Extra $30 / month to use our current shipper contracted rates??? Getting a little greedy?

[Manager-Erin]

 Hello @Titan, 

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 me your email address or phone number. 

-Erin: Your friendly neighborhood shipstation community manager 

[MarkW]

Erin,

  We have a customer that requires that we use their UPS account for all packages to them.  Since ShipStation's UPS account does not support 3rd party shipping we created a private account to accommodate our customers requirement.  We have a ShipStation UPS account that we use for all other customer because the rates are great and would gladly use it for all our UPS shipping if it supported 3rd party billing.  Are there any plans to add 3rd party billing to your UPS account or provide exceptions to the private account for 3rd billing?  

Regards,

Mark

[Manager-Erin]

Hello @beckybee , 

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. 

I have dmed you directly so we can get you in touch with a member of our team directly about this matter. Please feel free to respond at your earliest convenience .

-Erin: Your Friendly ShipStation Community Manager. 

[DRH7660]

Thank you, Erin, please message me an update about UPS Simple Rates.  We have to copy/paste from our SS orders about 100 times a month in order to use the lower flat rates offered directly by UPS to non-SS customers. 

There is a SS thread where updates on SS progress of adding UPS Simple Rates are to be provided by SS, but SS has not posted on it since 2021.

Thank you! 

Daniel (daniel@tflex-tech.com)

[dosterberger]

How did you get a discount we are looking at $60 / Month..........this is really bad business.  We may take our platinum plan to another shipping service. 

Extremely disappointed.........this long term customer is looking at other solutions.

[Johnny2000]

Additional monthly prices are based on your shipping tier. More info in the original conversation here-

https://community.shipstation.com/t5/ShipStation-Features/Extra-20-month-to-add-Fedex-to-my-list-of-...

[Titan]

After 4.5 years we are now looking at other options as well. 

[chips]

Not being able to use a common carrier like UPS without you wanting to charge an addition $30 to be able to, is CRAZY! Especially after you just had a price increase the first of this year. After 7 years with Shipstation we will actively be looking elsewhere. Now to figure out who isn't owned by the Stamps.com monopoly.

[sales95]

There are other services out there, and we have tried them all (Pitney Bowes, Shipping Easy, Pirate Ship etc etc etc), but always come back to SS.  One day maybe a real competitor will come on the scene but SS can basically charge what they want because they have the best platform and decent support.

[beckybee]

ok let's list all the competitors to start exploring - here's a few. What programs out there have address validation like Shipstation - most of them state they do until you test their system. One is EasyShipping - if you place an address into their system knowing there should be an apt. number yet you don't use it. EasyShipping still approves the address. So what programs have a great address validation down to unit/suite etc.
Ordercup
EasyShipping
ShipRush
PirateShip
Shippo
StarShipIt
ShipWorks (owned by Shipstation)
AfterShip
DesktopShipper

[DRH7660]

Is anyone aware of whether one of the competitors has the UPS Simple Rates available?  It is a hassle to cut/paste from ShipStation.

[rmowles]

shipbob is another.  For us integration is key and makes it hard to move but fully motivated now.

[chips]

Any idea what Shipbob charges these days?  I hate it when a company requires you to contact them to find out what they charge.

[Manager-Erin]

Hello Community Members, 

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. 

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. 

[chips]

You have a tough job right now, Manager-Erin.  Your company is sabotaging itself, and you are in the community forum that has said enough, is enough. The only way your company is going to learn is to lose some serious $. I'm guessing that is what happens in the next few weeks.

No need to contact me.  Your company's monopoly can no longer be trusted.  We are 95% of the way set up on a new platform and will be canceling our ShipStation account soon.

[DRH7660]

Thank you, Erin.  Please message me (daniel at tflex-tech.com) with an update on SS adding UPS Simple Rates.  Currently, about 100 times a month, we have to copy/paste from SS orders to UPS' website so that we can obtain the lower UPS Simple Rates offered by UPS to everyday/non-SS customers.

