DPD Shipper enables you to import shipments, collection requests and receivers.

This allows you to process a whole lot of data in a fast way.
For example, you can load the address file from other software into DPD Shipper, or you can create hundreds of shipments at once.

You can import from an excel file, a csv file or a txt file.
Fields in csv or txt files must be separated with pipe (|) or semicolon (;) and the encoding must be UTF-8, Windows 1252 or Windows 1250 and a header line is recommended.

To successfully import you must:

1- Create a valid import file
The import file contains all information about the shipments; where should be sent, with which product, how many packages and how heavy they are, …

2- Create import profile
With an import profile you can “map” the columns in your file with the fields in DPD Shipper.

3- Create transformation (optional)
With a transformation you can transform data from your file into data that Shipper can interpret.
For example: Countries need to be in ISO format (country code). If the countries in your file are indicated as Belgium, the Netherlands, …, you can convert them to BE, NL, … by making a transformation.
This step is only needed if there are details that need transforming.

Once you have done that, you can import your CSV file by using the Import Shipment function:

Browse to your file and select your Import profile:

And click on the Import button.

To be able to import you need an import file with all the details of your shipments.

DPD Shipper can import CSV, TXT or XLSX files, but CSV or TXT are strongly recommended.
The fields must be separated by a semicolon (;) or a pipe (|) and a header line is strongly recommended. The order of the columns doesn’t matter.

The following fields can be used when creating the import file for shipments.

• Mandatory means the field must always contain a value. Criteria means it’s only mandatory in certain cases, Optional means it’s never mandatory.
• The system can also be assigned fixed values for certain fields if you can’t inlude them in your CSV, TXT of XLSX file. These fixed values will then be used for each shipment.
• Header is strongly recommended
• The order of the columns doesn’t matter.

You can download our example files here.

Attention! If you open the files in a spreadsheet application such as MS Excel, numerical values that start with 0 (e.g. telephone number) are usually converted so that the 0 falls off. You can prevent this by importing the values as text instead of numbers.

With the help of an import profile you can assign the columns in your import file to the fields that Shipper uses.

To create an import profile, go to “Import Profiles” on the left, choose between Shipments, Collection Requests or Recipients, and then click “Add”.

In the next screen you can enter the parameters of your file.
Profile Name: a free name you can give to your import profile. It doesn’t matter what you fill in but it can’t be blank.
Code: a free code you can give to your profile. As above, it doesn’t matter what, but it can’t be blank.

If your file does not contain a header line you must check this before you go to the next step!
You can leave most of the fields here automatically.

Once you have entered the parameters, click on assignment at the top. Here you can assign the columns to a field value.
To start, choose an example file by clicking on “Select file …”

There are 3 options for assigning fields:

• Field name – Link a column from your file with the correct field in Shipper.
• Transformation – Transform a value from your file into a value that Shipper can use. Look at transformations for detailed explanation
• Constant – Put a fixed value in your import profile, if your packages are always 5 kilos you can give that here as a fixed value.

When you’re done, don’t forget to save.

Back up your import profile(s)

Once you are finished, It’s strongly recommended to make a backup of your import profile just in case. To do so, go back to

Import Profiles –> Shipments and click on the Export button:

And save the resulting CSV file.

You can do the same with your transformations if you have any.

Important notes

• Mandatory fields can be recognized by the asterisk (*)
• Weights must always be given in decagram (5 kg = 500)
• Countries must be included in ISO-2 format (BE, LU, NL, …), they are in your file otherwise you can use a transformation
• If you do not use a header, you must assign the columns with the column number that starts from 0
• If you want to use the same import profile again in the future to import another Excel or CSV file, this is possible but only if your Excel or CSV file has the same structure as set up in the profile.

With the help of transformations you can convert values that are in your import file to values that DPD Shipper can use.

To create a transformation, choose “Import profiles”, “Transformations” and “Add” in the left menu.
In the screen that appears you give your transformation a name and a code, a description is optional.
With the button “Allow unknown source values” you allow that values can also be imported that have not been converted.

At “Value mappings” you click on add to add values.

Afterwards you go back to your created import profile to assign the transformation to the correct field.

Sample files

You can import these sample files into Shipper and then adjust them to your needs.

Last change log: 18 Dec 2020

• Added a sample import file
• Added info about how to include multiple items.

Note: this guide will assume you already understand the other sections about making a correct import file and making a correct import profile.

You will need a to describe each different item you have in your parcel. An object that has it’s own HS code, constitutes a separate item. Keep in mind that it’s not possible to send multi-colli shipments to the UK. You can only send single-parcel shipments. Your parcel can however contain multiple items.

It’s also only possible to send DPD Business and DPD Home shipments (regular B2B and regular B2C). Saturday, Collection Request, Express, Parcelshop, etc are not possible.

Other changes

• Sender phone is mandatory, but you will typically not need to include it in your import file since it’s fixed in your DPD Shipper profile.
  Note: phone number must be format +<country code><rest of the number> in all fields. For example: +3215124578 or +442012345678.
• Sender email is mandatory. As with the phone number, you will typically not need to include it in your import file since it’s fixed in your DPD Shipper profile.
  Note: the email must be on an existing domain.
• Receiver phone is mandatory. Must be format +<country code><rest of the number> in all fields. For example: +3215124578 or +442012345678.
• Receiver email is mandatory. The email must be on an existing domain.
• Receiver street and house number must be in their separate fields.
• Your total parcel weight needs to be the sum of the weight of each one of your items in that shipment.

Notes about EORI, HMRC and VAT number

• The Sender VAT and EORI number are always mandatory.
• The Receiver VAT and EORI number are also mandatory. However, these values can vary depending whether or not your shipment is B2B or B2C:
  – For B2B Shipments: these fields must contain the Receiver EORI and VAT number.
  – For B2C Shipments: these fields must contain the Sender EORI and VAT number, since B2C receivers don’t have a VAT or EORI.
• The HMRC number must be included

In addition to the fields that are already needed for a proper import file, you will need to add several extra fields that are necessary for shipments to the UK post-Brexit. Here you will find an overview of these extra fields.

You’ll notice that you can give the details of your items too. If you have multiple different items in your parcel, you will have to separate the item details with a separator. Usually, a pipe is used ( | symbol).
Please note that for clarification, the fields starting with ITEM in the overview below are fields in which multiple values can be given with separator. These are the fields that describe each one of your different items.

You can find an example here. This file contains one shipment B2B with a single item, one B2C with a single item and a B2B with two different items.

Extra info about import of multi-item shipments

Let’s assume you’re sending Paper Clips and Pencils. You’ll see in the 3rd parcel of the sample import file that each ITEM field has a pipe-separator:

This means that you have two sets of items in this parcel:

• 100 Paper clips that come from BE, have HS code 22446688, weigh 1.2 kilo and have a total value of €5.2
• 500 Pencils that also come from BE, have HS code 18888881, weigh 1 kilo and have a total value of 2€

Please also note that the combined weight of these two items is 2.2 kilo (1.2 + 1) which is also properly reflected in the total parcel weight field:

Concerning the separator: while this example uses a pipe as a separator ( | symbol), you can use a different one. The separator is determined in the Import Profile. We recommend using a pipe like in the example.