Navigating the complex world of eCommerce shipping can be a daunting task for businesses of all sizes. With the ever-evolving demands of online shoppers and the intricate logistics involved, finding a streamlined, efficient, and cost-effective shipping solution is crucial.
This is where ShipEngine, a versatile shipping software, comes into play. Offering a suite of powerful tools designed to simplify and optimize your shipping process, ShipEngine stands out as a game-changer in the realm of eCommerce logistics.
From real-time tracking updates to seamless integration with various platforms, this article delves into how ShipEngine can revolutionize your shipping strategy, enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive your business’s success in the competitive online marketplace.
Read further to learn more about ShipEngine, in our review we will detail its features, pros and cons with our rating, and a conclusion about why you should use it.
Click on “open” if you want to see exactly what we will talk about in the rest of this article.
Overview
What is ShipEngine?
ShipEngine is an eCommerce shipping software designed to streamline and optimize the shipping process for online businesses. It offers a range of features including rate comparison across major carriers, batch label printing, and automated tracking updates.
The platform integrates with popular eCommerce platforms and marketplaces, enabling users to manage all their shipping needs from a single interface. ShipEngine also provides solutions for international shipping, including customs forms and global address validation, making it a comprehensive tool for businesses looking to scale their shipping operations efficiently.
ShipEngine specifications
| Features | 100+ carriers supported / Address verification / Checkout / Create a Label / Custom Branding / Discounted Shipping Rates / Insurance coverage / Multiple Warehouses / Rates comparison / Sandbox Environment / Shipment management / Tax Calculations / Unlimited selling channels / Webhooks |
| Best suited for | Small businesses, Mid size businesses, Large enterprises |
| Website languages | English |
| Website URL | Visit official website |
| Support link | Support page |
| Live chat | No |
| Company address | 4301 Bull Creek Rd, Suite 300, Austin, Texas 78731, US |
| Year founded | 2016 |
Pricing
ShipEngine pricing: How much does ShipEngine cost?
Step into the realm of ShipEngine’s pricing, where flexibility meets affordability. In this section, we unravel the pricing structure of ShipEngine, offering insights into how its plans cater to a spectrum of business needs and budgets.
Ranging from a cost-effective free plan to the more comprehensive advanced options and custom solutions for large-scale operations, ShipEngine presents a pricing range designed to accommodate businesses at every stage of growth.
Explore how each plan aligns with different operational scales and requirements, providing a clear roadmap to selecting the perfect pricing tier for your business’s shipping needs.
| Pricing range | From $75 to $600 per month |
| Pricing types | Monthly subscription |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes, 30 days |
| Money back guarantee | No |
| Pricing page link | See plans |
ShipEngine pricing plans
Free Plan
- Price: $0/month
- Features:
- Access to discounted carrier rates and essential API access.
- Complimentary sandbox access or pay-as-you-ship with discounted carrier rates.
- Ability to connect with ShipEngine’s carrier accounts.
- Create labels and compare rates.
- Large discounts on retail prices.
- Parcel tracking and creation of tracking webhooks.
- Access to a sandbox environment for testing.
Advanced Plan
- Price: $75/month
- Inclusions:
- 1,000 labels per month, with $0.075 charged for each additional label.
- All features included in the Free plan.
- Option to bring your own carrier accounts.
- Address validation feature.
- Search for Pick-Up, Drop-Off (PUDO) locations.
- Calculation of taxes and duties for shipments.
- Unlimited selling channels.
- Ability to track any parcel.
Enterprise Plan
- Pricing: Custom pricing for large-scale operations.
- Target Audience: Companies or partners managing over 25,000+ shipments.
- Features:
- Includes everything in the Advanced plan.
- Custom billing methods tailored to the business’s needs.
- Higher rate limits for API access.
- Dedicated Implementation Manager for personalized support.
- Access to live chat and scheduled calls for immediate assistance.
- Ability to build with ShipEngine’s Shipping Elements.
- Capability to create accounts using the API.
These plans cater to a range of business sizes, from startups and small businesses to large enterprises, offering scalable solutions for various shipping and logistics needs.
Features
ShipEngine features: What can you do with it?
Dive into the dynamic world of ShipEngine’s features, where efficiency meets innovation. This section explores the diverse array of functionalities that set ShipEngine apart in the realm of eCommerce shipping.
From its robust rate comparison tool and seamless integration capabilities to its comprehensive support for international shipping and advanced tracking systems, each feature is designed to address the unique challenges of shipping logistics.
Discover how these features can transform your shipping process, reduce operational complexities, and provide a competitive edge in the fast-paced eCommerce industry.
