Any error messages displayed will usually come from the back end, and it will normally be the place where the issue may need to be fixed.
Back end normally refers to the private ShipHero API used by our web and mobile apps.
Quoting cheapest
We get shipping label quotes from carriers, and when quoting the cheapest, we interact with all of the relevant connected carriers. Each carrier gives quotes for multiple shipping methods.
This also means that each of the carriers can report errors. The following message will be displayed when at least one carrier responds to the quote request with at least one error.
Here’s a zoomed-in detail of the error message above.
The carriers that had errors are listed, followed by two links:
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View error details: a list of errors by the carrier.
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View service response: the JSON response as provided by the quoting service.
View error details
The user can get more information on what went wrong with quoting these carriers by clicking view error details.
Each carrier that reported errors will be listed, followed by a list of the errors they reported. These errors don’t necessarily map to a specific shipping method.
Note that the same carrier can provide quotes and have errors at the same time.
The quality of the message will vary. Some error messages may contain code but still be legible and understandable (e.g. b'{”status”:”blocked_too_many_attempts”}'). However, engineering should be aware of error messages a user would need help understanding.
View service response
Users and support people can also access the raw response of the quoting service by clicking on view service response.
This may provide further insight into what went wrong beyond what the quoting and error messages provided.
The service response section was meant as a substitute for a proper error details section, and now that we have one, it will be removed once users get a chance to get accustomed to it.