ShipStation

"Test your shipping software - they're not all made the same"

Opmerkingen: I moved from Stamps.com and cut my shipping and customer service time by 80%. I adopted this software at ~15 packages per day because it was more expensive than Stamps.com. Bad move!!! Pay extra for ShipStation from the start.

Pluspunten: I've used ShipStation, ShippingEasy, ShipWorks, Stamps.com, Ordoro, and SolidCommerce with a few clients. My two favorite are ShipStation and ShippingEasy. They both have different strengths - sweat the small stuff because it really makes a difference if you're shipping 200+ packages a day. It's worth using two or more systems and then picking the best. The time spent is worth the effort. I use ShipStation for managing the shipping and customer service from my website, Amazon, Walmart, Jet, Ebay, and Etsy. The application is rock solid. Creating manual orders is simple, as is importing orders and combining shipments. I like that I can place orders on hold and setup future shipments. Other vendors like ShippingEasy cannot do this (yet). We get a fair number or orders that have a bad address and we're able to put orders on hold until we hear back from the customer. This shipping rules and kitting options are fairly robust. It is easy to identify return customers (this is something not done well by other platforms). The UI is very buttoned-up. ShipStation also has a superior "Search Customers" function that will search on 3 and 4 part names, city, state... Some of the other vendors fail here. Having good search reduces customer service time.

Minpunten: There are some things that ShippingEasy does better - e.g. they're a single page application and that means that the interface is super fast. ShipStation is slower as you mover around in the interface. I wish that ShipStation could manage my inventory across marketplaces and I'm in love with how some of the other vendors solicit reviews using marketing/email automation. I hope someday that vendors like ShipStation will also connect to Auth.net or Stripe.com so that we can Auth and Settle New Manual Orders. It takes a bit longer to learn ShipStation but if you're running a larger/complicated business you'll come to appreciate the power that comes with the complexity.

"With ShipStation, I know there is someone on the other end that cares about my experience"

Pluspunten: • I was assigned a specific person as my customer service representative, and when I called with an issue, one of the customer rep picked up the phone and answered my question on the spot; meaning, I didn't have to dial a ton of menu options or wait on hold at all to speak with a person. She is also very responsive to emails. We tend to look at websites and applications as faceless businesses, but with ShipStation I know there is someone on the other end that cares about my experience. • Integrates seamlessly with Squarespace Commerce account • Automatically marks order fulfilled when a shipping label is printed • Connects to printer easier than Stamps.com

Minpunten: • Have to load balances instead of paying for what you use as you go. I encountered this with Stamps.com as well, but it is annoying because I have to make cash flow considerations when all I need is a few extra dollars to print a label. • Cannot edit manual orders, need to delete and re-create an order if changing quantity or amount of a product. • I "chose" ShipStation because it was the only shipping option that would integrate with Squarespace. Most of my issues were encountered while trying to transition from Stamps.com to become familiar with the new platform. Though very similar, ShipStation INITIALLY felt like a clunkier, gaudier version of the same thing. Thankfully, they've recently made some positive design changes. However, there are still some quirky user interface aspects, including:
— animated "help/info" bubbles (which I just figured out how to hide).
— In Stamps.com, I was able to see if my thermal printer was connected (or visible to the website) before clicking "print" — which, when I click, charges the postage to my account regardless if the label actually printed. In ShipStation, I have to click "print" without knowing if the website is able to send the job to the printer. This has resulted in additional postage billed to my account because I clicked "print." I then have to wait for that amount to be refunded in my account. Though I should add, I rarely have printer connection issues with ShipStation, whereas it used to be the bane of my Stamps.com experience.
— Stamps.com also made it easy to see all the USPS shipping options and rates at a glance, while viewing an order. In ShipStation, I either have to select a service, then an option from within that service or open up a separate rate calculator. This makes it harder to find the lowest shipping fee/service or fastest method for its value when modifying individual orders.

"Saves so much time on shipment processing"

Opmerkingen: Shipstation has enabled us to have a centralized location that all orders flow through (most are linked, some are imported manually). The ability to create a shipment, receive a quote, batch orders, purchase and print labels, track packages and process returns in one program is literally the largest saver of time and money for my business.

Pluspunten: Shipstation was not the first shipment software I tried but it will definitely be the last. The platform is perfect for busy online retailers. At times, I was shopping 2,000 packages a day and shipstation handled it like a boss.

Minpunten: At times, it can be difficult to reach the account manager assigned to our account. When customers depend on the shipment estimations we provide, we can’t afford software issues that go unresolved for any length of time.

"Shipstation Changed My Life"

Opmerkingen: We started with shipstation when our small online shop was shipping well under 100 items a month. I'd tried a few other softwares, and none of them compared. Now, our business has grown many, many times over, and shipstation has scaled with us without a hitch. It's incredibly easy to use, integrates wonderfully with our online storefront, ebay, etc... I've recommended it to many, many people over the years, and I really can't imagine running my business without it!

Pluspunten: Ease of use and feature richness. We had tried a couple of other shipping systems for our online shop, and none were as intuitive and user friendly as Shipstation. We were able to get up and running very quickly when we first started, and now, many years later, I've learned much of the the deep functionality that lays beneath the simple surface.

Minpunten: I had to think a while, but I do with the dashboard reporting was a bit clearer and easier to read. There are a couple of widgets on there that I have still to figure out quite how to read.

"Shipstation is great software for the price, but it has its limitations"

Opmerkingen: Shipstation is great, but as you scale out your business you will most likely need to move to a more robust WMS. For many start up companies that do not have a lot of inventory or a high volume of SKU's, Shipstation will provide a powerful tool that can help speed up fulfillment and release many of the frustration of shipping product while not costing you huge amounts of money.

Pluspunten: Shipstation is great for companies that are looking for a label printing solution for there shopping carts. Shipstation is able to handle high volumes of orders and allows for labels to be pre-printed, which can greatly increase the fulfillment time. There are pretty good filtering options that can lead to more efficiencies when printing that can save time with your fulfillment team. Shipstation integrates with many different platforms fairly seamlessly, which allows for more diversity in the ever growing number of platforms that are out there. They are also constantly adding new platforms that can integrated with. I think the fact that this software is user friendly and efficient in its design makes this software a worthwhile investment for those that need a better shipping solution.

Minpunten: The issues that we have run into with this software as we have scaled to processing over 3000 shipments a day are too many holes which can cause many opportunities for errors, processing speeds, and lack of flexibility. When you are processing up to 3000 orders a day problems flesh themselves out quickly. One issue that has arisen is the inability to hold people accountable when errors occur. For example, since the labels are pre-printed there is not a simple to way to know who misshiped an order when it is sent incorrectly to a customer. On top of that, since the labels are pre-print there is no way to verify through software on the outbound that a shipment is correct. You have to trust that your team is packing order correctly, which is guaranteed to cause problems regardless. There is also the possibility that labels can be double printed or not printed at all since labels are processed and then a PDF is created to print orders. This has been costly for us an multiple occasions, which is hardly preventable no matter who you have printing. Due to the fact that Shipstation is cloud based this can cause issues with processing speeds. We have seen hang ups (especially on Mondays) that cause the whole team to be slowed down due. The other issue with cloud based system is the lack of flexibility for Shipstation to be customized to how you would like it. If changes are made they have to be made globally, which can take a while or just simply cannot happen altogether.