ShipStation vs. Shopify Shipping: 2022 Comparison

You can have the most incredible e-commerce store in the world—top-notch products, beautiful designs, UX, and many more. But if your delivery is insufficient, it could be the downfall of your business.

After all, shipping is the culmination of your customers interacting with your brand. It’s the “last mile” that puts your company in their hands. This means your delivery tools and processes are a vital part of running a successful company.

The problem is: it’s hard to know which option is best. In this article, we will see Shopify shipping vs. ShipStation and breaks down everything you need to know when choosing between the two platforms.

You’ll learn some key pros and cons, as well as some pointers on choosing the right one based on your unique business characteristics and needs.

This information could not come at a more important time: experts predict that the e-commerce industry will cross over $5 trillion mark by 2022 and jump to $7 trillion by 2025.

Shopify shipping vs. ShipStation: Overview

Shopify Shipping and ShipStation both offer many great benefits for store owners. In most cases, you will often find that the features and offers are quite similar. At the end of the day, it depends on your specific needs.

ShipStation shines brightest for larger businesses that sell through multiple channels, such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Walmart, in addition to their online storefronts. But one caveat is that many users report a steep learning curve. This means the tool may not be worth the extra cost and manpower resources if you’re not sure it’s the best choice for your needs.

When it comes to Shopify, anyone familiar can tell you that it comes pre-configured with a lot of features. And for additional functions, The Shopify app ecosystem is huge, with more than 7,000 apps and counting. It can help any business configure the right technology stack for their needs—and this goes for businesses that have just opened their electronic doors, all the way to well-known international brands.

When it comes down to it, choose between Shopify Shipping vs. ShipStation is perfect for some ecommerce business owners.

Shopify’s native shipping tool

The main benefit of using Shopify Shipping is that it is included in every Shopify account, regardless of your subscription level. Here are some highlights:

All in one place. Shopify is designed to make life easier for store owners, allowing users to handle their daily order fulfillment in the same place they manage their products, inventory and customers.

Faster order fulfillment. With the shipping label tool, store owners can purchase and print their shipping labels within the platform, allowing them to prepare packages ahead of time and skip post office lines.

Tasks are streamlined. Custom design your shipping setup with settings like bulk order fulfillment, USPS SCAN form creation and pickup scheduling through top carriers like UPS, USPSand DHL Express.

In-app tracking. No need to log into third-party sites or spend time sorting through multiple sources of information. Check delivery status within the Shopify platform, regardless of carrier.

International options. Send your product to customers around the world with the help of international shipping discounts and a built-in customs form, it’s all available to you right inside your Shopify dashboard.

Optional insurance coverage. Get extra peace of mind on high risk or higher value packages. When you purchase your shipping label for any order within the platform, you have the option to add additional insurance coverage. Shopify Payments customers automatically have 200 USD of shipping insurance included on each eligible label at no cost.

Key features of ShipStation

Shipstation.com

Many users say that their main attraction to ShipStation is that it is a stand-alone shipping platform. This gives it the ability to integrate with multiple sales channels, customer relationship management (CRM) platform, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and accounting platforms, and inventory management systems (STDs).

Multi-channel support. ShipStation integrates with more than 70 e-commerce channels, giving you great flexibility and functionality when it comes to consolidating and managing your multi-channel activities in one place.

Advanced automation. Users can set optional criteria for automation to occur. For example, you can automatically assign specific carriers and shipping services based on order weight, choose default settings for international shipping, insure certain orders, and adjust direct carrier rates for your customers at checkout.

Organize merging, splitting and filtering. Combine multiple orders shipped to the same address, split orders with items going to different locations, and mix and match multiple filters based on criteria such as tag, destination, and store.

Group shipping. Sort shipments into custom groups based on your own preset criteria and bulk print up to 500 labels at once. Organize workflows for other users in your account, such as assigning specific batches to specific users for processing.

Proactive alerts. Sometimes, there are things that need your attention that you may not be aware of. ShipStation sends proactive alerts for situations that may need extra TLC, such as whether you need to combine orders, when it’s time to replenish stock based on preset thresholds, and more.

pricing

One of the main benefits of Shopify Shipping is that it comes built-in with any Shopify plan, whether you’re just getting started Startup plan for $5 per month, the Basic plan for $29 per month, the Shopify plan for $79 per month, or the Advanced plan for $299 per month.

These costs never change and there is no need to upgrade to access any of Shopify Shipping’s native functionality.

Instead, you have to pay for access to ShipStation because it’s a standalone platform (or available as an app for Shopify users). Prices for ShipStation monthly plans are as follows:

• Start: $9.99 per month with a limit of 50 deliveries per month
• Bronze: $29.99 with a shipping limit of 500
• Silver: $49.99 with a shipping limit of 1,500
• Gold: $69.99 with a shipping limit of 3,000
• Platinum: $99.99 with a shipping limit of 6,000
• Enterprise: $159.99 with a shipping limit of 10,000

It’s also worth noting that, as with most paid apps, your access to functionality will depend on your subscription level. Check out ShipStation’s price page to get more details about plans that have the features you’re looking for.

Shipping discount

Both tools offer special discount rates with certain partners. For example, Shopify offers up to 88% off shipping rates with USPS, UPSand DHL Express.

ShipStation offers a similar discount. According to the company’s website, customers who get a UPS ShipStation account will receive up to:

• 86% off the daily rate
• 55% off UPS Ground
• 69% off next day and second day air service on eligible packages

Both platforms have resources to help you calculate delivery rates. See here for ShipStation rate calculator resource and here for Shopify transmission rate source.

Regardless of the shipping tool you choose to use and the discount percentage you can access, these discounts are an evergreen benefit for your business. They allow you to pass on your savings to your customers when they check out at your store, such as flat rates or free shipping.

This can keep you competitive in your niche and keep customers happy, ultimately keeping them coming back for more.

Affordable shipping is critical in today’s e-commerce landscape. inside 2022 consumer trends report, 80% of customers said they expect free shipping when their order reaches a certain dollar amount. And 66% said they expect free shipping on all their online orders, regardless of price threshold.

Even more interesting: for three quarters in a row, a majority of shoppers said they were more influenced by shipping price than product price!

Shipping carrier

Shopify Shipping and ShipStation both offer deep discounts for their members. But when it comes to carriers, there are key differences to keep in mind between the two devices. The difference is the number of shipping carriers you have access to.

Shopify Shipping works with a handful of the most popular shipping carrier worldwide:

• UPS
• USPS
• DHL Express
• DPD
• Canada Post
• Hermes
• Sendle
• Chronopost
• Collissimo
• Correos
• Mondial relay
• Poste Italy

If you ship through this carrier, you’re ready with Shopify Shipping’s native functionality.

But if you want to send through other carriers, you need to consider other tools or boosts other apps from the Shopify ecosystem. For example, ShipStation works with more than 50 worldwide, including companies like Parcelforce Worldwide, Purolator, GlobalPost, Canpar Express, Loomis Express and more.

The final decision

When you look closely at the details, you may find some features from each tool that can benefit you. It depends on whether ShipStation has the specific features you need that outweigh the cost—both the financial cost of buying another app and the time cost of learning how to use it.

It will take some research and critical thinking to weigh the benefits and costs, and it may even take some trial and error before you find your ideal technology stack. But one thing is for sure: once you find the sweet spot, your business will be better prepared to destroy all the goals you set out to achieve.

Find Cheaper Shipping with Shopify

source: https://www.shopify.co.id/blog/shipstation-vs-shopify-shipping