ShipStation allows you to add your own email as the sender for notification emails so that they appear from your own address rather than from ShipStation.
In this article, we will review the steps on how to add a Sender Email to ShipStation and how to authenticate your domain to ensure your emails pass DMARC checks. For more information on email authentication protocols, please see our article Email Domain Authentication.
Authentication Available for Accounts Created before April 1st, 2024
Domain authentication within ShipStation is available for ShipStation accounts created before April 1st, 2024. Accounts created after this date will use our default email.
By default, ShipStation tracking emails for customer shipment notifications are sent from tracking@shiptation.com. This email is already configured to pass any DMARC checks and no action is required on your part.
If you wish to send from your own email address, follow the steps below.
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Appropriate permissions must be set in ShipStation giving you access to update emails for each store.
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A valid email address must be present in order for ShipStation to send shipment and delivery notifications successfully.
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Public email addresses (such as gmail, yahoo or aol.com) are not supported because domain authentication is not applicable (you do not own those domains). These email addresses can still be used as the email value for packing slips, email templates, and branded tracking and returns pages.
To use a customized email to send emails from ShipStation, the following steps need to be completed: Add your email address to the store Branding settings, verify access to the email address, and perform domain authentication.
Once the steps are completed, your emails will no longer use tracking@shipstation.com as the sender and your specified email will be used instead.
If an email is entered but not verified, the values in the email fields will only be used for your packing slips, email templates, and Branded Tracking and Returns pages.
Add sender email addresses in the Branding tab of your store settings.
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Go to the Branding tab and find the email field.
Once you enter an email address, a pop-up will appear to prompt you to verify it.
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Click the link in the pop-up to go to Settings>Sender Emails.
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Click the Verify Email button next to your email on the Sender Email page.
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Click Send Confirmation Email in the Verify Email Address pop-up.
The email will now be in a Pending status until an email has been sent to the entered email address for verification.
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Check your email and click the link in the email from ShipStation to verify your email.
Once the verification process is complete, you will see a confirmation message:
Once an email has been added to the store settings and access has been verified, you can proceed to authenticate the domain. This process will ensure you have the necessary DNS settings to successfully pass DMARC checks.
Configuring these settings means you are giving ShipStation permission to send emails on your behalf from your email address. Authentication will ensure emails are delivered instead of being rejected or sent to your customers’ spam folders.
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Go to
Settings > Account > Sender Emails.The email addresses you have added to your store setting will show here. If no email appears, follow the previous steps to add a new sender email address and verify it.
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Click the button Authenticate Domain.
If this option is not enabled, confirm you have verified email access or that this is not a public domain email address.
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Add the CNAME records listed in the Authenticate Domain pop-up to your domain's DNS settings.
ShipStation Does Not Provide DNS Settings Support
ShipStation does not have access to your DNS settings and does not provide support on how to configure those. Please refer to your IT team or third-party provider for help with this configuration. See our section Updating your DNS Record for more information.
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Click on Check Status once the CNAME records are configured in your DNS Settings. You will notice the Domain Authentication will now display Authenticated. Any emails sent from this store will now use your email address.
Optional DMARC Policy Example
If you have not set up your DMARC policy, ShipStation provides an example. The TXT type record that appears in the Authenticate Domain pop-up has an example of a basic policy:
This is only an example. We strongly recommend that you work with your IT team or third-party provider to configure this to ensure that the tag values make sense for your domain security.
Learn more about DMARC and email security protocols.
The CNAME records that appear in the Authenticate Domain pop-up are generated by ShipStation's Sendgrid connection to provide you with a value to enter into your domain's DNS settings.
If you have your own SendGrid connection for your domain outside of ShipStation, you can specify those specific subdomain and DKIM selector values under Advanced Options:
Once you have entered the desired values, click on Update DNS Records and the updates will take effect.
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ShipStation will perform regular checks to ensure your settings remain configured. If you have entered the correct settings and the domain has not been successfully authenticated, please allow for a few hours for the settings to take effect.
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If the records are modified or removed at any point, ShipStation will stop sending emails from the customized email and revert to tracking@shipstation.com. To fix this, repeat the steps for Domain Authentication.
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If you wish to send customers email notifications for orders that have shipped or been delivered using your verified email, you must enable Customer Notification Emails for each store.
ShipStation does not provide support for setting up your DNS settings configuration. This process is different for each domain provider. Below is a list of help articles from the most popular providers.
Check with your IT team or third-party provider for additional guidance.
Here are some common issues, potential causes, and troubleshooting tips for DMARC.
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Issue |
Solution |
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Emails are not sending |
Check that you have enabled Customer Notification Emails for each store. |
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Domain Authentication Unsupported |
Make sure you are not trying to authenticate a public email domain (like gmail.com or yahoo.com). Domain authentication on public domains is not supported because you do not own these domains. In order to customize your sender email, you must enter a private email domain. |
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Emails sending from ShipStation default domain |
Retry the steps to add your email address in the store settings. Also, confirm you have performed email verification and domain authentication. |
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Failure to authenticate domain |
This error typically occurs when the DNS records are not properly configured in your DNS settings. Please double check the records and try again. |