Direct Checkout & Ship Station

[SugarSidewalk]

Hi
I use Ship Station which I LOVE!! And it seems to work great with Direct Checkout. My orders flow in no problem and I can still ship without manually doing anything.

I have been reading about members issues with Pay Pal, so wanted to suggest Ship Station to those of you who might be looking for a solution.

They have a 30 day free trial so you can see if it works for you or not.

It does cost $ - $25/month is the 1st tier of pricing so it may not be viable for everyone.

It has helped me immensely with keeping track of all my orders and where they are in the process before shipping.

Just wanted to throw it out there for those who might be interested.

Hope

[OriginalsbyLauren]

I use stamps.com and it is $15.99 a month. They are giving 3 months free to etsy shops

I can ship first class international, which isn't available through paypal.

[sherrytruitt]

I ship a lot of packages between etsy and my website and still use paypal. I go to the PO twice a week for international shipping. I just can't justify spending $300.00 a year yet with shipstation.

In 10 years that's $3,000.00 For 3K, I'll stand in line twice a week. :) Plus, I ride my bike to the post office, so I get a little fresh air in the process.

[AnotherTimeAntiques]

Sherry I'm with ya - I'd love one of the shipping options but just can't seem to justify it for the few times a week it would be necessary. Most orders continue to be manageable in Paypal. (currently)

And.... I like to say hi to my trusty friends at the PO too! :)

[fernfiddlehead]

Going to the Post Office here in Brooklyn is a night mare and a half. Totally worth it for me to pay the extra money to use ShipStation. I am loving it.

[SugarSidewalk]

I can relate to what folks are saying about the PO (especially biking there - woo!)

I used the 30 day trial to determine how much time it saved me per week. I suppose this is where my geeky self comes to light.

I actually tracked my time for a while (more than a month) and saw where I was spending my time & looked for ways to become more efficient.

Using Ship Station has saved me more than1.6 hours per week. I multiply those 2 hours by my hourly rate that I use to calculate my fully loaded cost of goods sold and it more than made up the $30/month fee or annualized cost for Ship Station.

I am fortunate too that my PO carrier and I know each other - so when I have an international shipment I simply hand it to him and can still use Ship Station. He's at our set of mailboxes which is directly to the right of my driveway for at least 10-15 minutes a day. I can always catch him :) Plus he brings me supplies :)

Sherry - you are motivating me to bike when I do have errands. I think the break is so good for our creativity and I don't do it enough!

[Former_Member]

I'm really lucky I have a post office walking distance from my full time job. I usually only have one or two orders a day, so I just walk there at some point during the day and ship them. And it's never crowded (except for Christmas). Talk about convenience!

[RazzleDazzleMe]

I also use ShipStation and it is fabulous. I can't brag enough about it. Every time I have a question, I get an answer that day. I print a shipping report every month that tells me the total I charged for shipping and the total cost. I can print all my orders in one batch and have one sheet for my mail carrier to scan in. It does the customs forms automatically and does the mailing label and packing slip on the same page, so it would be hard for me to get an order mixed up. If you don't use a packing slip, it will print 2 labels on one page. It is worth every penny I spend on it each month, because I can make a lot of jewelry in the time it was taking me to ship orders.

[ShopDeatsGifts]

I'm also using Shipstation and am IN LOVE with it! It works sooo seamlessly with direct checkout. No copying and pasting addresses into Paypal. Everything just smoothly moves over.

The automatically marking of items shipped, emails to my customers, so awesome.

I definitely recommend Shipstation!

[sherrytruitt]

Since I am nerdy like Hope, I wanted to post a little more about why I still ship with paypal.

Some folks said it is a time saver to pay for the shipping service. It probably is.

But, let's say I work 8 hours a day making jewelry and I hour shipping. The 1 hour doesn't come from my jewelry making time. I will still work the full 8 hours and then ship.

I think of the big picture in terms of what I spend, not the per month cost. I said before that you can save $3.000 in 10 years. But, if you are in business 30 years, that is $30,000. I can buy a hybrid car with that. Something to use since I don't ride my bike in the rain or snow. It also pays for almost one year of college for our son. Almost.

That's why I'm willing to spend the extra time it takes to use paypal.

I probably spend money on things that wouldn't be prudent for you, but they are important to me.

ps I print 2 labels from one sheet on paypal.

[2TrickPony]

I'm saving, or breaking even using shipstation - because the shipstation ships through endicia, which has its own insurance, that saves $$ on every package. (as a jeweler I have to insure)

plus the interface is awesome, it saves me tons of time.

also, besides marking shipped and emailing the customer, it pastes the tracking number on the etsy receipt.

shipstation is still new to me, though.

[CapeCodArtnNature]

thanks for all the input here--and sherry--i think i agree with you--i live close to the post office but it always has long lines so i plan other errands in town and get some of my daily walking in when i have an international sale--i also bring my folder of articles to read in line while waiting ;-) so far Paypal is working fine for me other than the international sales....