Quote Shipping Rates on WhatsApp with AfterShip Shipping
Yes. AeroChat works directly with AfterShip Shipping. It takes the shopper’s address and the items they want, calculates rates from your carrier accounts through the AfterShip Shipping API, and replies with the services, prices and delivery times you allow.
This recipe answers “how much is shipping to my country?” and “when will it arrive?” with live rates from your own carriers, before the shopper reaches checkout. Part of connecting AfterShip Shipping to WhatsApp and AI chat.
What happens today
A shopper abroad likes a product but does not know what delivery costs. Your shipping page lists zones, not their city. They message you, and someone has to look up the rate in AfterShip Shipping by hand. If the reply comes tomorrow, the cart is often gone.
The flow that works
- The shopper asks about shipping in chat.
- AeroChat asks for the destination and finds the products and their weights in Shopify.
- It calculates rates in AfterShip Shipping with your carrier accounts.
- It replies with up to three services you allow, with price and delivery time, and offers the next step.
What it looks like on WhatsApp
Customer: How much to ship two of the Pine candles to Melbourne, 3000? (example)
AeroChat: For two Pine candles to Melbourne 3000, DHL Express Worldwide is $32.50 and arrives in 3 to 4 business days. FedEx International Economy is $24.10 and arrives in 6 business days. Would you like a link to your cart?
Customer: The FedEx one, thanks.
In AfterShip Shipping: nothing changes. AeroChat calculated rates with your DHL Express and FedEx accounts for the parcel weight and address.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a shopper asks about shipping cost or delivery time, follow these steps.
- Ask for the destination country, city and postal code if they have not given them.
- Find the products they want in our Shopify catalog, with quantities and weights.
- Calculate rates in AfterShip Shipping with our carrier accounts, from our warehouse address to their address.
- Keep only the services listed in the knowledge base, and reply with up to three, each with the price and the delivery date or transit time if the carrier returned one.
- If no rate comes back, say so and give our standard shipping times from the knowledge base.
- Offer the next step, such as a link to the product or the cart.
Rates in chat are a quote for the address given. Say that the final shipping cost shows at checkout. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the warehouse address and the list of services to match your store before you paste it.
What to connect
- Your Shopify store. Built in. Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store and connect your store in the dashboard, so AeroChat knows your products, weights and stock.
- AfterShip Shipping. In your AfterShip Shipping admin, go to Settings and click API Keys to generate a key. Paste it in when AeroChat asks. The labels and rates API is listed on the Pro plan and above (as of November 2026).
- Your knowledge base. Add the carrier services you offer, your free shipping threshold and your standard delivery times, so AeroChat stays within them.
After you paste the recipe, AeroChat builds the workflow as a draft and shows a checklist: connect AfterShip Shipping, add your knowledge base if the recipe uses one, then switch it on. If it built the connection from AfterShip Shipping’s public documentation, the checklist asks you to check it once against the current docs.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- Which carriers and services AeroChat may quote.
- Whether AeroChat mentions your free shipping threshold.
- The packaging weight to add, if your product weights do not include it.
The result to expect
International shoppers get a real shipping price and delivery time in seconds, while they are still deciding. Your team stops looking up rates for every question.
Measure it with your own numbers: shipping questions answered in chat, and orders placed in the same session as the chat, for a month before and after.
Next: see every AfterShip Shipping workflow, including return labels and courier pickups.
Works on every chat channel
This workflow runs the same way on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, the chat on your store and email, with the same AfterShip Shipping connection behind it. See what each channel does on the AfterShip Shipping integration page.
Questions
Are the rates live?
Yes. AeroChat asks AfterShip Shipping to calculate them at the time of the question, with your own carrier accounts and any rates you negotiated with them.
Will the chat price match checkout?
It uses the same carrier accounts, but checkout applies your Shopify shipping settings. The recipe tells AeroChat to say the final cost shows at checkout.
Quote your first shipping rate in chat
Install AeroChat, paste the recipe, add your AfterShip Shipping key, and ask your own chat what delivery to your farthest customer costs.
7-day free trial.