Carrier error messages ("FedEx Error - …")
When a carrier refuses a quote, ASM records the carrier's own message, starting with the carrier's name and "Error -". This page explains where you'll see these messages, how to read them, and what the common ones mean.
Before you begin
Where you see them
- Shipping Estimator — under "The following are the shipping methods that resulted with errors:", one line per method: the method name, then the error. This is the main place to read them. See Read Shipping Estimator results.
- Test connection on a carrier's card. See Test a carrier connection.
- Check account hover text and the Carrier Status page. See A carrier says "Check account".
Shoppers usually don't see them:
- Shopify: the method is simply missing at checkout.
- BigCommerce: the method is missing. If no method has a rate, shoppers see a general "no shipping methods" message, whatever the cause.
- Turbify: shoppers see your store's error message. See Customize shopper error messages.
How to read one
The part before the dash names the carrier. Everything after it is the carrier's own wording, passed on unchanged.
FedEx Error - <message> - Code #<code>UPS Error - <code> - <message>USPS Error - <code> - <message>- Most other carriers follow the same pattern:
SAIA Error - …,Old Dominion Error - …,R&L Carriers Error - …,XPO Error - …,TForce Error - …,Spee-Dee Error - …and so on.
Search the carrier's message, not the prefix. Your carrier rep can explain a code you don't recognize.
Common messages
"401 Unauthorized", "login failed", "invalid key", "API key not found"
- The carrier rejected your login, key or token. Re-enter your details on the carrier's card, save and run Test connection.
- Examples: "ShipStation Error - 401 Unauthorized", "Spee-Dee Error - 401 Unauthorized", "Desktop Shipper Error - 401 Unauthorized".
"403", "forbidden", a customer number or address mismatch
- The login works but the account isn't set up for these quotes. Check the account or customer number on the card, or ask your carrier rep.
"XPO Error - There was an error in the query. Possibly username/password cannot be found. Please check."
- XPO couldn't match your login. Check Username and Password on the XPO card.
"Worldwide Express / Unishippers API Error - Token expired - awaiting scheduled refresh"
- Temporary. It clears by itself within a few minutes.
"UPS's API is down or slow to respond. Please consider enabling FedEx as a backup carrier in ASM Settings."
- UPS isn't answering. Check the Carrier Status page. To keep showing a price during UPS outages, turn on Use Parallel FedEx Rates If UPS's Server is Not Responsive on the UPS card (this needs FedEx connected). See Connect UPS.
TForce: "Handling unit dimensions are required"
- Your TForce account is priced by density and the product has no dimensions. Add dimensions to the product. See Connect TForce Freight.
Veeqo
- "Veeqo Error - no API key saved in Settings" — add the key on the Veeqo card.
- "Veeqo Error - <Veeqo's message>" — Veeqo rejected the request. "Feature not enabled" means the key doesn't have Veeqo's shipping API.
- "Veeqo Error - HTTP
" — Veeqo returned an error code. - "Veeqo Error - no response from Veeqo" — Veeqo didn't answer in time.
- See Connect Veeqo.
A prefix with nothing after it, such as "R&L Carriers Error - "
- The carrier answered with something ASM couldn't read. Run Test connection. If it says the carrier "gave no reason", check your details, then contact support.
FedEx errors on every FedEx method
Errors without a carrier name
Some failures show your store's general message instead, such as "There was a problem calculating the shipping rates for the items in your cart." That means the carrier gave no usable reason, or the method had nothing to quote. Run Test connection for that carrier, and see A carrier's rates are missing.
Still stuck?
Email support@advancedshippingmanager.com or call 1-888-546-4932 (Mon–Fri, 9AM–5PM EST). Copy the full error line from the Shipping Estimator, with the cart and address you used.