ShipStation vs Shopify Shipping: Comparison in 2024

You might have an amazing online store with top-notch products, beautiful design, and great user experience, but poor delivery can kill your entire business.

Shipping is the culmination of a customer’s interaction with your brand and the “last mile” that gets your company into their hands, so shipping tools and processes are critical to running a successful company.

The challenge? Knowing which option is best for your business. In this article, Shopify Shipping In our guide to ShipStation vs. ShipStation, we break down everything you need to know when choosing between these platforms. You’ll find the main pros and cons, as well as tips for choosing the right one based on your unique business needs.

Shopify Shipping vs ShipStation: Overview

Both Shopify Shipping and ShipStation offer many similar features and services that offer great benefits to store owners, but the final choice will depend on your specific needs.

ShipStation is ideal for larger businesses that sell through multiple channels, such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, etc., in addition to their online store. However, many users report a steep learning curve, and if you’re not sure if it’s best for your needs, you might not be able to justify the additional cost and labor resources.

Shopify comes pre-configured with a number of features that make shipping and selling easy. Shopify’s Vast App EcosystemWith over 7,000 apps, helps businesses of all sizes, from startups to international brands, configure the right technology stack for their needs.

For some e-commerce business owners, choosing between Shopify Shipping and ShipStation can be a tough choice.

Shopify’s native shipping tools

Included with every Shopify account, regardless of subscription level, Shopify Shipping offers several key benefits:

• All-in-one platform: Daily Management Order Fulfillment In the same place where we handle our products, stockmarketing campaigns, customer data, and more.
• Faster order processing: Purchase and print shipping labels right within the platform, allowing you to prepare your shipments in advance and avoid waiting in line at the post office.
• Streamlined tasks: Customize your shipping preferences with features like bulk order fulfillment, USPS SCAN form creation, and pickup schedules with major carriers. UPS, United States Postal Serviceand DHL Express.
• In-app tracking: Checking shipment status without leaving Shopify means you don’t need to log into third-party sites or sift through multiple information sources.
• International Career Options: Ships worldwide It’s all accessible from your Shopify dashboard, including international shipping discounts and built-in customs forms.
• Optional Insurance Coverage: When purchasing shipping labels, consider adding extra insurance to high-risk or high-value packages. Shopify Payments Customers automatically receive $200 in free shipping insurance for each eligible label.

ShipStation Key Features

The biggest appeal of ShipStation is that it supports multiple sales channels, customer relationship management (Customer Relationship Management) Platform, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and accounting platforms, and Inventory control system(IMSA).

• Multi-channel support: Integrate with over 70 e-commerce channels to consolidate and manage your multi-channel activities in one place.
• Advanced automation: Set priority criteria for automated actions, for example, assign a specific carrier and shipping service based on order weight, choose default settings for international shipping, insure certain orders, or adjust a customer’s actual carrier rates at checkout.
• Order Management: Merge multiple orders sent to the same address, split orders that contain items going to different locations, and apply filters based on criteria like tags, destinations, or stores.
• Bulk Shipping: Sort shipments into customized groups based on pre-set criteria and print up to 500 labels in bulk. Organize workflows for other users, such as assigning specific batches to specific users.
• Proactive Alerts: Receive notifications about situations that require special attention, such as combining orders, replenishing stock based on pre-set thresholds, etc.

price

Shopify Shipping is included with all Shopify plans, starting at $5 per month. Starter Plan You can upgrade to the Advanced plan for $299 per month. This is a cost-effective way to do so because the fee remains the same and you don’t need to upgrade to access Shopify Shipping’s native features. Reduce shipping costs.

As a standalone platform (or available as a Shopify app), ShipStation requires a separate subscription. ShipStation’s monthly plans are:

• ShippingEasy: 25 free deliveries per month
• Starter: $9.99 for up to 50 deliveries per month
• Bronze: $29.99 for up to 500 shipments
• Silver: $59.99 for up to 1,000 shipments
• Gold: $99.99 for up to 2,000 shipments
• Platinum: $149.99 for up to 5,000 shipments
• Enterprise: $229.99 for up to 7,500 shipments

As with most paid apps, the features available depend on your subscription level. Pricing Page Learn more about which plan includes the features you need here.

