The moment it happens

Hear about failed or returned Shippo parcels

You get an email the moment a tracked package fails delivery or starts heading back to you.

Runs: The moment it happens
Apps: Shippo
AI: Not needed
Access: live API token

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: whenever a Shippo-tracked shipment changes to FAILURE or RETURNED, email me the tracking number, carrier and last status message.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

Add to ChatGPT Add to Claude

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

An online shop ships a few hundred parcels a week through different carriers, and a small percentage go wrong: the carrier cannot deliver, the address is wrong, a package is returned to sender. The customer finds out first, by wondering why nothing has arrived, and writes in annoyed. The shop learns of the problem only when tracking is checked or the complaint comes in, by which time several days have been lost and a replacement or refund is already overdue.

Shippo sends a tracking update event whenever a shipment's status changes. The automation receives it the moment it arrives, keeps only failure, returned and similar exception statuses, and sends you an alert with the tracking number, carrier and status. It stays silent for normal progress updates. Small online merchants and fulfillment teams use it to catch delivery problems before customers complain.

What you get out of it

Customers hear from you first
Contacting a customer about a failed delivery before they ask feels like good service. A short message with options usually keeps a customer, where silence followed by a complaint often loses them.
Returns are spotted at once
A parcel on its way back to you can be handled quickly, with a corrected address and a reshipment. Each day saved shortens the time the customer waits for goods they have already paid for.
Carrier problems become visible
If one carrier produces many exceptions in a week, the alerts reveal it. You can raise it with the carrier or move volume to another one, rather than absorbing the cost silently.
Fewer lost-package disputes
Alerts include tracking details at the moment of failure, which helps with claims. Filing a claim promptly, with evidence, improves your chance of being reimbursed for the lost shipment. A claim filed the day a parcel fails, with tracking details attached, is likelier to be paid.
Support spends less time hunting
Instead of checking tracking for each complaint, the team already has a list of failures. Responding to a customer takes a minute, because the details are in the alert. Support answers 'where is my order' in a minute, because the failure is already listed with its details.

How it works

What happens, step by step

When the tracking status of a Shippo parcel changes, Shippo tells ClickRuntime straight away.
ClickRuntime ignores normal updates and only acts when delivery has failed or the parcel is being returned.
You get an email with the tracking number, the carrier and the latest update, so you can contact the customer.

Before it runs live

Connect Shippo
Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens

Hear about failed or returned Shippo parcelsjust nowSucceeded

Email · Shipment returnedShipment returned: 9400111899223857612345 Carrier: usps · Last update: Return to sender, addressee unknown

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other Shippo steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

delivery_exception_alert.pyexample

from clickruntime import on_event, notify

@on_event
def handle(event):
    body = event.json or {}
    if body.get("event") != "track_updated":
        return {"skipped": True}
    data = body["data"]
    status = data["tracking_status"]
    if status["status"] not in ("FAILURE", "RETURNED"):
        return {"status": status["status"]}
    notify.email_me(f"Shipment {status['status'].lower()}: {data['tracking_number']}",
                    f"Carrier: {data['carrier']}\nTracking: {data['tracking_number']}\nLast update: {status['status_details']}")
    return {"alerted": data["tracking_number"]}

FAQ

Common questions

Which tracking statuses trigger an alert?

Shippo reports statuses such as FAILURE and RETURNED, as well as UNKNOWN. The automation keeps those and ignores normal ones like TRANSIT and DELIVERED. You can add or remove statuses to match what you care about.

How do I connect Shippo to this automation?

In Shippo's API settings add a webhook for track updated events and paste the link ClickRuntime gives you; Shippo then posts every status change to the automation. Use Shippo's test mode to send a sample tracking update and confirm the alert appears before you rely on it.

Can the alert go to my customer as well as to me?

It can send an email to the customer if the shipment data includes their address, and you approve that behavior in the setup. Many merchants prefer to alert themselves first and contact customers after reviewing the case.

What permissions does it need?

live API token. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run for each event the app sends.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Daily