Overview

ShipStream Data Border is a secure API gateway that sits between Amazon's Selling Partner API (SP-API) and your Warehouse Management System (WMS). It acts as a "data border" over which sensitive Amazon data cannot pass—or may only pass under controlled circumstances.

The Problem

When you integrate with Amazon's marketplace to fulfill orders, your WMS needs:

• Order details - Items, quantities, shipping service levels
• Customer addresses - To generate shipping labels and route packages
• Tracking updates - To confirm shipments and update Amazon

But Amazon has strict requirements for how Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is handled:

• PII access must be logged and auditable
• Data must be tagged with its origin source
• Systems must detect and prevent suspicious access patterns
• Customer data should be minimized and protected

Building all of this into your WMS is complex, error-prone, and requires ongoing compliance work.

The Solution

Data Border handles the complexity so your WMS doesn't have to.

graph TB
    subgraph "Your Infrastructure"
        WMS[WMS Application]
        DeviceHub[Device Hub / Printers]
    end
    
    subgraph "ShipStream Data Border"
        ADB[Data Border Gateway]
        Storage[(Secure Storage)]
        Logs[(Audit Logs)]
    end
    
    subgraph "External"
        Amazon[Amazon SP-API]
        Carrier[Carrier APIs]
    end
    
    WMS -->|"Scrubbed Data"| ADB
    ADB -->|"Real PII"| Amazon
    ADB -->|"Real PII"| Carrier
    ADB -->|"Labels with PII"| Storage
    ADB -->|"Labels"| DeviceHub
    ADB -->|"All PII Access"| Logs

Your WMS communicates with Data Border using placeholders instead of real customer data. Data Border:

1. Fetches the real PII from Amazon when needed
2. Injects it into carrier requests to generate labels
3. Stores original labels with PII securely
4. Returns scrubbed responses to your WMS
5. Sends labels directly to printers via Device Hub

Key Benefits

Simplified Compliance

• Automatic audit logging - Every PII access is recorded with order ID, timestamp, IP, and context
• Data attribution - All data tagged with sp-api origin for Amazon compliance
• Suspicious activity detection - Alerts on unusual access patterns (e.g., accessing shipped orders)
• Rate limiting - Built-in throttling prevents abuse

Reduced Risk

• PII minimization - Your WMS never sees customer addresses (unless explicitly requested)
• Encrypted storage - Amazon tokens encrypted with AES-256-GCM
• No backups needed - In a disaster, just redeploy and re-authenticate sellers
• Isolated secrets - Each seller's tokens encrypted with a unique secret

Seamless Integration

• Placeholder-based API - Simple request format with {{ship_to_name}}, {{ship_to_address1}}, etc.
• Multiple carrier support - EasyPost, ShipStation, Shippo, UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL
• Device Hub printing - Labels sent directly to printers, bypassing your WMS
• OAuth flow handling - Seller authentication managed end-to-end

Architecture

Data Border is designed as a stateless gateway with minimal data persistence:

What's Stored?

Data Border stores the minimum data required:

• Tenant configuration - WMS name, redirect URLs, Device Hub settings
• Seller records - Amazon seller IDs, encrypted refresh tokens
• Audit logs - PII access records for compliance
• Labels - Unredacted shipping labels (for reprinting)

What's NOT stored:

• Customer PII (fetched on-demand from Amazon)
• Amazon access tokens (generated per-request)
• Your WMS credentials or secrets

Next Steps