eSHIP FAQs

The primary advantage of the system is to minimize the University’s risk associated with moving hazardous or other regulated materials and to ensure compliance with safety and other mandates.  The online system also offers benefits to all Penn shippers including allowing users to:

• Choose from a variety of carriers (UPS, FedEx and DHL) to determine which carrier best meets their specific needs
• Shop and compare costs to ensure that Schools and Centers receive the best carrier price available as shippers leverage the University negotiated pricing
• Track shipments from an integrated at-a-glance dashboard, regardless of the carrier used to ship the package
• Preprint shipping labels

To use the system you must be designated as an Authorized Shipper by a business administrator in your school or center. This designation is one component of a Shipping Hierarchy established for each School or Center, beginning with Senior Business Administrators who play an oversight role for express shipping activities and assign Department Administrators.  These individuals then name the department Allocators. The Allocators authorize departmental shippers and ensure that all related shipping expenses are allocated correctly. 

eShip@Penn is easy to use and is designed to be intuitive. For faculty and staff that perform routine business shipping, training information comprised of a series of short videos. These training materials, along with the FAQs, are also available in the eShip@Penn Help tab, should you need assistance while working inside the system.

For those users who must follow the guidelines associated with regulated or hazardous shipping, required training is available via KnowledgeLink or by contacting Environmental Health and Radiation Safety at ehrs@ehrs.upenn.edu or 215.898.4453.  If you are shipping internationally, please make sure you are in compliance with export control laws.  For more information contact the Office of Research Services at www.upenn.edu/researchservices/exportcontrols.

 Use your PennKey and password to authenticate and log-in to eShip@Penn.  You can access eShip from Penn Mail Services website Shippers page, or from any computer worldwide.

To order supplies, visit to our Supplies Page.  

The User Profile consists of each shipper’s individual campus address information.

The eShip@Penn Address Book allows you to store all of your recipients, along with all of your shipping defaults.  There is both a Sender's Address Book, and a Recipients Address book.

At the Shipping Screen, simply select a contact from your address book in the Ship To pull down, rather than re-entering that recipient’s information each you time you want to send that person a package.

 eShip@Penn provides shippers the option to import frequently used shipping addresses.  From the main Shipping Screen, click on Address Book – Import Addresses.  Enter the location of your address in your address book or click Browse to search for it.  Select your address book format (i.e. – Microsoft Outlook).  Click Import to import the file.  The imported addresses will be saved to your address book.

You may also download the Address Import Users Guide by clicking on Address Book in the top navigation bar, followed by Import Addresses.  Users will then be instructed how to download the guide should they wish to do so.

 From the “Address Book” Menu item,  select either Recipient or Sender's Address Book.  Click on New found at the top of the page.  You can then enter the contact and address information, required fields are indicated with an asterisk.  If you want to be able to Ship From this location (additional Sender), check the From Location box.   You may also pre-validate the address from the link provided.  Both Domestic and International addresses may be populated. There is an information link for Address Format, helpful for International addressing.  Complete the form, then click Save.

Similar to how you add a new contact, you can update information saved in your address book. Go to either your Recipient or Sender's Address Book.  Select the address to change, then click Edit.  Proceed with making your changes, then click Save Changes.  Your changes will be saved to your address book.  You may also copy and update an existing address to create a new contact, without modifying the original record.  Select the address record to copy as above, make changes, then select Save as Copy, instead.

After entering a new shipping address on the Domestic or International Shipping Screen, you can save it to your address book. Click the Save button located at the bottom of the screen.  The information you entered will now be saved as a new contact.

You can also save addresses to your address book from the Ship screen. After entering the address, simply click the save button and it will automatically be added to your Address Book.

The Delete button is found at the bottom of the Address Book page.  Select the contact(s) or recipient(s) you would like to delete, confirm your choice, and then click Delete.  Once an address is deleted, it is NOT recoverable.

eShip@Penn features a QuickShip option that can be used when you ship the same package repeatedly to the same recipient. To initially create a QuickShip profile, after inputting all your address information and shipping preferences, check the Save/Update box on the shipping screen, and assign a name.  To load an existing QuickShip profile, simply select a saved profile name from the drop down on the Shipping screen, and it will pre-populate all your previously saved shipping criteria. You can also go directly to the QuickShip Menu item, click on the saved profile name link to  immediately open and populate the Shipping screen.