$30/Month Extra to use your own carrier accounts

[Tundra_Supply]

I got this email, so I reached out to support about it. We ship regulated and hazardous goods, and this requires us to have very specific contracts with the carriers to transport them. I asked support if I was able to use their carriers to do this, and I was informed it was not possible. I then asked if there was a way that we could be excluded from the new fee as they are not able to provide the service needed to allow me to use their carriers. This fell on deaf ears sadly, and I was told unless I used their carriers, I would have to pay even if I could not use their carriers for my products. 

So do I use their carriers to avoid the $30/month extra and hope there are no issues on their end with my regulated and hazardous goods? Or do I start to look for alternative software?

[ebayguy]

I'd say shop around. I got the same news and for them to blame the increase on inflation is just ridiculous.

[rmowles]

Ours said it will be an extra $60 to use our own carrier and on top of that a 60% increase in the monthly fee for a total of double the monthly fee - per account no less.  Never seen such a brutal price increase.

[Opzit]

Take a look at https://www.veeqo.com/pricing. 

[APZ]

We will transition back to Shippo. It is almost free, $0.05 per label. We decided to give up some convenient features but to save $1000 per year.

[CreationMusic]

It’s absolutely ridiculous. I’ve been with them 10 years. I’m on hold now to voice my frustration to the support team. The whole point of ShipStation has always been I can integrate my stores and my carriers all in one place for easier management. I can understand a price increase… but $30 just to use my own shipping account, it feels like paying for money for no reason and frustrates me to no end just on principal alone.

[sajeed]

I tried talking to their support yesterday. They have a scripted answer. So it's of no use. 

For us, our monthly cost if going up from $159.99 to $229.99 and $95 Flat Fee to integrate other carriers. So my total monthly cost is going up from $159.99 to $324.99 which is ridiculous and not a fair practice.

@service10 has a draft for an e-mail to FTC regarding this. You can search for my post and it's in there. 

[Opzit]

I think we are moving to Veeqo after 7 years of being a ShipStation user. Owell. 

[CreationMusic]

I talked to another business owner friend. They were on the Gold at $69/mo. Their increase is $30 to $99 and another $40 to use carrier. So $69 to $139. Literally double.

My base was $45 +$5 with a $15 increase and another $30 for carrier. So $45 to $95. So again. Double. 

That seems too be across the board. Everyone is getting an increase and if you keep using carrier rates, it's literally doubling your monthly. They're not afraid to lose some customers because they'll make double on the ones that stay and have less admin workload as a result. Such a blatant slap in the face for our 10 year relationship.

[APZ]

My prediction is that all large and medium customers with annual shipping volume more than 2500-3000 have to use their own carriers simply because shipping rate are better and if they switch to   start to ShipStation carriers, all volume discounts will be lost and next time they wish to switch because of another SS raise it will be too late. Likely these large/medium account will look into alternatives and gradually move away. We are switching to Basic plan to have smooth transition to another service then we cancel. We have Canada Post level 7 discounts based on 3000 packages shipment per year, and our rates like 25% even cheaper than we ShipStation has to offer. We have to switch to another service to keep our discount volumes with UPS and Canada Post. We don't wish to take the risk to loose our contract discounts.

[Gregthree]

I ship around 10,000 packages a year.  The problem is the big 3 Shipworks, shipstation and shippingeasy are all owned by stamps.com.  The same company that had there asses handed to them about 5 years ago in the stock market and people felt bad for them.  CAn you say momopoly.  Shippo was priced at about the same as shipstion will become.  I guess its gets the vasoline and enjoy the screwing.  

[Opzit]

https://www.veeqo.com/pricing

[APZ]

Is Veeqo better than Shippo. We have used Shippo $0.05 per label before we came to ShipStation.

[Opzit]

We have a Shippo account also - have used it specifically for the API and automation in the past but I thing Veeqo has a much more user friendly UI than Shippo (if you're going to use the UI to do shipments). It's similar to SS and I've been impressed with how easily we were able to get setup and running with limited learning curve. I'd say give it a shot and make your own determination. 

[service10]

I strongly suggest contacting your attorney and your carrier account manager. This appears to be in direct violation of section 5 of the FTC anti-competitive practices. Users are being forced to leverage ShipStations included services for which they receive commission and royalty from or are required to pay additional fees for services that were included at no additional charge for years.

I also strongly suggest emailing the antitrust@ftc.gov in regard to this recent change. Shipstation has yet to fully publish the updated terms of service for the new pricing. 

