Ok, so shipstaion is slowly increasing costs. Im looking at Pirateship which has no monthly fees and lower UPS ground costs. So it will save both us and our customers money.

Is it possible to integrate Ecomm with Pirate Ship?

I think I looked at then recently, being in the same boat as you.
It seems they do not have an API available, so it's something that would need to happen behind the scenes with ect and their developers.
I did notice a csv import and you should give that a try as it might be an easy thing. https://www.pirateship.com/integrations/spreadsheets

David

Dave Im paying 150 a month now plus the UPS ground from Pirateship is close to 40% less for some reason.
Using a csv import wont work. I don't trust the shipping people to do this correctly.

Right - You are in the same boat as I am.

See my post here - https://www.ecommercetemplates.com/support/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=115362

I was able to drop my plan down a tier and drop one extra user we had added, but I am still taking a bigger increase than it should be.
The problem is Ship station is really the best at what they do.
I'm not happy about them charging me for using my own UPS account, but I did check and while their discounts are aggressive, my discounts are stronger.

Maybe ship theory will become more friendly to US sellers and If they do fix a few things, I would try them.

Maybe you can email ship-pirate and ask if they have an API - If so, and Vince is not willing to integrate, I may be able to get it working for you.

David

No API Dave. It seems they don't want to be part of a shopping cart. They are aimed at smaller businesses(not that Im huge) and individuals.

That seems odd Steven, particularly when they integrate with a few other well know stores. One them, I have a friend that uses that platform and he does several million a month in sales, so some of those platforms they currently integrate with, has some really big sellers.

Who all do you ship with? What carriers?

Thanks,
David

I didn't know that they integrated with other carts. The support guy told me that they catered more toward individuals.

We mainly use USPS. Mostly Ground advantage which is now ALSO a huge problem with the Ecommerce cart. Since people will pick the least expensive method and the items are oversized. After that, we use Priority and UPS Ground. The big savings with Pirateship is the ground costs for us.

Yes, they do have a number of existing integrations.
https://www.pirateship.com/integrations/shipping

The cart works fine with the dazzle https://www.endicia.com/ software for postal shipping.
Have you looked at it?

David

Thanks, Im trying to keep it all in one place to keep billing easier.

Hi Steven, I understand.
If you wanted to use Pirate Ship, it seems like the csv import would be easy enough, but I get it that employees may struggle with that process.

As I mentioned before, Ship Station seems to be the best at what they do and in the end, regardless of how bitter we are over the drastic increase, when you look at other options, they still make sense. For my company at least.

Of course I will keep an eye out for other solutions, but for now, s/s seems to be the ticket.

David

I agree, there is more to than saving money. Although Im cheap. :-)

Their reports and integration with all the other shipping companies is a value.