Summary: When Terms is set to Bill Consignee By Account, the account on the shipment must be the consignee's FedEx account. If you entered your own account, FedEx rejects it (sometimes as an account or authentication error). Enter the consignee's account, or switch to Prepaid to bill your own.

Problem

A FedEx shipment fails and looks like an authentication or account problem, but your FedEx credentials are valid and were working. The shipment Terms are set to Bill Consignee By Account.

Cause

Bill Consignee By Account tells FedEx to bill the consignee's (recipient's) FedEx account, so the account number on the shipment has to be the consignee's account. If the account entered is the one registered to your profile (your own account), you are asking FedEx to bill your own account under consignee terms, and FedEx rejects it. The failure can show up as an account or authentication error even though your credentials are fine.

Fix

  1. If you want to bill the consignee, enter the consignee's FedEx account number on the shipment, not the account registered to your profile.
  2. If you want to bill your own account, switch Terms to Prepaid.
  3. Reprocess the shipment and confirm it rates and produces a label.

What you should see

With the consignee's account entered under Bill Consignee By Account, or with Terms set to Prepaid, the shipment processes without the account error.

Related articles

  • Bill a third-party account by Customer Order number (CO#)
  • Prepaid shipment flips to Bill Consignee (invalid account number)