ShippingShipStation and the GDPR: agreement, role and data location.
ShipStation is a shipping tool. Most customers use it as a processor, it publishes its data processing agreement, and the data location depends on your account. Below: what to check and how to declare it.
Prefilled for you · Free to set up · No credit card
In short
- Category
- Shipping
- Usual role
- Usually a processor
- Data location
- Set per account or project
- Agreement
- Published by the vendor
What does ShipStation do with personal data?
Create shipping labels, track parcels and manage deliveries and returns. That is how Privacyboard describes a typical use of ShipStation, as a starting point you can edit.
The data usually involved: recipient names, delivery addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and order details.
Is ShipStation a processor or a controller?
Most customers use ShipStation as a processor: it handles personal data on their instructions, for the purposes they set. That is the common reading for shipping tools and it is what Privacyboard suggests.
As a processor, it needs a written agreement with you under Article 28, and you should know which subprocessors it uses. Confirm the role against your own agreement, because the way you use a tool can change it.
Where does ShipStation store personal data?
ShipStation does not have one fixed location for every customer. The location depends on the plan, the account and the services you enable.
How to find yours: Check your account settings, the address you log in to, or the provider’s data processing terms. Support can tell you if you cannot find it.
Even when the main location is in the EU, ask whether subprocessors or support access involve a transfer outside the EEA, and record it if so.
Which legal basis usually applies to ShipStation?
For the usual use of ShipStation, companies most often rely on performance of a contract (GDPR Article 6(1)). Delivering an order to the customer is part of the contract.
Carriers usually act as independent controllers for delivery itself; tracking emails with marketing content need their own basis.
This is a starting point, not legal advice: the basis belongs to your activity, and you confirm it in your register.
Does ShipStation have a data processing agreement?
Checked on 5 November 2026. Vendors change their pages, so check the date.
Yes. ShipStation publishes the text of its data processing agreement as a PDF on its own website. Article 28 of the GDPR requires a written contract with every processor, so this is the document to read and keep.
What we noted when we opened the page: Auctane Customer Data Processing Agreement v2024-04-18, from ShipStation's parent Auctane; entity is the Auctane company named in the MSA. Products hosted on AWS or GCP, no region named; EU SCCs (Modules 2/3) and UK Addendum; DPF not mentioned.
A page that exists does not mean you are covered. Whether the agreement applies to you depends on your plan and on what you accepted, so record the decision yourself in your vendor list.
Read the ShipStation agreementHow to declare ShipStation
- 1
In your privacy policy
Name ShipStation as a recipient, say what it is used for (create shipping labels, track parcels and manage deliveries and returns) and mention any transfer outside the EEA. Articles 13 and 14 ask you to tell people who receives their data.
- 2
In your vendor list
Add ShipStation with its purpose, the data involved, its role, its region and a link to the agreement. Privacyboard prefills all of this, you confirm or correct it.
- 3
In your processing register
Link ShipStation to the activities that use it, so each record shows its recipients. Article 30 asks the register to list the categories of recipients.
What to check before relying on ShipStation
- List the carriers the tool sends data to, and their role.
- Check that tracking emails stay informational unless the customer agreed to marketing.
- Check how long shipment and address data is kept.
- Record the region and any transfer outside the EEA, including for international carriers.
Go online for free. Grow when you need to.
Free puts you online. Pro adds requests, domains and your team; Business, your brand only.
Free
$0 forever
No card, no time limit
For getting compliant and going online on your own.
Start for freeKey features:
- Privacy and cookie policies
- Vendor and processing registers
- Requests and breaches tracked
- Impact assessment screening
- Privacy center on privacyboard.io
- Cookie banner on 1 domain
- 1 person
No card needed
ProRecommended
$32 per month
Billed $384 a year Save $84
For taking requests, covering all your sites and working as a team.
Start with ProEverything in Free, plus:
- DPA for your clients
- PDF and Excel exports
- Email reminders
- Request form and replies
- Your own domain
- Banner on 3 domains, every choice logged
- Weekly site scan
- Complete DPIAs and TIAs
- AI assistant connector
- Up to 5 people, with roles
Cancel any time
Business
$109 per month
Billed $1,308 a year Save $240
For proving it to customers and auditors, under your brand only.
Start with BusinessEverything in Pro, plus:
- No Privacyboard mention
- Security section and vendor alerts
- Evidence pack in one click
- Banner on 10 domains, daily scan
- Up to 50 people
- Two-step verification required
- Activity log kept 3 years
Bank transfer on request
Questions, answered.
Is ShipStation GDPR compliant?
Privacyboard does not certify vendors. Compliance depends on how ShipStation is configured and used, on the agreement you have with it and on your own practices. What can be checked is documented here: it publishes a data processing agreement, the usual role and the data location. Read the agreement itself before relying on it.
Does ShipStation have a DPA?
Yes. ShipStation publishes the text of its data processing agreement as a PDF on its own website. Article 28 of the GDPR requires a written contract with every processor, so this is the document to read and keep. You can read it at https://auctane.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Auctane-Customer-Data-Processing-Agreement-v2024-04-18.pdf.
Is ShipStation a data processor?
Usually, yes. Most customers use ShipStation as a processor that acts on their instructions. Check your own agreement and how you use the tool, because the role can differ.
Which legal basis applies when I use ShipStation?
For the usual use of ShipStation, companies most often rely on performance of a contract (GDPR Article 6(1)). Delivering an order to the customer is part of the contract. Carriers usually act as independent controllers for delivery itself; tracking emails with marketing content need their own basis.
Where does ShipStation store data?
ShipStation does not have one fixed location for every customer. The location depends on the plan, the account and the services you enable. How to find yours: Check your account settings, the address you log in to, or the provider’s data processing terms. Support can tell you if you cannot find it.
Do I need to mention ShipStation in my privacy policy?
Yes, if ShipStation handles personal data for you. The GDPR asks you to tell people who receives their data (Articles 13 and 14). Name the vendor or its category, say what it is used for and mention any transfer outside the EEA.
How do I add ShipStation to my vendor list?
In Privacyboard, pick ShipStation from the catalog. The purpose, the data, the suggested role and a link to its agreement are prefilled, and you confirm each one. Creating a workspace is free.
Similar tools
Privacyboard is not affiliated with ShipStation. Names and logos belong to their owners and are used only to identify the tool. This page summarises public documents as checked on 1 November 2026; it is guidance, not legal advice, and it does not certify any vendor.