SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH | 7 minute read
In the age of Amazon Prime and eBay Fast & Free, it’s more important than ever for small businesses to provide customers with fast and affordable shipping options. That’s where eCommerce shipping companies come in.
There are a multitude of eCommerce shipping solutions out there, so it comes down to choosing one with the right features, support, and pricing to fit the needs of your business.
Here’s a comparison of some of the most popular shipping options:
ShipStation is a leading web-based shipping software that can be used to manage processing, fulfilling, and shipping of orders. It integrates with more than 150 marketplaces, shopping carts, and carriers as well as TradeGecko.
Prices start from $9 a month for up to 50 shipments and one platform user, and up to $159 a month for unlimited shipments and 10 users. Support is available via their online help center or by logging into the customer service portal.
Headquarters: USA
Pros
Cons
Good for: Multi-channel sellers based in the US or globally.
StarShipIT is a cloud-based shipping software that handles delivery of online and offline orders. Although it is cloud-based, StarShipIT is headquartered in Australia and New Zealand, and has been specifically developed to service these markets.
Prices start from $40 a month for up to 250 shipments and unlimited carriers, and up to $160 a month for up to 20,000 shipments. Custom packages above and beyond 20,000 shipments are also available. Online support is available in addition to an online customer service portal.
Headquarters: Australia
Pros
Cons
Good for: ANZ-based small to large businesses with over 250 shipments a month.
Shippit manages deliveries for thousands of retailers throughout Australia, handling order fulfillment, tracking and notifying, shipping automation, integration, and reporting.
Prices start at $19 a month for up to 20 orders and up to $149 a month for up to 500 orders (plus 45c per additional shipment). Support is available via email for starter-tier customers, email and live chat for mid-tier customers, and email, live-chat, and phone support for top-tier customers.
Headquarters: Australia
Pros
Cons
Good for: ANZ-based small businesses with less than 500 orders a month.
Shiptheory integrates eCommerce channels with the largest UK carriers to automate the shipping process. Their flexible shipping rules allow businesses to control how orders are sent by carriers based on weight, order value, and destination.
A free plan is available for up to 500 shipments a month with limited features and paid plans cap at £300 a month for up to 20,000 shipments. Support is available online, via email, and by phone.
Headquarters: UK
Pros
Cons
Good for: EU-based small to large businesses.
EasyShip provides more than 100 shipping products for small businesses on a global scale. They aim to facilitate global shipping for businesses by connecting customers with couriers all over the world.
Prices are calculated depending on the shipment origin, destination, weight, number of shipments per month, and the chosen courier. Support is available online or through the customer service portal.
Headquarters: Hong Kong
Pros
Cons
Good for: Small businesses that regularly ship internationally.
EasyPost is a shipping API which was started in September 2012 by Jarrett Streebin and allows businesses to get the best shipping rates by unlocking every major carrier in one simple integration.
Headquarters: San Fransisco
Pros
Cons
Good for: Small businesses.
TradeGecko works with shipping management software to streamline and automate the order fulfillment process by syncing shipping labels, tracking information and more. This means that the entire order management process – from purchasing through to fulfillment – can effectively be managed from one dashboard.
Setting up a shipping integration with TradeGecko is as simple as authorizing the connection between the two systems via TradeGecko and your shipping software, which takes just a few minutes.
