ShipStation Review

Pros

• Numerous integrations
• Easy learning curve
• Automated features
• Free trial available

Cons

• Support tied to plan level
• Poor customer support
• Limits on plans

ShipStation Overview

ShipStation is a web-based, multi-carrier shipping solution designed to streamline the fulfillment process for eCommerce retailers. This software offers a vast number of integrations that allow users to import orders automatically from the most popular sales channels and shopping carts. Think Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Shopify, but don’t stop there, because there are dozens more. So wherever your online sales are coming from, it’s likely ShipStation will be there to meet them. Even better, you won’t have to pay any fees to connect your selling channels, unless you select a premium integration.

ShipStation also makes it easier to process those orders when you receive them. As one of the leading shipping software solutions available, ShipStation partners with USPS, FedEx, UPS, DHL, and other carriers. And with six tiered plan levels, ShipStation is designed for everyone, whether you’re shipping just a few packages a week or fulfilling 10,000 orders each month. But despite its name, ShipStation is more than a shipping solution. You’ll find tools for order management, branding, inventory management, eCommerce, and, of course, shipping.

In this ShipStation review, we’ll take a look at all the features the software has to offer. We’ll also consider usability and evaluate available customer support and current user reviews.

Let’s get into it!

Visit The ShipStation Website

ShipStation Pricing

ShipStation pricing includes six different plans. The price you’ll pay is based primarily on the number of shipments you send per month as well as the number of user accounts your business needs. ShipStation offers the same features on all plan levels, with a few exceptions, notably in the ability to customize packing slips and labels. So you can make your choice of plan based on your expected use, without having to pay more than you really need only so you can gain access to advanced features. If you exceed your plan level, you can upgrade — and you can drop down your plan level if you’re suddenly shipping less than usual.

Screenshot of ShipStation webpage captured 2/25/2021

If you’re thinking about using ShipStation for your business, take advantage of the free 30-day trial. You’ll gain access to all features without providing a credit card. If you choose to sign up for a plan, you’ll be asked to provide a credit card number for monthly billing. Users can cancel their subscriptions at any time and, if you do so within the first 90 days because you’re not satisfied with the product, you can receive a full refund, with no questions asked.

Here are the details on ShipStation pricing. The cost of postage is the only extra expense most users will see, in addition to these plan payments:

Starter

ShipStation’s Starter plan costs $9/month and includes:

• 50 shipments/month
• One user
• Branded labels and packing slips
• Email and community forum support

Bronze

ShipStation’s Bronze plan costs $29/month and includes:

• 500 shipments/month
• One user
• Branded labels and packing slips
• Email and community forum support

Silver

ShipStation’s Silver plan costs $49/month and includes:

• 1,500 shipments/month
• Two users
• Customized labels and packing slips
• Live chat, email, and community forum support

Gold

ShipStation’s Gold plan costs $69/month and includes:

• 3,000 shipments/month
• Three users
• Customized labels and packing slips
• Live chat, email, and community forum support

Platinum

ShipStation’s Platinum plan costs $99/month and includes:

• 6,000 shipments/month
• Five users
• Customized labels and packing slips
• Live chat, email, and community forum support

Enterprise

ShipStation’s Enterprise plan costs $159/month and includes:

• 10,000 shipments/month
• 10 users
• Customized packing slips and labels
• Live chat, phone, email, and community forum support

As you consider which plan best fits your shipping situation, keep in mind that you can add more users to your account for $5/user each. Remember, too, that ShipStation considers every shipping label generated through ShipStation to be a shipment. Be sure to calculate your average number of return shipments and include that in your anticipated total. What if your business makes more than 10,000 shipments a month? High-volume shippers should contact the company to receive a custom quote.

Cloud-Based Or Locally Installed

ShipStation software is a SaaS app (Software as a Service) and it’s entirely web-based. No download is necessary and you don’t have to install anything to use the software. If you want to print labels from ShipStation directly to your own label printers, you will need to download ShipStation Connect, an app that links your ShipStation account and your printer.

Hardware & Software Requirements

Since ShipStation is cloud-based software, all you really need to run ShipStation is a computer, an up-to-date web browser, and a strong internet connection. The company recommends using ShipStation in either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, but the software also works in Microsoft Edge (Windows) and Safari (MacOS).

ShipStation also provides mobile apps for Android 4.1 and up and iOS 11.0 or later. Use the app to manage orders, create labels, track shipments, generate scannable barcodes, and more.

