Connect your SMSA account

If you have your own e-commerce contract with SMSA Express, you can connect it to Zid through custom shipping. Shipping labels are then issued under your SMSA account and rates, and you decide which cities customers see SMSA in and what they pay. Start from the Custom shipping card on the Logistics page.

Your own SMSA account or SMSA through Zid Ship

You can also ship with SMSA without a contract of your own, as a Zid Ship method. Pick the one that fits how you work:

Choose your own account when you already ship enough with SMSA to have negotiated rates. Otherwise Zid Ship is quicker to start with. See Zid Ship shipping methods.

What you need first

• An e-commerce account with SMSA Express, opened under a contract with SMSA. Zid doesn't issue SMSA accounts or keys.

• Access to SMSA's e-commerce portal, where you copy your API key.

• The service code your contract covers. If you aren't sure which one, ask your SMSA account manager.

Copy your API key from SMSA

SMSA's portal can change, so if you can't find the key, ask your SMSA account manager or SMSA's support.

1. Sign in to your account on SMSA's e-commerce portal, ecom.smsaexpress.com.

2. Open Documentation > API Docs in the portal's menu.

   

3. In the keys table, copy the key in the Production row. The Test key doesn't issue real shipping labels.

   

The key is one long string of letters and numbers. Copy all of it, without spaces before or after.

Choose a service code

Each SMSA connection uses one service code: the SMSA service your labels are issued under. Choose the one in your SMSA contract. Service code offers these codes:

Connect SMSA to Zid

1. On the Logistics page, in the Custom shipping card, select Add option.

2. On Manage custom shipping methods, in the Shipping method details card, choose an SMSA method in Shipping method.

   

3. Paste your key into API key.

4. Choose your code in Service code.

5. Select Activate.

Shipping method can list more than one SMSA method, such as one for the Gulf. Each method you connect keeps its own API key and service code.

Zid saves the account and opens SMSA's page, titled with the method's name. If the button at the top reads Activate, select it so customers can see SMSA at checkout. Activation fails if SMSA doesn't serve the inventory you ship from; the message names the inventory.

Check the connection

Zid has no separate test button. To check that SMSA is connected:

1. Open View all in the Custom shipping card. The SMSA method is listed with the Status Active.

2. The Cash on delivery column shows whether you can offer cash on delivery with this method.

3. Issue a label for your next SMSA order (see below). If the label is issued, the key and service code work.

Set zones and customer prices

Customers see SMSA only in the cities of your zones, and pay the price you set for each zone.

1. On SMSA's page, in Shipping zone customization, select Add shipping zone.

2. Enter a Zone name and select the zone's cities.

3. Under Customer price, choose Flat rate or Weight-based pricing and enter the prices.

4. If the method supports cash on delivery, turn on Cash on delivery (COD) and enter the COD rate customers pay.

5. Select Save.

The zone table appears once SMSA is active. For every field, and how to pause, edit or delete a zone, see Set shipping zones and prices. For how customers pay on delivery, see Offer cash on delivery.

Issue labels and track shipments

You issue SMSA labels from each order, the same way as with any shipping company:

1. Open the order and select Issue shipping label on the shipping company card. The order moves to Ready and the label is issued under your SMSA account.

2. Select Manage shipment > Print label to print it.

3. Select Manage shipment > Order tracking to open SMSA's tracking page in a new tab. You can also send the tracking number on the card to your customer.

SMSA bills you for these shipments under your contract; they don't appear in Zid's wallet or Transactions log. To cancel a label, cancel it with SMSA. See Issue a shipping label and Manage the shipment.

Update your API key or turn SMSA off

Open SMSA's page from View all in the Custom shipping card, then select View. The API key shows as asterisks after you save it.

• To change the key or the service code, enter the new key over the asterisks, or choose another code, and select Update. Leave the asterisks as they are to keep the saved key.

• To stop offering SMSA, select Deactivate and confirm. It disappears from checkout immediately.

• To offer it again, select Activate.

If SMSA labels aren't issued

When you can't mark an order Ready, or no label is issued for an SMSA order, the cause is usually your SMSA account. Check that:

• you pasted the Production key, not the Test key, and copied all of it;

• the service code you chose is one your SMSA contract covers;

• SMSA has activated your e-commerce account and API shipping on it.

Then correct the key or the code on SMSA's page and select Update. If labels still aren't issued, contact your SMSA account manager.

Related

• Custom shipping with your carrier account

• Connect your Aramex account

• Zid Ship shipping methods

• Offer cash on delivery

• Order details

Last updated 2 November 2026