A solid shipping management
software is critical to the success of any eCommerce venture. You
can have the most refined website and the most appealing products in your
industry, and those are important as well. However, your fortunes ultimately
rest on being able to fulfill your orders quickly, efficiently, and without
damage to the purchased items. Shipping management software can give you access
to the carriers that make this possible, as well as the tools you need to keep
tabs on every order from the initial packaging to the doorstep delivery.
You have plenty of excellent
options for which software you use with your online store. We can show you how
to pick the right one for you with this comparison between two of the best: ShipStation
and ReadyShipper.
ReadyShipper vs. Shipstation Pricing
ReadyShipper only has one price plan:
·
ReadyShipper — $20/mo
o
Being the only price plan, it comes with
everything that the software has to offer
However, if you want to use ReadyShipper, you will also need
a license for ReadyCloud CRM. This CRM software is something else altogether,
and the monthly fee for using it is $24/mo. That leaves you with a grand total of $44/mo. This may seem
hefty, but at least you get a whole feature-packed CRM system in addition to
the shipping software.
In contrast to the single price plan of its competitor,
ShipStation has six different payment tiers:
·
Starter — $9/mo
o
50 shipments/mo
o
1 user
o
Branded labels and packing slips
o
Email support and community forum support
·
Bronze — $29/mo
o
500 shipments/mo
o
1 user
o
Branded labels and packing slips
o
Email support and community forum support
·
Silver — $49/mo
o
1500 shipments/mo
o
2 users
o
Customized packing slips and branded labels
o
Email support, community forum support, and live
chat support
·
Gold — $69/mo
o
3000 shipments/mo
o
3 users
o
Customized packing slips and branded labels
o
Email support, community forum support, and live
chat support
·
Platinum — $99/mo
o
6000 shipments/mo
o
5 users
o
Customized packing slips and branded labels
o
Email support, community forum support, and live
chat support
·
Enterprise — $159/mo
o
Unlimited monthly shipments
o
10 users
o
Customized packing slips and branded labels
o
Email support, community forum support, live
chat support, and phone support
ShipStation’s Starter and Bronze plans both cost less than
the total for both ReadyShipper and ReadyCloudCRM. However, both of those plans
come with almost all of the same features as even the highest ShipStation plan,
which means you can get more for your money with this software.
ReadyShipper vs. Shipstation Carrier Integrations
ReadyShipper is a multi-carrier solution that enables users
to ship with:
·
UPS
·
USPS
·
FedEx
These carriers are the most essential for eCommerce. On top
of this, Flat Rate Select is built
into the software. That means you (and therefore your customers) can receive
the lowest rates for USPS Priority Mail packages weighing below 20 pounds
through ReadyShipper, and all without any growth tax.
In contrast, ShipStation goes above and beyond with more
than 30 additional integrations. These include, but are not limited to:
·
UPS (including UPS UK, UPS Australia, and UPS
Canada)
·
USPS
·
FedEx (including FedEx Canada and FedEx UK)
·
Royal Mail
·
Canada Post
·
Parcelforce Worldwide
·
Australia Post
·
Amazon (including Fulfillment by Amazon and
Seller Fulfilled Prime)
·
DHL (including DHL Express and DHL eCommerce)
·
RR Donnelley
·
Landmark Global
·
Asendia USA
As you can see, ShipStation has an impressively diverse
selection of regional carriers, national services, and international companies
that outshines the basic selection from ReadyShipper. Any business that
regularly receives a high volume of orders from around the world — and any
business that wants to — may want to
choose ShipStation so they can have all these options at their disposal.
ReadyShipper vs. Shipstation Returns
Automatic return
label inclusion is also available under all ShipStation plans, and the
interface enables you to easily create such labels for specific orders. We
should note that according to ShipStation’s guidelines, taking back a return would be considered a shipment. That means the
same package could be included twice in the number of shipments for the month:
once for when you send it to the customer, and another for when they send it
back to you.
Perhaps surprisingly, ReadyShipper does not include anything
in its software regarding product returns. If you want to take care of those, you
will need ReadyReturns, an
additional solution under the ReadyCloud umbrella. This automated software
comes with plenty of features, including the
ability to charge return fees, custom rules and conditions for returns, and multiple
warehouse support. It costs $99/mo, but you may be able to get it at a
discount or even for free
if you qualify for the UPS Customer Technology Program.
ReadyShipper vs. Shipstation Shipping Labels
One of the few differences between ShipStation’s price plans
is in shipping labels. To be specific, the ability to customize your packing
slips only becomes available from the Silver plan onwards. That payment tier
costs $49/mo, which is just a few bucks over the cost of ReadyShipper plus
ReadyCloud. With that said, printing labels is pretty simple with ShipStation’s
interface, and it can even be automated.
You can use ReadyShipper to pump out some standard shipping
labels with thermal printers. If you want to create your own custom labels for
your customers, you can also — and you may have seen this coming — use yet
another service from ReadyCloud. With ReadyLabels,
you can print out large labels that
contain the required shipping information, the packing list, and even a comment card where you can leave
personalized messages for your customers. They boast about their ability to print one label per second, and they
even offer a rewards system for
frequent users. Note that their price is $17.95 for each unit.
ReadyShipper vs. ShipStation Summary
ShipStation is a handy and user-friendly solution with multiple
price plans and many features common to all of them. This means that small
businesses can get a great shipping management software without breaking the
bank, but big businesses in particular have the most to gain from the app’s
biggest perks.
Alternatively, if you have the funds for its various
counterpart solutions, ReadyShipper can be highly useful in its own right. You
can gain access to a veritable suite of largely automated multi-carrier
shipping services that help with everything from managing customer
relationships to printing labels at lightning speed.
The truth is that choosing the best shipping
software requires more than just reading and comparing the features
lists. More important than that is knowing what your business needs from such a
software, and the best way to understand this is to test your options on your
store. ShipStation offers a free trial that lasts 30 days, and you can
similarly use ReadyShipper at no cost for 14 days. With the above information
in mind, give them a try and see for yourself.