ShipEngine Elements
ShipEngine Elements is designed to seamlessly integrate advanced shipping features into a business’s existing platform, enhancing the overall customer experience. This tool allows for extensive customization, enabling businesses to maintain brand consistency across their shipping interface.
By personalizing elements like color schemes, fonts, and layouts, companies can create a more engaging and cohesive experience for their customers.
The feature-rich functionality includes critical aspects like address validation, ensuring accuracy in deliveries; rate shopping, which helps in finding the most cost-effective shipping options; and efficient label printing.
The reliability of ShipEngine Elements is underscored by its 99.99% uptime, ensuring that businesses can depend on it for continuous operation. This robust system not only enhances the customer experience but also streamlines the shipping process, saving businesses significant time and resources.
The integration of these elements into a platform is straightforward, allowing businesses to quickly leverage these advanced capabilities without extensive development work, making it an ideal solution for businesses looking to enhance their eCommerce operations.
Multi-Carrier Shipping
ShipEngine’s multi-carrier shipping feature offers unparalleled flexibility and efficiency in managing shipments. By providing access to over 100 carriers, it allows businesses to choose the most suitable shipping options based on cost, delivery speed, and other preferences.
The feature simplifies complex logistics tasks, such as scheduling pickups directly from the warehouse. This flexibility is crucial for businesses that need to manage shipping schedules efficiently, reducing the time spent on logistics planning.
The ability to generate shipping labels for a vast array of carriers in multiple formats, including PDF, PNG, and ZPL, streamlines the shipping process, making it more efficient and less prone to errors. The system also ensures carrier compliance by automatically generating the necessary paperwork, such as manifests, which is essential for smooth operations and avoiding shipping delays.
For international shipping, ShipEngine simplifies the process by generating all the relevant customs documents and trade forms, ensuring compliance with international shipping regulations and reducing the risk of delays at customs.
This feature is particularly beneficial for businesses that ship internationally, as it automates many of the complex tasks associated with cross-border logistics.
The integration with over 100 carriers through a single platform significantly reduces the costs and technical challenges associated with multiple carrier integrations, making ShipEngine an ideal solution for businesses looking to optimize their shipping operations while expanding their global reach.
Address Validation
ShipEngine’s Address Validation feature significantly reduces failed deliveries by up to 70%, enhancing both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. This tool ensures that addresses are entered correctly during the eCommerce checkout process, improving the overall experience for customers.
By validating address formats in the back-office, it prevents label creation errors and subsequent failed deliveries, a common issue in eCommerce logistics. This not only improves accuracy but also lessens the burden on customer service teams who otherwise would have to manually fix address issues.
The Address Validation API plays a crucial role in verifying and correcting addresses, notifying customers of potential mistakes, and filling in any missing elements. This feature is particularly useful in reducing incomplete data that can lead to label creation issues.
Additionally, it simplifies international shipping by ensuring addresses are supplied in the correct format for each destination, a vital aspect for businesses shipping globally.
This comprehensive approach to address validation not only streamlines the shipping process but also contributes to a more reliable and efficient delivery system.
Order API and Adaptors
The Order API and Adaptors feature of ShipEngine allows for easy consolidation of order information from various sources, including marketplaces, shopping carts, and custom platforms. This centralization of data is crucial for businesses operating across multiple channels.
For custom platforms, the Order API facilitates the integration of order consolidation information, ensuring that bespoke selling platforms are seamlessly connected. The adaptors for popular shopping carts like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce enable easy integration, streamlining the order management process.
Additionally, the feature supports connections with major eCommerce marketplaces such as eBay, Etsy, and Amazon, ensuring that orders from these platforms are efficiently managed.
The system also integrates with various Order Management Systems (OMS) like Channel Advisor and Bright Pearl, bringing in data for comprehensive order tracking and management.
The feature includes functionalities like using webhooks to automatically push new orders ready for shipping and sending shipment notifications back to the marketplace or cart post-shipment. For situations where there is no connection, it allows for manual or automated importing of orders, offering flexibility in order management.
This comprehensive approach to order integration and management significantly reduces the hassle associated with order consolidation, making it an invaluable tool for businesses looking to streamline their shipping and logistics operations.
Rate Comparison
ShipEngine’s Rate Comparison feature is a powerful tool for eCommerce businesses, enabling them to check and compare carrier rates to select the best price for every shipment. The Shipping Rates API enhances the checkout experience by displaying accurate shipping prices to customers, ensuring transparency and trust.
This feature is particularly beneficial for international shipping, as it accurately calculates taxes and duties for each shipment, removing the complexities and uncertainties associated with international logistics.
