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Prepaid FedEx labels

Dispatch Lanes creates FedEx labels paid from your organization's prepaid balance. Every label is charged at the price quoted before purchase: base transportation plus every predictable surcharge, itemized. The weekly FedEx invoice is reconciled against exactly what you were quoted, and nothing is ever adjusted silently.

Turning label creation on (onboarding)​

Label creation stays disabled until an organization admin or owner completes the one-time onboarding at Dispatch Lane > Set up label creation (/dispatch-lane/onboarding). If someone tries to buy a label first, the error links straight to the wizard.

The wizard is resumable, and progress autosaves after every step:

  1. Welcome & plan review: what prepaid labels include on your plan.
  2. Terms: accept the label service terms. The exact version and content you accepted are recorded.
  3. Automatic funding consent: authorize your saved payment method for balance recharges and Tuesday reconciliation settlement.
  4. Payment method: add a card or bank account (Stripe-hosted; card details never touch Orderly). Bank verification can take a few days and shows as pending.
  5. Starting balance: add your first funds so labels purchase instantly.
  6. Automatic recharge: pick the threshold and refill amount.
  7. Warehouse: at least one warehouse with a complete street address and ZIP (this is the ship-from on labels and rates).
  8. Label preferences: confirm 4x6 thermal or 8.5x11 letter labels and packing slips (managed later in Order Settings).
  9. Review & activate: a final checklist verified against real state: recorded acceptances, the saved payment method, an actually-funded balance, and the warehouse. Ticking boxes alone never activates.

After activation the whole team can rate, assign, and buy labels in the Dispatch Lane. Payment method, balance, and recharge settings stay manageable in Billing.

How you're charged​

  • At purchase: the quoted amount, itemized on the shipment as the Original prepaid charge, is held before FedEx is ever called and captured from your prepaid balance when the label is created. Quotes expire after 30 minutes; expired quotes must be re-rated, never silently repriced.
  • Weekly reconciliation: the Orderly team receives and processes the weekly FedEx invoice for you. Every line is matched to your shipments and repriced through your locked rate card using the carrier's actual facts (billed weight, invoiced zone, real surcharges such as an address correction). If the reconciled price is higher than what you prepaid, the exact difference appears on the shipment as Additional amount due, with plain-language reasons (for example "Carrier billed a different weight than quoted").
  • Tuesday settlement: additional amounts settle from your prepaid balance every Tuesday. If the balance is short, your automatic recharge tops it up first. Settled and upcoming amounts are listed under Billing > Carrier reconciliation, exportable as CSV.

Where to see it​

  • Shipments: open any row for the Billing card. Operational and billing status side by side, the money ladder (original prepaid charge, carrier reconciliation, additional amount due, total paid, outstanding), quoted vs invoiced zone, itemized components, and invoice cycles.
  • Dispatch Lane > Labels: billing status column and a full CSV export.
  • Billing > Carrier reconciliation: weekly import reports, upcoming Tuesday settlements, settled history, and the full billing export (every charge, carrier invoice line, and adjustment per shipment as CSV).

API​

Everything above is available programmatically (amounts in integer minor units with an explicit currency):

  • GET /api/v1/label-onboarding: session, authoritative requirements
  • POST /api/v1/label-onboarding/steps/{step}, POST .../accept-terms, POST .../activate
  • GET /api/v1/billing/reconciliation/invoices/{id}: import report
  • GET /api/v1/billing/reconciliation/export: full billing export (CSV; optional from/to date filters, default last 90 days)
  • GET /api/v1/billing/reconciliation/adjustments: Tuesday queue and history
  • GET /api/v1/billing/reconciliation/shipments/{shipmentId}: itemized shipment billing

A shipment can be delivered operationally while still awaiting_carrier_invoice financially, and a late carrier fee (such as an address correction billed weeks later) reopens billing on a paid shipment. It shows as a new invoice cycle, never a mutation of the original charge.