Shipping discounts

Both tools offer special discounted rates with certain partners, with Shopify offering shipping discounts of up to 88%. United States Postal Service, UPSand DHL Express.

ShipStation offers similar discounts. Customers with a ShipStation UPS account can receive up to the following discounts:

• 83% off daily rates
• 77% off UPS Ground
• 72% off next day and two day flights on select packages

Both platforms offer resources to help you calculate shipping rates. For more information, Shopify shipping calculator and Shipping Rate Resources.

These discounts provide ongoing profits for your business and enable you to offer competitive shipping options, like flat-rate shipping or free shipping, which helps you stay competitive in your niche, keep your customers happy, and encourage repeat business.

Affordable shipping is crucial in today’s e-commerce industry. Recent Reports The survey found that 62% of customers wouldn’t buy from a retailer that didn’t offer free shipping, and almost half of customers would spend more to reach the minimum amount needed for free shipping.

Delivery company

Both Shopify Shipping and ShipStation offer great discounts, but they differ in the number of shipping carriers available.

Shopify Shipping is a popular global Carrierinclude:

• UPS
• United States Postal Service
• DHL Express
• DPDA
• Canada Post
• Evry (formerly Hermes)
• Sendle
• Chronopost
• Colissimo
• contact address
• Mondial Relay
• Italian Post Office
• FedEx by Shippo

If additional carriers are required, use a separate tool or Apps from the Shopify ecosystemFor example, ShipStation partners with over 50 shipping companies around the world, including Parcelforce Worldwide, Purolator, GlobalPost, Canpar Express, and Loomis Express.

Automation and efficiency: Which service will save you more time?

Both Shopify Shipping and ShipStation offer order import features and automation rules, however ShipStation’s automation is more limited and relies on integrations with other tools.

Shopify Shipping is directly integrated Shopify Flow Within your Shopify admin, you can use shipping-related activities as triggers and customize actions. For example:

• If the customer has paid for express shipping, we will send an email to our warehouse team to prioritize the order.
• If a loyal customer makes a third purchase, No writing This is an app for sending handwritten thank you notes.

User Experience and Interface Comparison

Both Shopify and ShipStation offer user-friendly interfaces designed to make shipping management easy. Instructions are clear and easy to find, making both options a good choice for non-technical people or those who plan to train employees on the shipping software.

The main benefit of Shopify Shipping is its integration with the Shopify admin: you can print shipping labels, generate packing slips, and track your products without leaving the familiar Shopify dashboard.

Integration with e-commerce platforms

Shopify Shipping is part of the broader Shopify ecommerce platform. It acts as a central dashboard for all your ecommerce activity, housing your inventory and product data that’s synced across your various sales channels, from social media storefronts to online stores. Online Marketplace Face-to-face sales and Shopify POS.

Shopify allows you to create your own e-commerce website, Shopify Paymentsand thousands of apps to choose from Shopify App Store You can customize your online selling experience, which means you don’t have to hunt for an ecommerce platform integration with Shopify Shipping – it’s already built in.

ShipStation, on the other hand, is a shipping-focused platform that doesn’t offer e-commerce features for creating an online store or processing payments, but does integrate with popular platforms such as:

• Shopify vs Shopify Plus
• Amazon
• Ebay
• Squarespace
• WooCommerce
• Big Commerce

Most of these integrations are easy to set up and the documentation will guide you through the process. Keep in mind that integrating two separate platforms usually requires you to pay a monthly subscription fee.

Customer reviews

On G2, a leading software review and comparison site, Shopify and ShipStation have similar scores: over 4,500 customers have given Shopify a 4.4 rating, while just over 500 reviewers have given ShipStation a 4.3 out of 5 stars.

Final verdict on ShipStation vs Shopify Shipping

Both shipping options offer features that can benefit your business. The choice will depend on whether ShipStation’s specific features outweigh the costs (both the cost of additional apps and the time it takes to learn a new system).

Weighing the benefits and costs requires careful research and critical thinking. Finding the ideal technology stack may require some trial and error. But Delivery Strategyyour business will be in a better position to achieve its goals.