Summary
This article documents the three mapping collections that capture ShipBob reference data into iPaaS.com: Add/Update ShipBob Location TO iPaaS.com, Add/Update ShipBob Location Group TO iPaaS.com, and Add/Update ShipBob Shipping Method TO iPaaS.com. Each collection reads a record from ShipBob and creates or updates a matching record in iPaaS.com — a Location, a Location Group, or a Shipping Method — so that ShipBob's fulfillment centers, regions, and shipping methods are mirrored in iPaaS.com as reference data.
These collections are the foundation that downstream inventory, order, and tracking collections rely on. Locations give inventory and orders somewhere to be associated; Location Groups organize those locations into their ShipBob regions; and Shipping Method names are what other collections match against when resolving how an order ships. All three are capture-only: ShipBob owns the records, and iPaaS.com reads them in but never writes them back.
ID Format
Manual Sync ID. When a record is captured through Manual Sync, the identifier entered is the ShipBob record identifier for that record — the ShipBob location identifier for a Location, the ShipBob region identifier for a Location Group, and the ShipBob shipping method identifier for a Shipping Method. Example values: a location identifier such as 10, or a shipping method identifier such as 123456.
External ID saved after sync. After a successful transfer, iPaaS.com stores the ShipBob record identifier as the external ID on a dedicated external-ID record, following the format {{id}} — the ShipBob identifier itself. This link routes any later activity for the same ShipBob record to the existing iPaaS.com record rather than creating a duplicate, so repeat transfers update the record in place.
Deleted Record Support
Deleted record support is not available for these collections. Removing a Location, Location Group, or Shipping Method in ShipBob does not delete the corresponding record in iPaaS.com. These collections capture new and changed records only; if a record is retired in ShipBob, subscribers or their MiSP should manage the corresponding iPaaS.com record directly.
Custom Field Support
The Add/Update ShipBob Location TO iPaaS.com collection captures three ShipBob operational status flags into iPaaS.com Location custom fields named ShipBob Is Active, ShipBob Is Shipping Enabled, and ShipBob Access Granted. These are routine mapping destinations — there is no custom-field configuration step for subscribers to complete, and no additional custom-field setup is required. The Location Group and Shipping Method collections do not map to any custom fields.
Status and Trigger Events
All three collections are enabled and are kept in sync by scheduled polling plus Manual Sync. iPaaS.com periodically retrieves the current records from ShipBob and transfers those that are new or changed. ShipBob does not push real-time change notifications for this reference data, so a change is captured on the next scheduled poll rather than instantly. Subscribers or their MiSP can use Manual Sync from the iPaaS.com Manual Sync page to capture a specific record immediately.
Duplicate or Conflicting Collections
None. Each of these three collections is the only collection that captures its record type — locations, location groups, or shipping methods — from ShipBob into iPaaS.com.
Supported Child Collections
None of the three collections has a dependent child collection. The relationship between a Location Group and its member Locations is a grouping association rather than a child collection: a Location Group carries a list of member Locations, and each member is resolved to a Location that has already been synced to iPaaS.com. That grouping is described in the Add/Update ShipBob Location Group TO iPaaS.com section below.
System Caveats
Member locations must exist before a group can be fully populated. A Location Group's member list is built by resolving each ShipBob location to an existing iPaaS.com Location. A member location that has not yet been synced cannot be resolved and is omitted from the group until it is captured, after which a re-sync of the group includes it. Sync the Add/Update ShipBob Location TO iPaaS.com collection before the Location Group collection.
Location and Location Group association. Each ShipBob location belongs to a location group (its ShipBob region). The Location collection transfers the location, and the Location Group collection associates member locations with their group. For the grouping association to be complete, the related records on both sides need to exist in iPaaS.com.
Shipping methods are captured by name. The shipping method name is the value downstream collections match against when resolving a shipping method. If a name changes in ShipBob, re-sync the Shipping Method collection so downstream matching stays accurate.
Rate limits. ShipBob enforces a rate limit of 150 requests per minute. When a request is rate-limited, the transfer is rescheduled automatically to resume after the limit window resets — no subscriber action is required.
Read-only capture. ShipBob owns all three record types. These collections read records from ShipBob into iPaaS.com; they never create, update, or delete records in ShipBob.
Integration Flow
The three collections work together to establish ShipBob's reference data in iPaaS.com:
Capture the location list. The Add/Update ShipBob Location TO iPaaS.com collection reads each ShipBob fulfillment center and creates or updates a matching iPaaS.com Location, carrying the location name and its operational status flags.
