Your art store already has its own checkout, catalogue and customers. You need a way to turn those sales into printed orders without copying addresses, attaching artwork and checking every dispatch by hand.
Our print on demand API connects your own store or software to PrintShrimp. Look up current fulfilment costs, save artwork, create pending orders and retrieve tracking from your code. We print, frame, pack and ship directly to your buyers, white label.
You keep control of the storefront and customer relationship. We handle the physical orders—with no monthly fulfilment fee or minimum order quantity, and API access on every account plan.
Keep your storefront. Connect the fulfilment behind it.
If you have built a custom art shop, your printing service should fit the way you sell. Our API lets you connect your existing checkout and order process rather than rebuild your business around another storefront.
It supports the core jobs a print seller needs:
- Get current costs: request pricing by delivery country and product size.
- Save print files: create products with a SKU and artwork for each size you sell.
- Create orders: send the delivery details and products to PrintShrimp.
- Control payment: review pending orders yourself or use wallet auto-pay for ready API orders.
- Retrieve progress: check order status and collect tracking once an order ships.
The API is available on Free as well as paid plans. Start with the API documentation in Tools → Developer after creating your account.
Connect to wall art products your customers can choose from
A useful integration needs products worth selling. We specialise in poster print on demand, art prints, Fine Art prints and ready-to-hang framed prints.
Our Premium paper is archival grade, at least 200gsm and 260gsm in most locations, with matte, satin and gloss finishes for unframed prints.
For a finished wall art option, our framed prints come in Black, White or Oak pine frames with shatter-resistant plexiglass. We insert the artwork and deliver the frame ready to hang, with a hanging kit included. Framed prints use matte paper.
Your integration can order the same saved artwork as a print or framed print, without creating a separate artwork product for every frame colour. Product availability and sizes depend on the destination, so use the pricing response to decide which options to offer.
1. Look up current costs instead of hard-coding them
Use GET /api-get-pricing with the buyer’s delivery country to retrieve current GBP prices by size for prints, frames and Fine Art where available. The response also includes shipping and VAT information.
The practical benefit: your store can check the relevant fulfilment cost before submitting an order, rather than rely on an old price copied into your code.
Standard shipping is included for prints and frames delivered to the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and our listed EU countries. Rest of World deliveries have a separate shipping charge. Check our current pricing and regional production and delivery estimates when planning your store’s retail prices and delivery promises.
In the API response, a null product price means that format is not offered in that size for the destination. Your checkout can use that information to avoid offering an unavailable combination.
2. Save artwork once and order by SKU
For an established catalogue, saved products keep repeat orders straightforward. Use POST /api-create-product to save a design under a unique product SKU, with an artwork URL for each size you want to fulfil.
For example, a mountain illustration could have one product SKU and saved files for A4 and A3. When an A3 order arrives, your integration sends the product SKU and A3 size. We use that exact saved size file.
API matching is exact: SKU capitals must match, and the ordered size needs its own saved file. We do not substitute another size’s artwork or use AI to guess the design on API orders. Check saved products with GET /api-get-product before submitting orders.
You do not have to migrate your whole catalogue at once. Add products as you go, replace artwork or add sizes with PUT /api-update-product. For one-off designs, order creation also accepts a public HTTPS artwork URL instead of a saved SKU.
3. Create pending orders with a clear review point
POST /api-create-order creates an unpaid pending order in PrintShrimp. Your request supplies the buyer’s address, product sizes and either saved SKUs or artwork URLs, plus the appropriate paper or frame choices.
One request creates one order with up to 50 print items after any bundles are expanded. That makes it possible to send a customer’s multi-print basket as one order rather than split it into separate purchases.
Always send a unique external_order_number. This links the PrintShrimp order to your own sale and protects against duplicate API submissions. If a retry returns an “already exists” error, look up that order instead of creating another under a new reference.
For a new connection, leave auto-pay off and inspect your pending orders before payment. Check the artwork, size, format and address, then pay to send the order forward. Paid orders can enter production quickly, so this review belongs before payment—not afterwards.
4. Use wallet auto-pay when your orders are ready
Once your connection is working as intended, wallet auto-pay removes the need to approve every routine API order manually.
In Settings → Order Automation, turn on Auto-pay from wallet and choose a delay: Immediately, 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours or 24 hours. Auto-pay runs every 15 minutes and pays ready API orders after your chosen delay, provided the wallet covers the batch.
Orders missing artwork, pricing or other required details wait for attention rather than being paid automatically. Auto-pay uses your prepaid wallet, never your card.
For personalised artwork, only submit the order when the final file is ready, or keep manual payment in place. Your code manages the order details; we make and deliver the finished print.
5. Poll for status and tracking
Use GET /api-get-order to retrieve an order by its PrintShrimp ID or your external order number. Your store can follow it from Pending through payment and production to Shipped, then collect the tracking number and courier.
Build around polling: we do not send webhooks. Check status and tracking every 30–60 minutes, then use the returned information to update your own order page or customer messages.
Production and delivery estimates depend on the destination and product. Frames take longer to produce than some unframed prints, so use the regional estimates rather than promising one turnaround for every order.
Launch your connection with control, then automate
A straightforward rollout keeps your existing shop running while you introduce PrintShrimp:
- Create your account and API key. Generate the key in Tools → Developer and keep it in a server-side secret store, never storefront code or a public repository.
- Add a small selection of designs. Save the exact size files and check that product lookups return the expected artwork.
- Check pricing and pending orders. Confirm destination availability, shipping and order details with auto-pay off.
- Connect status polling. Decide how your store will display progress and communicate tracking.
- Expand and enable auto-pay where appropriate. Move more of your catalogue across once the workflow is working.
Every API key is live: there is no sandbox or test mode. Orders created through the API are real pending orders, and with auto-pay enabled they can be paid, printed and shipped. Keep unpaid trial submissions clearly identified and delete them when finished.
Put PrintShrimp behind your art store
You have already built the part customers see. Connect it to fulfilment that lets you sell posters and framed prints without managing physical stock or handling the packing yourself.
Create your free PrintShrimp account, open the API documentation and connect your first designs. You keep designing, listing, marketing and looking after your customers. We print, frame, pack and ship their orders.