There is a SS thread on the topic where SS was going to keep us informed on its progress with adding Simple Rate pricing, but it has not been updated by SS since 2021.

Thank you!

Daniel

[chips]

So apparently the forum is not a place to see other shipping logistics platforms, but when you cancel your account they give you a list of some of the same ones that were listed here. Lol

I'm happy to say that we have officially canceled our account and said goodbye to the Auctane monopoly. 

[adrienne]

Add Teapplix to the list. I used them before I found Shipstation and I will be going back to them. 

[rmowles]

Our increase was $60/mo for the carriers and a 60% increase on the monthly plan.  Brutal.

[shipping63]

This is pretty over the top.  A 25% plan price increase plus $30 more to use my much better UPS rates.  

Are the carrier rates you are forcing everyone into passed along to us with zero markup?

[shipping63]

Also, will Shipstation be providing useful, white glove support for refunds for lost packages.  When shipments are made on these shared accounts, refunds are almost impossible. 

Also, I don't need a DM.  These questions deserve public answers for all users as they impact everyone.

[shipping63]

I will somewhat walk back my surprise at the 25% base price increase.  The increase is huge and honestly inexcusable, but to be fair, we have been paying the same rate for 9 years.  A 3% - 5% increase per year would not have been noticed. So really, this is a leadership failure and I insist you let them know.  You should have been increasing your rates on a normal interval.  

However, forcing people into your plans and charging extra for something that incurs zero cost to you since it is already a feature is not cool.  You can spin this in a dozen ways, but your leadership has failed here.

[chips]

Really?  You've had no price increases?  We've had them! Including a price increase they just had in January.

[shipping63]

Silver plan since 2014.  Same price.  They did add tax to the bill several years ago, but that's it.

[minimioche]

its honestly ridiculous. Shipstation literally charging us a fee to not use their service??? Why should I give up my contracts and representatives for less service options and a cash-first billing system?

[adrienne]

Can anyone confirm if Shipstation considers Amazon Buy Shipping to be an external carrier? I put in a support ticket yesterday but have not received an answer.

[Ms_Sarcastic]

I am positive that they do.

Shipstation lost a 💩 ton of revenue when Amazon twisted their arm into allowing Amazon sellers to buy postage from Amazon instead of SS. I think most people know that when you buy postage from SS directly it is at a marked up cost, and Shipstation profits the difference. They are no longer raking in that profit from the largest e-commerce site in the USA, and that's why SS then attempted to pivot and say they'll charge Amazon sellers .20c per label when buying postage directly from Amazon. But too bad for SS, because that is also not allowed by SS (else Amazon threatened to cut off SS's API access). So the only other trick that SS had up their sleeve was charging everyone extra if you use any outside carrier accounts at all. This is the only way they can stay within Amazon's TOS that bars any 3rd party services from charging extra specifically to Amazon sellers.

I'm willing to bet if Amazon cut off their API access to SS that SS likely would go under, so they had to do something. Charging everyone extra is the only way they can make up for the lost revenue.

[adrienne]

If that's the case, then SS just lost me. I'm not paying an extra $40/month on top of the $30/month subscription price increase for something other shipping services offer at no additional cost. My SS bill will go from $70/month to $140 a month. SS has lost their mind. I hope this bites them in the butt. 

[pleasure]

We've just begun our API integration testing with other providers. It's unfortunate since we've been with Shipstation since 2015, 8 years and counting, however this rate surcharge for using our own carrier accounts is difficult to be okay with. Ironically, I don't think the surcharge/lack of external carriers would really impact us that much at this point, however we're acting on principle as well as consideration for our logistical flexibility in the future.

Even if Shipstation somehow reverses course on this, it may be too late. I know for ourselves, we're already mid-way in setting up new integrations and bringing in new APIs into our tech stack that once we have it fully set up, it'll be very unlikely we'll switch back. It'll be interesting to see where Shipstation/Auctane ends up after all this.