UPS Sign Up for Virtuemart
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Want to kill an afternoon? How about signing up with UPS to work with your shopping cart? Sound's great! Let's get to it!
- http://www.ups.com/. You'd better go there if you know what's good for you. Somewhere on their overly-complicated page is a way for you to sign up (the first time). More on that later. The easiest way to get started is to click "Log-in" way up at the top. See where it says "New User?" Click Register.
- "Fill away, Billy!" (extra points if you name that movie quote). You'll need to fill out several pages of information.
- When you're done filling out all that stuff, a normal person might think, "Gee! I just signed up. That was easy!" UPS has other ideas.
Now that you've signed up, you can open a UPS account. In the next window, Just click "Open a UPS Account." BUT BEFORE YOU DO, make sure you write down your username and password. You'll need it to make the ol' cart work.
(If you've already signed up, but NOT created an account, log in and scroll allllll the way down to the bottom of the page. There should be a little box that says, "Getting Started," and some links. Click "How to Open an account." Or under Quick Links, you can just click "Open an Account." Click the thumbnail image for a bigger peek. Either way you need to open a UPS Account, after you sign up." Go figure! But back to signing up and opening an account the first time.)
- More screens, more information to fill out! What could be better? Well, a lot of things, now that you mention it. So, fill away, Billy! UPS may even ask you if you're sure you want to do this. What? Do they think we're kidding around here? Yes!
- If you click "MY UPS Account Summary." they won't tell you unless you fill out more forms, the same ones you just did. It's their way of saying, "sit back, relax. This is going to take awhile." I'd skip it if I where you. Liking to fill out forms on line, I went ahead and did it. You'll want to keep your UPS Account Number, though. Cherish it, in fact.
- Believe it not, they don't give you a link to where you want to go next on this page. In fact, I never did find a link. Had to search the site to come up with this little gym. http://www.ups.com/bussol That's the URL you'll need to finally get your API going. So by now, you should have signed up (twice!) and navigated your way over to UPS Business Solutions. Click "Download API"
- Finally the page you've been waiting for! Or at least the page I've been waiting for. Forget about download, you just need to request an access key. Go head and request! This is the little gym that you'll need to get your shopping cart to calculate shipping totals based on addresses and weights. API stands for Application Programming Interface. The code is already done, we just need your access key so your shopping cart can be linked up to your UPS account.
- Just when you thought is was safe to not fill out another form. Watch out! They've got one more. Fill out the alternate contact and click the big blue button, or as we in the trade like to call it, "the big blue button."
- You should get an email confirming all this. The virtuemart cart will need this access key along with your UPS user Id and password (from when you first signed up). But hey, if you can't trust the person who built your website, who can you trust??
If you're new to shipping, buckle up; it can be a bumpy ride. Despite the "gee this is easy" commercials on television, signing up for everything can get complicated very quickly. If you're looking to sign up with USPS, here's the lowdown.