Every Wednesday, we will be talking about fulfillment tools, processes and tips that make merchants ship faster. We will be reviewing the top shipping apps in the market - ShipStation, Shippo, ShippingEasy by their pricing, features and supported carriers / shopping carts. In general shipping apps automatically import orders at different sales channels in one place, allowing you to calculate rates and generate labels easily, and get a cheaper shipping rates at the app.
General features of Shipping Apps
- Import orders from shopping carts / marketplaces
- Print labels in bulk (batch)
- Update tracking numbers at shopping carts / marketplaces
- Calculate rates
- Address Verification
- Print return label
- Print packing slip
- Support international shipping (invoice, customs forms)
Quick Overview
| ShipStation | Shipping Easy | Shippo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $25-$145 per month | Free to $149 per month | $0.05 per label |
| Shopping Carts / Marketplaces | 50 | 33 | 9 |
| Carriers | 23 | 6 | 16 |
| Popular for | Rich features, shipping automation, multiple users, mobile app | Free plan for <50 orders per month, free $15.95 USPS endicia premium account | Cheap USPS rates, easy-to-use interface |
Step 1: Check which shopping cart / marketplace they support
Before you decide which shipping app to use, ask which channels you're selling at. Below you can find a quick summary of which shopping carts and marketplaces ShipStation, Shippo and ShippingEasy support.
| ShipStation | Shipping Easy | Shippo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shopify | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bigcommerce | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Magento | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Etsy | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| eBay | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Volution | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 3dCart | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Yahoo! Stores | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Ecwid | ✓ | ✓ | |
| WooCommerce | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Storenvy | ✓ | ✓ | |
| X-Cart | ✓ | ✓ | |
| PrestaShop | ✓ | ✓ | |
| OpenCart | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Spree | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Big Cartel | ✓ | ||
| Squarespace | ✓ | ||
| Square | ✓ | ||
| Miva | ✓ | ||
| Spark Pay | ✓ | ||
| Celery | ✓ | ||
| Soldsie | ✓ | ||
| Zoey | ✓ | ||
| Zen Cart | ✓ | ||
| LemonStand | ✓ | ||
| Goodsie | ✓ | ||
| CS-Cart | ✓ | ||
| Shopping Cart Elite | ✓ | ||
| Sophio | ✓ | ||
| MijoShop | ✓ | ||
| UltraCart | ✓ | ||
| FoxyCart | ✓ | ||
| Highwire | ✓ | ||
| AmeriCommerce | ✓ | ||
| Sears | ✓ | ||
| QuickBooks | ✓ | ||
| PayPal | ✓ | ||
| Jane | ✓ | ||
| Newegg.com | ✓ | ||
| Eleventh Venue | ✓ | ||
| SolidCommerce | ✓ | ||
| Stithlabs | ✓ | ||
| GREAT.LY | ✓ | ||
| OneSaas | ✓ | ||
| SynCommerce | ✓ | ||
| Scout | ✓ | ||
| Moolah | ✓ | ||
| Amosoft | ✓ | ||
| AaaTex | ✓ | ||
| GoDaddy | ✓ | ||
| Weebly | ✓ | ||
| 1&1 | ✓ |
Step 2: Check which carriers they support
Next you ask which carriers you're using. Do note that ShipStation and ShippingEasy focus mainly on USA with Shippo supports a number of Europe carriers. Another point to note in case you're using USPS, ShipStation supports using Stamps.com, while Shippo and ShippingEasy support USPS label printing
| ShipStation | Shipping Easy | Shippo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS | ✓ Stamps.com | ✓ Endicia | ✓ Endicia |
| UPS | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| FedEx | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| FedEx Smartpost | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| APC | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Globegistics | ✓ | ✓ | |
| UPS MI | ✓ | ✓ | |
| DHL Express | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Canada Post | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Newgistics | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Amazon FBA | ✓ | ||
| Asendia USA | ✓ | ||
| FirstMile | ✓ | ||
| IMEX Global Solutions | ✓ | ||
| OnTrac | ✓ | ||
| Access Worldwide | ✓ | ||
| Shipwire | ✓ | ||
| Rakuten Super Logistics | ✓ | ||
| DCL Logistics | ✓ | ||
| DHL eCommerce | ✓ | ||
| LSO | ✓ | ||
| RR Donnelley | ✓ | ||
| LaserShip | ✓ | ||
| GLS Germany | ✓ | ||
| GLS France | ✓ | ||
| Mondial Relay | ✓ | ||
| Deutsche Post | ✓ | ||
| DHL Paket (Germany) | ✓ | ||
| Parcelforce | ✓ |
Step 3: Check their killing features
ShipStation - feature-rich shipping app
Founded in 2010 and recently bought by Stamps.com with $50M cash, the fulifillment service is popular because it supports over 50 marketplaces / shopping carts, and 23 carriers for label printing. And accordingly to reviews at Shopify app store, their customer service is awesome with quick response.
Three killing features at ShipStation
- Shipping Automation - the if-this-then-that rule that automatically fills in extra info to help you generate a shipping label easily, e.g. map a shipping method at shopping cart to USPS Priority Mail, purchase insurance for international orders.
- Multiple Users - targeting high-volume shippers, the app supports multiple users and allow you to assign orders to a specify users for fulfillment.
- Mobile App support - shipping on mobile app is definitely not easy to handle in terms of UI / UX. ShipStation is the first to launch this with many key features covered in this app (e.g. create label).
ShippingEasy - Money saving with USPS
If you're shipping within USPS, you may want to consider ShippingEasy that claims to offer the lowest USPS rates. Unlike Shippo charging $0.05 per label, it is charged at a reasonable monthly fee, and free for less than 50 orders per month. For feature wise, it is kind of following ShipStation and definitely more than Shippo. ShippingEasy was founded in 2011.
Two killing features at ShippingEasy
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Save money with USPS - Lowest rate on USPS, offering Commercial Base and Commercial Plus pricing across ALL USPS products. It comes with a free Endicia Premium account, i.e. save you $15.95 per month
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Long list of features - Similar to ShipStation, ShippingEasy has also automation rule and multiple user management, and weigh scale reading auto-populated into the app.
Shippo - Super clean UI and support UK carriers
If you're looking for a Shopify-style user interface that is more simple and does not mind not having features like shipping automation, Shippo that launched in 2013, may fit your needs. Besides, their carrier list is different from ShipStation and ShippingEasy, with a focus of both the US and UK markets.
Two killing features at Shippo
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Clean UI - You may argue this should not be counted as features. But if you have use other apps and come to Shippo, the first thing you realise the UI is cleaner and is more intuitive to use.
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Developer friendly - Shippo API documentation is clear, and they have different client libraries (Python, Ruby, Node.JS, Java, PHP, C#, Perl) for developers to add shipping capabilities to their apps easily.