For services such as hazmat or dangerous goods that REQUIRE direct accounts with a carrier further point to this being an anti-competitive practice as there are no other options but to pay the fee. 

[CreationMusic]

This is a great response. I just read up on this and this falls RIGHT in line with that. This is an even bigger mis-step than I realized for Shipstation with this in mind. Question is, who's going to take the time to sue over $20-40 mo. Sounds like we need to get a list going and band together.

[APZ]

I believe If you start to use their carriers, you will slowly loose your carrier volume discounts and when they will raise again, you will try to switch to your carriers and price will be regular shipping cost for you. We have Canada Post level 7 discounts based on 3000 packages shipment per year, and our rates like 25% even cheaper than we ShipStation has to offer. We have to switch to another service.

[Manager-Erin]

Hello @Opzit and @APZ, 

We welcome all feedback and want you to know that everything being said is being discussed and shared internally. That being said, the ShipStation Community is not the place to find information or recommendations about other shipping logistics platforms. Please refrain from using this forum to source information about other platforms. Further posts with this content may be removed and may be subject to community guidelines. 

If you are interested in being contacted directly by a member of our team, please dm with your preferred contact number or email and I will make sure this happens promptly. 

-Erin: Your Friendly ShipStation Community Manager. 

[Gregthree]

what is good is being contacted by a member.  The answer is the same.  "we have to increase our prices because our costs have gone up."  That answer is BS.  THe subscription fee increase is one thing but to be charged to use our own carrier is crap.  

[admin179]

My business is in the same boat, we have contracts with DHL and UPS for hazardous goods. Been with Shipstation for 5 years and are now looking elsewhere. 

[info594]

Longtime Shipstation customer here. Our business also requires using our own FedEx account for legal and hazardous goods shipping. We are obligated to be the shipper of record, and cannot rely only on built in carriers. We do utilize some of Shipstations services like USPS and GlobalPost.

We find this fee arbitrary and excessive! Outrageous on many levels. I hope something is done to correct this disastrous new fee structure. I could imagine a small reasonable fee to add our 3rd party accounts, but this is a massive increase. We will be actively searching for a new platform to use.

We also wrote the FTC using the form letter, adding our own details too. We can hope for something to come of it.

[admin179]

Look into Easyship. I’m in the process of transferring over to them and they actually let you use their negotiated rates for dangerous goods after going through an approval process. 

[Gregthree]

You said "easyship"  Did you mean ShippingEasy.  If so, that is still a stamps.com company, the increase will be there once they clear people from shipstation.

[admin179]

No, it’s called Easyship https://Easyship.com 

[DanPZ]

We've just been charged this "New Charge" for the first time. Our spend has gone from £20 to £60, this is absolutely outrageous. Anyone know of any alternatives in the UK?

[Manager-Erin]

Hello @DanPZ, 

Welcome to the ShipStation community, we are so happy to have you here with us. 

We appreciate your feedback and understand that pricing changes can be challenging. Our #1 goal is to continue improving the ShipStation application to help your business ship more efficiently. If you would like to speak with a member of our team directly, please DM us me email address or phone number. 
 

-Erin: Your Friendly ShipStation Community Manager 
 

[APZ]

We have moved to another platform but not sure if this platform supports UK. We ship Canada and US.

Also, we just downgraded ShipStation plan to a minimum $9 plan to keep is as a backup or occasional use until we are comfortable with another platform and ready to disconnect from ShipSt.

[DanPZ]

Thanks APZ, I am looking at alternatives. Seems ShipStation are happy to just try and maintain some big hitters rather than the customers doing 1000 ish parcels a month!

[DanPZ]

Hi Erin,

It's not challenging, it's forcing customers to use a product. It extremely anti-competitive - I've spent 5 years studying competition laws, and I do think ShipStation will have difficulty defending this in the eyes of the law.

I did message support, but was told there's nothing you can do. My fee has gone up 300% - it appalling and there is no genuine justification you can offer apart from profiteering. 

[karl-uns]

From Canada:

$30, $40 or $60: You will be charged this additional fee for using your own carriers as per your subscription level.

We are fine using their carriers but our account rates are better for Canada Post and Canpr compared to ShipStation rates. This is very disappointing. Either remove these charges or work with carrier for better rates.

Is anyone from Canada suggest alternative shipping software solution which has the same features (tagging, automation) like ShipStation? 

[bebo919]

I will leave......big rip off