Frequently asked questions

To speak to one of our API account managers, contact us online and we’ll make sure the right person gets back to you. Select Business enquiry as your reason for contact, then fill in your details in the form. Make sure you include the name of the API in your Message, as well as your phone number so we can call you back. Contact us.

Some APIs on the Developer Portal are free to use, including the Locations API. Where fees and subscriptions do apply, our API account managers determine them for each API on a case-by-case basis.

Commercial terms vary depending on the API. You can contact us online to be put in touch with the account manager for the API you’re interested in. Contact us.

You can use our APIs to build different solutions that add value to your online business. For example, if you have an online retail store, you can help your customers manage parcel pick-up by using the Locations API to find their nearest Australia Post outlet or parcel lockers. If you’re a service provider you can use the Bill Management Services API to build a solution that validates and processes Post Billpay payments. To find out how else our APIs can support your business, view our APIs.

Documentation for some of our APIs is on our Developer Centre. They include Shipping and Tracking, Postage Assessment Calculator, Delivery Choices, and SecurePay. Go to the Developer Centre

If a sandbox environment has been set up for your API then it will appear in the Try Out panel under the Target Server field. For a step-by-step guide, check out the How to try out an API tutorial.

If you already have an Australia Post account, you can use it as your Developer Portal account. You may be asked to accept our Terms & Conditions.

If you don’t have an Australia Post account, click or tap Log in in the top-right corner, then Sign up. Enter your email address, click or tap Next and we’ll send you a verification email. Click or tap Continue signup in the email to verify your address, then add a password and click or tap Next. Add your given name and your surname and click or tap Next. Finally, accept the Terms and Conditions and click or tap Sign up.

Click or tap Log in in the top-right corner. Fill in your email address and click or tap Continue. Then fill in your password and click or tap Log in.

Check the documentation for the API you want to use to find out what credentials you need to access its endpoints. To find out more about the credential types supported in our Developer Portal, go to About our APIs.

You can only edit your app’s type if the app doesn’t have any credentials in it. Once a credential is added to an app, you can no longer change the app type.

Some Australia Post APIs are restricted. To access them, you need to put in a request first. Once access to a restricted API is granted by the API owner, you can add an app to get credentials and try the API out.

To request access, click or tap the Request access button on the API’s documentation page. Enter your details into the form and click or tap Submit. The API owner will then review your request.

For most restricted APIs, you need to request access and be approved by the API owner before you can create the credentials needed for them. But to access a restricted API that needs a Client Credentials grant credential, you need to create the credential before you can request access to the API. That’s because you need to provide a Client ID to the API owner as part of your request for access. The Client ID is generated when you create the Client Credentials grant credential. You can only use that credential once access to the API is granted by the API owner.

The number of credentials you can add to an app depends on the app type you choose.

For regular web apps, SPA and native apps, you can add a maximum of three credentials. These apps can store:

• a maximum of one OAuth 2.0 Authorisation Code grant credential
• a maximum of one API Key
• a maximum of one Basic Auth credential.

In machine to machine (M2M) apps, you can add multiple credentials. M2M apps can store: multiple OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials grant credentials, provided they’re for different APIs

• a maximum of one API Key
• a maximum of one Basic Auth credential.

M2M apps can also store:

• a maximum of one OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials grant credential secured in AuthZ, our legacy identity management platform.

The credentials you can add to an app is based on the app type you chose when you created the app. The OAuth 2.0 credential types don’t work across all app types so they don’t appear as an option if you’re in the wrong app type.

The API gateway we use is not configured to support API Key restriction to Android apps currently. This feature may be added in the future.

"tokenUrl": "https://welcome.{optionalSubDomain}.auspost.com.au/oauth/token"

In the Add credential wizard, the API you choose acts as a guide. It helps the wizard display the right credential options for the app you’re in and the API you want to use. For most credential types, the API itself is not associated with the credential. The only exception is where you create an OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials grant credential for an API secured in Auth0. In that instance, the credential card will display the name of the API you choose and you can only use that credential for that particular API.

We’re phasing out the use of OAuth 2.0 Password grant. This means you can’t create new Password grant credentials, but you can still view and use any you previously created.

We throttle usage of our APIs to help us maintain a fair and consistent service to our developer community. Rate limits vary for each API. Check the documentation for the API you want to use to find out what its rate limits are. To find out more about Australia Post API rate limits in general, go to About our APIs.

Some APIs that need a Client Credentials grant credential require you to select scopes when your’e creating the credential. One of the reasons you may get a 403 error is that your credential doesn’t include the correct scope for the endpoint you’re trying to access. Check the API documentation for more information about the scope needed, and then edit your credential if required.

There are several reasons you may get an error when using our APIs. Check specific documentation for each API to see which status codes it returns and why. You can also view a list of common error codes and what they mean.

We keep scheduled outages as brief as possible, and deploy updates when services are in low demand.

You can check API availability on the API status page. It includes:

• current planned and unplanned outages
• upcoming planned maintenance periods when APIs will be unavailable.

If your question isn’t covered in these FAQs, you can send it to us online and we’ll get in contact with you. Select your reason for contact, then fill in your details in the Contact us form. Make sure you include the name of the API in your Message, together with your question. Contact us.