What you need before connecting DPD
To use DPD services you sign a business customer contract with DPD Estonia. The contract gives you the access the store uses to register shipments. You also need to decide what to offer at checkout: lockers only, courier only, or both.
- A business customer contract and API access
- The address where the courier collects parcels, and suitable hours
- Product weights in the store, since the courier price often depends on weight
- A list of countries you want to ship to
Prices depend on the contract, parcel weight and destination country. The current price list is published on DPD's website.
How ordering works for the buyer
- The buyer selects a DPD parcel locker or DPD courier at checkout
- For a locker they choose a location from the list, for courier they enter an exact address
- The store registers the shipment and receives a tracking number
- You print the label and the courier collects the parcel from you
- The buyer gets a tracking link and a message when the parcel has arrived or the courier is on the way
For courier delivery the quality of the address matters most. So we make postcode and phone number required fields and validate their format before the order is confirmed.
WooCommerce, Shopify and custom stores
On WooCommerce we install the DPD plugin, which adds both delivery methods, the locker list and label printing. On Shopify we use the available app and agree in advance how locker selection is shown in the standard checkout.
In a custom Next.js store we register the shipment through the DPD API, save the tracking number with the order and add it automatically to the email sent to the buyer. The locker list is kept on our own server and refreshed regularly.
Testing and typical problems
We test a locker order and a courier order separately, because they use different data. We check the label, the tracking number and that the delivery price is calculated correctly for a foreign address too.
- The label cannot be created because the address has no postcode or it is in the wrong format
- Lockers and pickup points from several countries are mixed in one list
- Nobody books the courier pickup and parcels wait in the warehouse
- The tracking number does not make it into the buyer's email and support gets needless questions
