How to Automate Shippo Packing Slip Printing
A practical guide to connecting Shippo, PrintNode, and your printer so packing slips print on their own.
Last updated: February 2026
What are packing slips and why do they matter?
A packing slip is the piece of paper that goes inside your shipping box. It tells whoever is packing the order what items to include, where it's going, and any notes from the customer. It's also what your customer sees first when they open their package.
For most e-commerce sellers, packing slips are part of the daily routine. Every order needs one before it can go out the door. If you're doing 20 orders a day, that's 20 slips to download, print, and match to the right box. At 100 orders, it becomes a real time sink.
The manual printing problem
If you're printing packing slips by hand, your workflow probably looks something like this:
- Log into Shippo and check if any new orders came in
- Find the orders that are ready to ship
- Open each order and download the packing slip PDF
- Send it to your printer
- Walk over, grab the slip, and match it to the right box
- Repeat for every single order
This works fine when you're shipping a handful of orders a day. But it doesn't scale. You end up refreshing Shippo constantly, worried about missing orders. Step away for a few hours and things pile up. During busy seasons, it can eat up half your day.
The real cost isn't just the time spent printing. It's the mental overhead of remembering to check, the delays when you're busy with other things, and the mistakes that happen when you're rushing through a stack of orders.
What Shippo brings to the table
Shippo is a shipping platform that connects to your online store (Etsy, Shopify, Amazon, eBay, WooCommerce, and others) and pulls in your orders. It gives you tools to create shipping labels, compare carrier rates, and track packages.
The part that matters for automation is Shippo's API. An API is basically a way for one piece of software to talk to another. Shippo's API lets external tools (like SPConnector) request a list of your recent orders and download the packing slip PDF for each one. It's the same data you see when you log in to Shippo, just accessed by software instead of you clicking around.
Different platforms sync with Shippo at different speeds. Etsy, Shopify, and WooCommerce sync about every 15 minutes. Amazon and eBay sync about every hour. These timings are set by Shippo based on each platform's API limits.
How PrintNode handles the printing
PrintNode is a cloud printing service. You install a small app on the computer connected to your printer, and that app creates a bridge between the internet and your physical printer. Once it's set up, any authorized software can send print jobs to your printer from anywhere.
Think of it like giving your printer an email address. Instead of you being there to click "print," software can send documents directly to your printer through PrintNode's service. It works with basically any printer -- inkjet, laser, label printer, whatever you already have.
PrintNode also reports back whether the print job was successful, what printers are available, and what each printer can do (paper sizes, color support, duplex printing, etc.).
How the pieces fit together
Here's what happens when automation is running:
- Your store gets an order -- A customer buys something on Etsy, Shopify, or wherever you sell.
- Shippo picks it up -- Shippo syncs with your store and pulls in the new order (every 15 minutes for most platforms, hourly for Amazon and eBay).
- SPConnector checks Shippo -- Every 60 seconds, SPConnector asks Shippo "any new orders?" through the API. When it finds one that's ready to ship, it downloads the packing slip PDF.
- The slip goes to PrintNode -- SPConnector sends the PDF to PrintNode, which forwards it to your printer.
- Your printer does its thing -- The packing slip prints. You walk over, grab it, and pack the order.
The whole chain runs without you touching anything. Orders come in, slips come out. You just pack boxes.
Setting it up (the short version)
The full setup takes about 5 minutes. Here's the gist:
- Create an SPConnector account -- Sign up and pick a plan (there's a free tier)
- Paste your Shippo API key -- You get this from your Shippo dashboard under API settings
- Paste your PrintNode API key -- Same idea, from your PrintNode account
- Pick your printer and paper size -- SPConnector detects your printers and their capabilities
- Turn off test mode when you're ready -- Test mode lets you verify everything works without actually printing
For the full walkthrough with screenshots, check out our Getting Started guide.
What you actually gain
The obvious benefit is time. If you're spending an hour a day on manual printing, that's 5+ hours a week you get back. Over a month, that's a full work week.
But there are less obvious benefits too:
- Orders don't wait on you -- Slips print as soon as orders are ready, even at 2am or while you're out getting lunch.
- Fewer mistakes -- No more accidentally printing the wrong slip or skipping an order because you were scrolling too fast.
- It scales with you -- Whether you do 10 orders a day or 200, the process is the same. Your printer just does more work.
- Busy seasons stop being scary -- Black Friday, holiday rush, a viral product -- your printing keeps up because a computer is doing it.
- Your team doesn't need Shippo access -- The person packing boxes just grabs the slip from the printer. They don't need to log in anywhere.
Common questions
Do I need any special printer?
No. Any printer that works with your computer will work with PrintNode, and therefore with SPConnector. Inkjet, laser, thermal label printers -- all fine. You don't need to buy anything new.
What if my internet goes down?
SPConnector runs in the cloud, so it keeps checking Shippo for new orders regardless. As soon as your internet and printer are back online, any pending slips will print. You won't lose any orders.
Can I still print manually when I need to?
Absolutely. The SPConnector dashboard has an order list where you can reprint any slip or download the PDF. Automation handles the routine work, but you always have manual controls when you need them.
How fast do slips print after an order comes in?
It depends on your platform's sync time with Shippo. For Etsy and Shopify, orders typically appear in Shippo within 15 minutes. SPConnector checks every 60 seconds after that. So from order placement to printed slip, you're looking at roughly 15-20 minutes for most platforms.
Is my data safe?
Yes. All order data and API keys are encrypted with AES-256. Each account is completely isolated from every other account. We don't look at, analyze, or sell your data. See our privacy policy for the full details.
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