Capture group membership. The Add/Update ShipBob Location Group TO iPaaS.com collection reads each ShipBob region and its member locations, resolves each member to an already-synced iPaaS.com Location, and creates or updates a matching Location Group with that membership. Because membership resolution depends on the Locations already existing, sync Locations first.
Capture shipping methods. The Add/Update ShipBob Shipping Method TO iPaaS.com collection reads each ShipBob shipping method and records its name in iPaaS.com so that other collections can match against it.
Whether any single transfer results in an Add or an Update is decided by whether the record is already linked to an iPaaS.com record by its external ID.
Mappings
Add/Update ShipBob Location TO iPaaS.com
iPaaS.com data type: Location
This collection has no mapping filter, so every dispatched location is processed.
Destination Field | Source | Description |
Name | Name | Sets the Location name in iPaaS.com from the ShipBob location name. Required — it is the primary descriptive identifier for the Location and is also used to match ShipBob locations to their location group. ShipBob names locations using the convention City (State Code) for domestic fulfillment centers and City (Country Code) for international fulfillment centers. |
ShipBob Is Active | IsActive | Records, in a Location custom field, whether the location is operationally active or inactive in ShipBob. Recommended — it captures the location's active status for reference, but the Location transfers without it. |
ShipBob Is Shipping Enabled | IsShippingEnabled | Records, in a Location custom field, whether shipping is enabled for this fulfillment center in ShipBob. Recommended — it captures the location's shipping status for reference, but the Location transfers without it. |
ShipBob Access Granted | AccessGranted | Records, in a Location custom field, whether the account is authorized to interact with this location in ShipBob. Recommended — it captures the location's access status for reference, but the Location transfers without it. |
Add/Update ShipBob Location Group TO iPaaS.com
iPaaS.com data type: Location Group
This collection has no mapping filter, so every dispatched location group is processed.
Destination Field | Source | Description |
Name | Name | Sets the Location Group name in iPaaS.com from the ShipBob region name. Required — it is the primary descriptive identifier for the Location Group. |
Locations | Locations | Sets the member locations that belong to this group. The source holds the collection of locations that make up the group, and each member is resolved to its matching iPaaS.com Location before being associated with the group. Required — the group's purpose is to organize its member locations. Each member location must already be synced to iPaaS.com so it can be resolved; a member that has not yet been captured is omitted from the group until it is. Sync the Location collection before this collection so the member locations exist. |
Add/Update ShipBob Shipping Method TO iPaaS.com
iPaaS.com data type: Shipping Method
This collection has no mapping filter, so every dispatched shipping method is processed.
Destination Field | Source | Description |
Name | Name | Carries the ShipBob shipping method name into iPaaS.com. Required — the name is the value other collections match against when resolving a shipping method, so a captured shipping method without a name has no usable identifier for downstream matching. The name is captured exactly as it appears in ShipBob; if it changes in ShipBob, re-sync this collection so downstream matching stays accurate. |
Error Handling
When a transfer fails — for example, because ShipBob is temporarily unavailable or a request is rate-limited — the error appears in Dashboard / Integration Monitoring / Error Logs in iPaaS.com. Rate-limited requests are rescheduled automatically and require no action. For the specific messages these collections can produce and what each one means, see the ShipBob Error Messages article.
Testing and Validation
To confirm the reference-data collections are working:
In iPaaS.com, open the Manual Sync page for the Add/Update ShipBob Location TO iPaaS.com collection, enter a known ShipBob location identifier (for example, 10), and run the sync. Confirm a matching Location appears in iPaaS.com with the expected name and that the ShipBob Is Active, ShipBob Is Shipping Enabled, and ShipBob Access Granted custom fields are populated.
Run a Manual Sync of the Add/Update ShipBob Shipping Method TO iPaaS.com collection for a known ShipBob shipping method identifier (for example, 123456) and confirm a Shipping Method with the expected name appears in iPaaS.com.
After Locations are established, run a Manual Sync of the Add/Update ShipBob Location Group TO iPaaS.com collection and confirm the resulting Location Group lists the expected member locations. If a member is missing, verify that member Location has been synced, then re-sync the group.
If a transfer does not complete, check Dashboard / Integration Monitoring / Error Logs for the reported reason.
Additional Notes and Out of Scope
No write-back to ShipBob. These collections capture reference data from ShipBob into iPaaS.com only. They do not create, update, or delete Locations, Location Groups, or Shipping Methods in ShipBob.
Polling, not real-time. Because ShipBob does not push change notifications for this reference data, changes are captured on the next scheduled poll. Use Manual Sync when a record needs to be captured immediately.
Group completeness depends on member Locations. A Location Group is only as complete as the member Locations already synced to iPaaS.com. Subscribers or their MiSP should validate group membership in a staging environment before relying on it in production.