Shipping Volume Of Business

ShipStation works best for businesses printing between 50 and 10,000 shipping labels each month. Because ShipStation offers so many pricing tiers, the software is accessible to nearly all users, and you won’t be penalized if you adjust your ShipStation plan to meet your fluctuating shipping volume. However, if your shipping volume is entirely unpredictable, you may do better finding a shipping software solution that has broader limits or no limits at all.

And if you typically ship fewer than 50 shipments each month, the cost of ShipStation may make it not cost effective for your business. In that case, you should look into signing up for a free plan with one of ShipStation’s competitors, like ShippingEasy. If you make more than 10,000 shipments each month, look into custom pricing from ShipStation.

ShipStation does support international shipping.

Ease Of Use

You can test ShipStation’s admin for yourself by signing up for a free 30-day trial. When you log in, you’ll be directed to a brief tutorial video that shows the basics of setting up an account. From there, you can connect your ShipStation account with your shopping cart software and favorite marketplaces. Using my new account, I then chose to create orders manually.

Note that your orders should automatically import once you’ve integrated your shopping cart.

While it can take a little time to get the hang of some of the more advanced tools, ShipStation’s basic features are simple. I was creating shipping labels and packing slips within a few minutes of signing up for my trial. It’s very user-friendly software.

ShipStation Features

ShipStation offers all the tools you need to print shipping labels and packing lists and to automate your order processing. User comments and feedback tell me that these features are enough to meet most user needs. And incredibly, ShipStation makes nearly all of its features available on all pricing plans! Here are a few available features:

• Dashboard: ShipStation’s dashboard is clean and simple to use. It includes filters you can use to break down orders by store, destination, status, buyer information, and more.

Screenshot of ShipStation webpage, captured 2/25/2021

• Shipping: ShipStation integrates with multiple shipping carriers, enabling you to ship with USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and more. You can create automation rules that tell ShipStation how to process the order. Access the toolbar’s Rate Calculator to view estimated shipping rates across multipler carriers and types of service, so you can choose the best method for different shipments. Or use the rate calculator in the configure shipment widget to view rates on one specific shipment.
• Multi-Channel Sync: Have orders import over automatically from your online store as well as online marketplaces, such as Amazon and eBay.
• Shipment Tracking: Send automatic shipping confirmation emails to your customers. You’ll also receive live shipment tracking updates.
• Order Management: Process orders quickly by using batch printing features to print hundreds of shipping labels and packing slips at once. You can also automatically generate a picklist that sorts orders to make picking and packing easier.
• Inventory: View real-time stock levels and set low-stock alerts, so you always know when to put in an order with your suppliers.
• Dropshipping: ShipStation supports dropshipping, whether you are the dropship seller or the dropship supplier.
• Reports: Shipstation offers reporting options that help you gather data about orders and shipments. The Insights page offers visual reports, charts, and graphs to track trends, shipping quantities, and other data points. Insights Reports provide pre-formatted, customizable reports you can view in-app or export to PDF, CSV, Excel, or text file.
• Shipping Labels: Use ShipStation Connect to connect thermal and desktop printers to your USB scales. Print shipping labels online from anywhere using the mobile app. You can also add branding information to your shipping labels.
• International Shipping: ShipStation users are automatically enrolled in Stamps.com’s Global Advantage Program, which enables you to ship internationally using the USPS.
• Automation: You can create a set of rules that are automatically applied if an order fits the right criteria. For example, you could set a default shipping service for orders received from a specific country or automatically add tags to certain types of orders.
• Custom Views: Tailor the UI to you liking via a number of different criteria. You can choose from a few different layouts and decide on which sidebars you’d like to display and which you want to hide. You can also enable and disable a few features (such as Quickship) on this page. This feature can be accessed by visiting the Settings page and selecting Display Options.
• Discount Postage: Every US-based ShipStation account comes with a free Stamps.com account. You can use that account to access domestic and international USPS shipping labels at a discount.

ShipStation Customer Service & Support

All customers have access to support through email, live webinars, the ShipStation knowledgebase, and the community forum. Merchants on the higher plans can access chat support or phone support. Here are a few ways you can access support:

• Phone: Phone support is available only to users on the Enterprise plan.
• Email: Email support is available on all pricing plans. You should receive a response from the ShipStation support team within one business day.
• Live Chat: Live chat support is available on the Silver plan and above.
• Community Forum: The support center includes a community forum, although it is not overly active.
• Help Center: The Help Center includes articles and images to guide you through using the software.
• Guides: ShipStation provides several guides (such as the Integrations Guide and the Troubleshooting Guide), which you can use to find in-depth information on a specific topic.
• Videos: ShipStation has dozens of short how-to videos and prerecorded webinars that you can watch to learn the software.
• Blog: The ShipStation blog is updated regularly with product news and articles about shipping best practices.
• Social Media: You can also contact ShipStation via social media, although I would only recommend this as a last resort. ShipStation responds to user concerns on Twitter, and the company is active on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

ShipStation Reviews

Most ShipStation reviews show that customers, overall, are happy with the software. Customer comments across third-party review sites are overwhelmingly positive. Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone loves everything about ShipStation. Let’s take a look at both sides of the balance sheet.

