Articles on: Integrations

Integrate Zoho Inventory with AfterShip Tracking

Overview


Zoho Inventory is a cloud-based inventory and order management system for small to medium businesses. It helps track stock, manage sales and purchases, fulfill orders, and streamline shipping. The software integrates with e-commerce platforms, shipping carriers, and accounting tools like Zoho Books and QuickBooks. With features like barcode scanning and warehouse management, it improves efficiency, reduces errors, and enables real-time tracking of inventory and shipments across multiple channels.


AfterShip Tracking is a shipment tracking service. It allows fetching and updating realā€‘time status of shipments across 1200+ carriers globally. This reduces manual tracking work for businesses shipping many orders per day.


Integrating Zoho Inventory with AfterShip Tracking allows merchants to fetch and update the real-time status of your shipments from the respective carriers. This serves as alternative to the manual method of tracking shipments for medium to large businesses that ships thousands of orders each day.


Benefits


  • Automatically fetch shipment status from the courier and update in Zoho Inventory.
  • Send notifications via email or SMS to both you (the seller) and your customer.
  • See shipment timelines/status updates inside Zoho Inventory (e.g. ā€œIn Transitā€, ā€œDeliveredā€, etc.).
  • View tracking details and history. Also the ability to mark shipments manually as delivered if automatic status isnā€™t updated correctly


How it works


  • Once realā€‘time tracking is enabled, AfterShip gets the tracking ID from Zoho Inventory, sends it to the courier, receives status updates, and feeds them back into Zoho Inventory.
  • Simultaneously, customers are notified by email or SMS about shipment location/status.


Setting up the integration


  1. Sign in to your Zoho Inventory account.
  2. Go to Settings, scroll down to Integrations & Marketplaces, then Shipping.


Zoho Inventory gives two options:




1. Use Zohoā€™s readily available AfterShip account


  • If you donā€™t have an account with AfterShip, you can use our readily available account to track your shipments.
  • Click the Activate Now button to establish the integration instantly. This method does not require you to sign up or verify accounts.
  • The tracking charges will be included as part of the Zoho Inventory subscription plan.


Note: a. To comply with the new SCC regulations, this option is not available for customers in the European Union.b. Zoho Inventory only shares the tracking ID, carrier name and shipper account number (for selective carriers) with AfterShip. In this case, you will receive all the shipment related emails through Zoho Inventory and not AfterShip. This will help safeguard the personally identifiable information of your clients.


2. Connect your own AfterShip account


  • If you already have an AfterShip account, you can add its API key in Zoho Inventory settings. You can generate the API key in AfterShip by following the procedure as stated in this link.
  • If you choose to integrate your AfterShip account, the charges incurred will be settled by you as a direct payment to AfterShip based on the plan you select.
  • With your own account, you gain additional benefits:


a. View shipments marked for tracking in your AfterShip account.

b. Send both email and SMS tracking notifications.

c. Customize email and SMS notifications content.


In this mode, Zoho shares both your and your customerā€™s contact info, shipment details, and possibly shipper account number (for selective carriers) with AfterShip. Both you and your customer will receive status updates directly from AfterShip.


Tracking a shipment


This integration works only for manual shipments.


To track a shipment in Zoho Inventory:


  1. Open a confirmed sales order.
  2. Go to Create shipment. Create New package and add the packing slip number. Click Save and ship. Click Ship again or, from the main sales order page, select Create Shipment again, then Ship Manually. A New Shipment page will open. 
  3. Enable Track this shipment in realā€‘time?. Doing so will populate all the AfterShip supported professional carriers. 



  1. Choose a carrier supported by AfterShip.
  2. Enter tracking ID, select carrier, and fill customer contact info for notifications.
  3. Save to create the package slip and tracking details.


To enable tracking on an existing shipment:


  1. Open an untracked shipment.
  2. Click Enable realā€‘time tracking.




  1. Provide the tracking details.
  2. Specify the contact details of the customer to which the status notifications should be sent.



  1. Click Save to start tracking the shipment.


Viewing the shipment status


  1. Open a tracked shipment.
  2. Click the View Tracking Status option. (Note: The same button appears as Shipment Timeline for shipments that are marked as Delivered.)
  3. A tab opens on the right where you can view the current location and the complete timeline of a shipment.



  1. You can also click the Tracking URL to view the status on the carrierā€™s website.



  1. If you integrate your own AfterShip account with Zoho Inventory, you can view shipments marked for tracking directly in your AfterShip Tracking dashboard. This allows you to see shipment statuses and manage tracking notifications.



AfterShip Tracking dashboard


Updating/deleting tracking details


To edit tracking details (carrier, tracking number, shipper account number, tracking key):


  1. In your Zoho admin, Go to Packages.
  2. Select the shipped package with AfterShip tracking.
  3. Click the pencil icon next to View Tracking Status.
  4. Make the edits and click Save.


To delete tracking details:


  • Use the trash icon next to the pencil icon.





These changes are reflected in AfterShip if you're using your own AfterShip account. If youā€™re using the shared Zoho AfterShip account, you may need to remove outdated info from AfterShip manually.


Deactivating the integration


  • In your Zoho admin, go to Settings > Integrations > Shipping.
  • Under AfterShip, click Deactivate.




Updated on: 18/09/2025