What Is Shippo?
Shippo is a platform that offers shipping solutions for small businesses that need to streamline their shipping processes. They even integrate with a number of popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Etsy to help shop owners more easily manage their shipping needs—from printing shipping labels to tracking shipments to managing the customer experience. San Francisco-based Shippo was founded in 2013 and boasts a client base of over 35,000 brands and over 100 million annual shipments.
Shippo Features
The features Shippo offers can make your day-to-day business tasks easier, saving you some significant time and money. Let’s take a closer look at what exactly you can expect if you use Shippo.
Shipping
A shipping software provider should, first and foremost, offer shipping services. With Shippo, you can create and print labels for your shipments from wherever you work and ship at your own convenience. If you’re shipping using USPS or DHL Express you can also schedule to have packages picked up, so you don’t have to waste time driving to one of their centers. You can also print other items via Shippo, like return labels and branded packing slips.
The Shippo platform allows you to compare the rates of different carriers to find the best deal for your shipments. Plus, Shippo offers discounted rates of up to 90% off, according to their website. Shippo also provides address validation so you can reduce the risk of returned or undelivered packages.
Shippo works most major carriers, so you can likely find your preferred shipping solution working with Shippo. For national delivery Shippo works with:
- United States Postal Service
- FedEx
- FedEx SmartPost
- UPS
- UPS Mail Innovations
- Canada Post
- Australia Post
- CouriersPlease
- Deutsche Post
- DHL Germany
- DHL Ecommerce
- Fastway
- GLS France
- GLS Germany
- Hermes
- Mondial Relay
- Newgistics
- Parcel Force Worldwide
- RR Donnelley
- Sendle
Additionally, Shippo partners with several carriers for international shipping, as well as tracking-specific companies. If any documentation is required by a carrier or customs, Shippo will identify and pre-fill all the necessary information. You also have the option to pre-fill package weight and insurance amount, when applicable.
Tracking
For your own peace of mind, as well as your customers’, Shippo offers robust shipment tracking capabilities, including real-time updates and an estimated time of arrival (ETA) so your customers can prepare for delivery. No matter which carriers you choose, you can implement standardized tracking to keep the shipping process consistent. And if you send any packages outside of Shippo, you can still track them through Shippo.
You can also create branded tracking pages through Shippo to stay consistent with your customers, and create customized email notifications.
Returns
While you hope your customers will keep every item they purchase from you, that likely won’t be the case. But by offering quick and easy returns, you can still create a positive experience with those customers and increase the likelihood of them shopping with you again.
Shippo allows you to create return labels for all of your orders, as well as purchase labels for any shipments you create outside of Shippo. Plus, you’ll only pay for labels once a customer uses them.
Platform Integration
Shippo works with a host of other companies, including ecommerce platforms, marketplaces, inventory management apps, finance software, and more, so you can streamline your operations.
Some of Shippo’s most popular partners are Shopify and Weebly. But their other ecommerce platform partners are Wix, BigCommerce, Squarespace, WooCommerce, GoDaddy, ChannelAdvisor, Commerce7, Virid, CubeCart, ePages, Selz, Craft Commerce, Magento, Spree Commerce, Arcadier, Reaction Commerce, Volusion, and Stripe. When you use one of these platforms you can automatically import orders, compare shipping rates, and print labels. The same process goes for the marketplaces Mercari, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and Vinted.
You also have the option to import orders to Shippo via a CSV file or orders endpoint (API).
Analytics and Reporting
Keep track of your shipment operations with Shippo’s analytics and reporting features, which include tracking how much you’ve spent on shipments, either since you started using Shippo or for a specific time period; average price per package; and number of labels purchased daily, weekly, monthly, or another specific time period.
You’ll also have access to your complete shipping history so you can dig into the data and uncover any trends or pain points you want to work on in the future.
Customer Service
Shippo offers several channels through which customers or inquiring parties can receive support. In fact, while writing this Shippo review, we used their online chat function twice, and were able to chat live with a real person both times. The responses were quick and in-depth and the customer service representatives were friendly and knowledgeable.
Shippo also offers a help center, resource center, developer resources, and a Shippo blog to answer frequently asked questions and provide educational resources. If you prefer, though, you can also contact them directly with any questions. If you’re not a customer, you’ll be put in contact with Shippo’s sales team. Once you are a customer, you can contact the support team via email.
Benefits
TRACKS DELIVERIES
Shippo gives your customers a tracking tool that informs them about their package’s status en route. Plus, it notifies them through email about their item’s current location and its expected time of arrival.
REDUCE RISKS AND COSTS
Shippo can efficiently handle all your shipping processes which means you don’t have to worry about lost items or wrong deliveries. The platform performs a verification check to see if the delivery is made to a real and existing location. This ensures deliveries to the correct customer address and saves you the costs that you would otherwise incur due to wrong shipments.
PROVIDES SUPPORT TO SEVERAL CARRIER SERVICES
Shippo supports leading carrier services including UPS, USPS, DHL, and FedEx. The best part is you don’t need to integrate with each carrier individually. After a single integration, you can freely link with your chosen carriers, optimize your shipments, and deliver your products to any place.
SIMPLIFIES THE SHIPPING PROCEDURE
Shippo makes shipping faster and easier for enterprises like fulfillment firms and online retailers. This is possible because it is a simple and scalable platform that allows businesses to instantly link with leading carrier services. Further, it enables your company to customize your shipping processes to fit your needs and specifications. In this way, Shippo streamlines shipping procedures, facilitates faster deliveries, and boosts customer satisfaction.
Shippo Pricing
Shippo offers three plan options for their services, and a significant pro is that their pay-as-you-go plan is a commitment-free option with no monthly subscription fee. With this option, you pay $0.05 per label plus the cost of postage. You will also have access to email support, USPS discounts, and unlimited label volume.
Shippo’s next option is their Professional plan, which can be customized depending on your shipment volume. All of the Professional plans come with no per-label fee, the option to create a branded customer experience, five user accounts, USPS discounts, and email and live-chat support. Each Professional plan has a monthly fee, which increases depending on how many labels you’ll need each month. The least expensive option is $10 a month for 75 or fewer labels, the next plan up is $25 a month followed by $35, $50, $75, $100, and $125 for nearly 5,000 labels a month. Beyond that, you have the option to create a custom plan that includes more labels. You also have the option to start a 30-day free trial of the Professional plan before you commit.
The last plan option is Shippo’s Premier account, which comes with 15 user accounts, technical implementation assistance, dedicated customer support, plus the features of the Professional plans. Pricing for this option is quote-based, and you will need to contact Shippo’s sales team to learn more.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Free trial. Explore Shippo’s Professional service tier for free for 30 days — no credit card required.
- Flexible pricing. Whether you opt to pay as you go or sign up for a monthly plan, Shippo’s tiered pricing helps you only pay for what you need.
- Discounted carrier rates. Shippo advertises discounts of up to 90% on USPS retail rates.
Cons
- Limited support. You won’t gain access to Shippo’s live chat or phone support unless you sign up for a monthly plan.
- Limited integrations. Shippo only integrates with 15 online marketplaces and e-commerce platforms. And if Shippo doesn’t support your platform, you must manually enter your orders by uploading a CSV file.
