Create and void labels
What Create Labels needs, what happens when a label is bought, how to void it, and what to do when the carrier refuses it.
Updated October 23, 2026
Each shipment on the order page buys its labels in one step: one label per box, on the carrier and service the shipment shows.
Freight shipments (Estes and FedEx Freight) use Create BOL and Void BOL instead. See Bills of lading and Estes pickups and FedEx Freight bills of lading and pickups.
Before you start
Create Labels stays disabled until all of these are true:
| Requirement | How to meet it |
|---|---|
| A carrier and a service are picked | Pick them in the shipment’s Carrier and Service fields. See Rates and services on the order. |
| At least one box is assigned to the shipment | Assign items to boxes in the package table. See Boxes and shipments on the order. |
| International shipments: the customs form is complete | Fill in every row of the customs form. See International shipments and the customs form. |
| Shippo shipments: rates are on file | Click Validate Address & Get Rates. Changing the Shippo insurance checkbox, Signature required or the ship date clears the rates, so get them again after any of those changes. |
| UPS and FedEx shipments where Saturday delivery was ticked or unticked: fresh rates for the label’s ship date, and with Saturday ticked a service that delivers on Saturday | Click Validate Address & Get Rates and pick a service marked Saturday delivery. See Saturday delivery. |
| No change on the shipment is still saving | Wait for “Saving your changes…” to clear. If a change failed to save, retry it first. |
The address must also be checked with Validate Address & Get Rates; otherwise Parcello answers: “Address must be validated before creating labels. Click ‘Validate Address & Get Rates’ first.” When the carrier suggests a different address, choose one first. See Addresses: checks, suggestions and edits.
Create labels
- Open the order from the Orders page and expand the shipment.
- Check the carrier, service, ship date, Signature required, Saturday delivery and Declared Value. These are sent with the label and can’t be changed afterwards without voiding it.
- Click Validate Address & Get Rates if you haven’t yet, and pick a service.
- Click Create Labels.
On a Shippo shipment that will carry Shippo shipping insurance, a Confirm purchase window opens first. It lists the service price, the insurance premium with the covered amount, and the total. Click Confirm purchase to buy. See Shipping insurance and high-value shipments.
When the label is bought, you should see:
- A Labels Created badge and the tracking number in the shipment header.
- The shipment’s fields locked: carrier, service, ship date, signature, Saturday delivery, declared value and notifications.
- The shipment’s boxes locked in the package table. Boxes on other, unlabeled shipments stay editable.
- Print Labels and Download PDF under the shipment. See Print labels.
- Print Packing Slips. See Packing slips.
- On international shipments, a Documents card with the commercial invoice and any other customs documents, ready to print and attach to the box.
Each box gets its own label and tracking number, and Parcello starts following the tracking. See The Tracking page.
Creating labels does not mark the order fulfilled in Shopify, unless Fulfillment when labels are bought is on (Automation page). Then each item is marked fulfilled as soon as every box holding it has a label. Otherwise it’s a separate step. See Fulfill orders in Shopify.
A label is bought once per shipment
If you click Create Labels twice, or two people work on the same order, the second request is refused:
- “A label for this shipment is being bought right now. Refresh in a moment.”
- “This shipment already has a label. Refresh to see it.”
If two purchases reach the carrier at the same time anyway, Parcello keeps one and voids the other, and tells you so.
FedEx ground services
FedEx Ground doesn’t deliver to homes, and FedEx Home Delivery doesn’t deliver to businesses. When FedEx refuses a label for that reason, Parcello sends it once more on the other ground service and tells you, for example: “FedEx Ground doesn’t deliver to homes. The label went out as FedEx Home Delivery.” The shipment takes the service the label went out on.
When the page gets no answer
If the connection drops while a label is being bought, the page shows:
“No response from Parcello, so it may or may not have gone through. Refresh the page to check before trying again.”
Refresh before you click Create Labels again. If the label went through, the shipment shows Labels Created.
Void labels
- Expand the shipment and click Void Labels.
- Confirm in the Void Labels window. Voiding cancels the tracking number with the carrier.
After the void, you should see:
- A Voided badge on the shipment and the tracking number gone.
- The boxes unlocked, so you can change them, and Create Labels available again.
- Customs documents hidden from the Documents card, since the carrier’s copy was voided too.
Any active return label made for the shipment is voided with it. A Shopify return that Parcello started for that return label is cancelled as well.
Shippo refunds
Shippo refunds a voided label to your Shippo account, and the refund can take time. Under the Voided badge, a line tells you where the refund stands:
| Status line | What it means |
|---|---|
| Shippo refund pending, settles within 14 days | Shippo accepted the request. |
| Shippo refund pending, waiting on the carrier’s scan history (up to 14 days) | Shippo is checking that the label wasn’t used. |
| Refunded by Shippo, credited on your next invoice | The refund went through. |
| Shippo declined the refund. Labels that were already scanned, or are past the refund window, can’t be refunded. The postage may still be billed; check Shippo’s billing history. | Check your Shippo billing history. |
Parcello checks Shippo for an update about once an hour. For a voided return label, a declined refund shows “No charge to refund. Return labels bill only when used.”
Notes and limits
- Void a label before the carrier scans the package. A scanned label may still be billed.
- Changing the order in Shopify never touches a labeled box. See When an order changes in Shopify.
- Voiding a label does not undo a Shopify fulfillment, except one Parcello made automatically when that label was bought. See Fulfill orders in Shopify.
Troubleshooting
“The order changed since these boxes were packed. Boxes were updated; get rates again.” Items were removed or reduced in Shopify after the boxes were packed. Parcello updated the unlabeled boxes. Check them, click Validate Address & Get Rates, then create labels.
“No quotes on file. Get rates before creating labels; quotes are cleared whenever the insurance setting, the signature setting or the ship date changes.” Click Validate Address & Get Rates on the Shippo shipment, then try again.
“Get rates before creating labels: Saturday delivery changes the services and the price.” Saturday delivery was ticked or unticked since the last rates. Click Validate Address & Get Rates, then try again.
“Complete the customs form before creating labels for this international shipment.” Fill in every customs row. See International shipments and the customs form.
“Cannot create labels: Missing required shipping fields: …” The label address is missing something the carrier needs (for example a state for a US or Canadian address). Edit the label address and add it.
“Carrier rejected void request” or another carrier message on void. The carrier wouldn’t cancel the label, often because it was already scanned. Contact the carrier.
Any other message when you click Create Labels. Parcello shows the carrier’s own words. See Error messages and fixes for the common ones.