with customer number prefix	Check the Parcel id prefix with your Instabee contact, or clear it.
Instabee is limiting requests right now	Nothing was created. Try again in a minute.
Instabee did not answer the delivery check …, Instabee's delivery check failed … or Instabee could not create the order …	Nothing was created. Try again in a few minutes.
Globe could not connect to Instabee	Nothing was created. Try again in a minute.
… Check Instabee's partner portal (partner.instabee.com) before creating the label again	Instabee did not confirm the order, but it may exist. Check the partner portal before you export the order again.
Globe stopped before sending order … to Instabee	Nothing was created for this order. Create its label again once the cause named in the message is fixed.
Instabee created parcel … but Globe could not save it	Do not create the label again. Print or cancel the parcel in Instabee’s partner portal.
Instabee refused order … (HTTP …)	The message gives Instabee’s reason. Correct the order and create the label again, or ask your Instabee contact.
Printed … of … Instabee labels. Missing: …	Print again later, or print the missing labels in Instabee’s partner portal.
Instabee refused the API key or Instabee does not know this order when printing	Check that the API key and Environment are the ones the label was created with.
Instabee did not accept this key (Verify connection on the Instabox pickup point carrier)	Check the Instabee API key and the Environment. A sandbox key works only with Test / Development.
Instabee accepted the key, but it is not enabled for Instabox lockers or Instabee does not offer Instabox lockers in Sweden for this key	Ask your Instabee contact to enable Locker Delivery for the key.