By comparing all carrier shipping rates for each shipment, businesses can significantly reduce their shipping costs. This not only benefits the business in terms of savings but also allows for offering competitive shipping rates to customers.
Additionally, the Rates API can be used to build carrier selection logic, allowing businesses to automate the process of selecting the most cost-effective and efficient carrier for each shipment.
This level of automation and accuracy in rate comparison is essential for businesses looking to optimize their shipping operations and improve their bottom line.
Checkout
The Checkout feature in ShipEngine is designed to convert more customers at the point of sale by building delivery experiences that reduce basket abandonment and increase conversions. This is achieved by showing convenient delivery choices, such as scheduled pickups, which allow businesses to choose exactly when packages are picked up from their warehouse.
Displaying accurate delivery costs is another key aspect of this feature, ensuring that customers are fully informed about the shipping expenses associated with their purchase. This transparency is crucial in building trust and reducing last-minute cart abandonment.
Address validation during checkout prevents failed deliveries, a common issue that can negatively impact customer satisfaction and increase operational costs. Additionally, the feature allows for displaying carriers’ drop-off locations on a map, encouraging customers to choose cheaper shipping services.
By presenting various delivery options, including economy, express, and collection from pick-up points, businesses can cater to the diverse preferences of their customers. This flexibility in delivery choices is essential for enhancing the checkout experience, reducing basket abandonment, and ultimately increasing conversions.
Tracking API
ShipEngine’s Tracking API is a comprehensive solution designed to enhance the tracking experience for eCommerce customers, thereby improving the overall delivery experience and reducing customer service queries.
This API allows businesses to keep their customers informed through tracking webhooks, which can be used to build customer notifications via email and SMS. By creating branded tracking experiences, businesses can not only increase upsell opportunities but also significantly cut down on customer service contacts.
This feature is instrumental in reducing ‘Where Is My Order’ (WISMO) contacts by up to 35%, a common pain point in eCommerce logistics.
The Tracking API also contributes to a drastic reduction in first response time by 93%, enhancing the efficiency of customer service teams. Furthermore, it enables the automation of responses to 85% of cases, streamlining the customer service process.
The API facilitates the building of customer notifications that automatically update changes to the shipping status, ensuring customers are always up-to-date with their order’s progress. This proactive approach in communication helps reduce the number of customer inquiries related to order status.
Additionally, ShipEngine allows for the integration of tracking pages within the eCommerce platform’s branding, including embedding tracking features throughout the website.
This integration not only drives traffic back through selling channels, increasing upsell opportunities, but also anticipates customer queries, thereby reducing the workload on service teams.
To further speed up customer service resolution time, the API enables the embedding of rich tracking data into existing CRM systems, providing customer service teams with the necessary information to quickly and accurately resolve shipping queries.
ShipEngine’s tracking capabilities extend to offering branded tracking pages, where businesses can verify addresses and notify customers of any potential issues, enhancing the accuracy and reliability of deliveries.
The tracking notifications feature allows for sending branded emails, SMS, or WhatsApp messages, keeping customers instantly informed of delivery updates. This level of communication is crucial in maintaining customer satisfaction and trust.
Lastly, the automated support feature is designed to handle ‘where is my order’ queries efficiently within support tools, reducing the manual workload on customer service teams and improving the overall efficiency of the eCommerce operation.
Conclusion
ShipEngine review: Why you should use it?
ShipEngine is designed to streamline and optimize the shipping process for eCommerce businesses. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools that include rate comparison across multiple carriers, batch label printing, and automated tracking updates, which are essential for efficient logistics management.
The platform’s integration capabilities with various eCommerce platforms and marketplaces simplify the shipping process, making it more efficient and less error-prone.
ShipEngine also supports international shipping, providing necessary tools like customs forms and global address validation, which are crucial for businesses looking to expand their market reach globally.
Pros:
- Comprehensive Carrier Integration: Access to a wide range of carriers allows for rate comparison and selection of the most cost-effective shipping options.
- Efficient Label Printing and Tracking: Streamlines the process of label printing and provides real-time tracking updates, enhancing customer satisfaction.
- International Shipping Support: Facilitates global shipping with tools for customs compliance and address validation.
- E-commerce Integration: Seamlessly integrates with various eCommerce platforms, simplifying the management of shipping operations.
- Scalability: Suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises.
Cons:
- Learning Curve: The extensive features may require a learning period for new users.
- Dependency on Internet Connectivity: Being a cloud-based platform, it requires a stable internet connection for optimal functionality.
- Potential for Additional Costs: While the basic features are robust, advanced features may come at an additional cost.
FAQ