Negative Reviews & Complaints

The most common things customers ding ShipStation for are poor customer service and trouble with integrations. Many customers report encountering problems connecting with technical support, and when they do connect they say the service reps aren’t always helpful. It doesn’t help that phone support is completely unavailable on the lower-level plans; that may be one source of users’ frustration. The dissatisfaction with customer support compounds users’ difficulty using ShipStation’s many integratinos. While merchants appreciate the number of integrations available, some users say errors or malfunctions occur when transferring information. One more common complaint involves a variety of technical issues, including bugs, downtime, and slow software that can keep the ShipStation platform from running smoothly all the time.

Overall, customers seem happy with ShipStation. In general, the complaints I’ve found have been about really specific issues, not about the overarching design and functionality of the software. With 718 reviews on Capterra, ShipStation rates a solid 4.7 out of 5 on that site, including 4.6 out of 5 for customer service, suggesting that more users are satisfied than are not.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

ShipStation scores high marks across review boards and currently has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau. Overall, users say ShipStation makes it easier to run a business, by automating your shipping processes, making it easy to calculate shipping rates, and print shipping labels and packing slips. After an initial learning curve, users agree overwhelmingly that ShipStation is easy to use. The main features are easily accessible on the back end, and the admin panel is well organized. Users love ShipStation’s ability to integrate with so many sales channels and shopping carts. They say using ShipStation saves multiple hours of processing time each week.

Over the years, I have seen users commenting that the customer support team is not timely in their responses and that reps are not helpful. I suspect that a lot of this unhappiness stems from the inability to contact support via live chat and phone on lower-level plans. For what it’s worth, my interactions with the customer service team have been all right. The turnover time on my support tickets was within a few hours, and I was able to contact a representative via live chat in minutes.

Integrations & Add-Ons

One of ShipStation’s biggest selling points is that it integrates with an enormous number of marketplaces and shopping carts — more than 80 of them. That means that if you’re looking to connect ShipStation to your existing eCommerce model, you’re likely to find it easy to link to your sales channels. At last count, ShipStation offered over 300 integrations in total, allowing you to customize your shipping plan to fit your needs. There’s also an API you can access if you want to use your developer skills to build applications on your own. You can even build a connection yourself, using the API, if your eCommerce platform doesn’t integrate already with ShipStation.

Security

ShipStation allows users to set user permissions and restrictions. That means you can change your settings to allow employees to access different aspects of your business’s shipping. User permissions help you ensure that your employees have access only to the necessary features.

ShipStation is also Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS level 1) compliant. It provides HTTPS encryption on every admin page, and it’s compliant with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. Aside from these details, ShipStation does not provide much information about its data security. I’d like to know how the company keeps its servers secure as well as how often it performs backups of user data.

ShipStation: FAQs

Final Verdict: Is ShipStation The Right Shipping Software For Your Small Business?

If you’re running a business and you aren’t already using shipping software to simplify your shipping processes, you owe it to yourself and your customers to look into your options. A multi-carrier shipping option like ShipStation can integrate seamlessly with your eCommerce platform, provide shoppers with real-time shipping information and options, and even deliver lower shipping rates to your business.

ShipStation is a top-rated shipping software solution for a reason. It’s business software for business people, selling a product that promises to make shipping quicker and easier. And it does just that.

Sure, it’s not perfect. The software doesn’t always run smoothly, and there are some conflicting reviews regarding the quality of customer service. However, if you’re willing to invest some time into learning the workflow, you’re likely to get a lot out of ShipStation. And with a generous 30-day timeframe for testing out the software before you have to commit to a plan or pay for anything, what do you have to lose besides the headache your current shipping system is giving you?

With your time and energy freed up thanks to ShipStation’s automations and integrations, you’ll be able to devote your time and energies to more important matters, like that online sales strategy tune-up plan you’ve been meaning to work on. Once you put ShipStation in charge of your shipping process, you’ll have more time in your day to focus on the things that matter most. Your customers will thank you, and your business will prosper.

Get Started With ShipStation

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

ShipStation	Start Trial

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see ShipStation for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

ShipStation	Start Trial

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see ShipStation for yourself.

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