Summary: FedEx returns "Unauthorized Status. 401 Response" when the FedEx API username and password (Client ID and Client Secret) stored in Shipstore no longer match FedEx, usually after someone regenerated them. Enter the current FedEx credentials in Shipstore.

Problem

FedEx shipments or rate requests fail on one or more stations with an error like the one below, with a Source of FedEx. It often starts right after someone regenerates or rotates the FedEx API keys, for example regenerating a Client Secret in the FedEx developer portal for another project.

Unauthorized Status. 401 Response

Cause

FedEx gives each project on your account a Client ID (API Key) and a Client Secret. Shipstore stores those and uses them to get a short-lived login token for every FedEx call. If the Client Secret is regenerated, or the stored credentials change or expire on the FedEx side, FedEx rejects the calls with a 401. Because one FedEx account can hold several projects, regenerating one project's key somewhere else can quietly break the key Shipstore uses.

How to check: Ask whoever manages your FedEx developer account whether the Client ID or Client Secret was changed recently.

Fix

  1. Confirm with whoever manages the FedEx developer account whether the Client ID or Client Secret was regenerated or changed.
  2. Get the current Client ID and Client Secret for the FedEx project Shipstore uses.
  3. In Shipstore, open the FedEx account settings and enter the updated Client ID and Client Secret, then click Save.
  4. Run a test rate or shipment to confirm FedEx returns a rate and a label with no 401.
  5. Going forward, keep a FedEx project and key set aside just for Shipstore, so regenerating another project's key does not affect it.

What you should see

A test FedEx rate returns a price and a label prints with no 401, and all affected stations can ship FedEx again.

Related articles

  • Re-register your FedEx accounts for the new FedEx API
  • FedEx account number or third-party validation errors