@PillowDetails @I only had to give them my (cash back - yay!) credit card number and they charge me per label as needed. Unless they do things differently for volume labels?
@DivineCrossings You can set it up different ways. I hate lots of little charges, so I have them pull $250 at a time. But my shipments are in the 2 to 3 lb range, so it doesn't take long to hit that.
@bradgoodell@PillowDetails Whadda know! Thanks for the info. Though little payments, in my case, are preferable since I don’t sell much and could use the money for other things. : ) @bradgoodell $250 would probably last me for over a year! Lol.
And you just know (and I’d bet) that even though this is an Etsy problem/technical glitch, if you ship late, you’ll still be penalized in star seller shipping stats.
I used to use Shipstation, but they wouldn't give me cubic rates. So I started using PirateShip because it was cheaper for a good portion of my orders. PirateShip also had cheaper international rates. Then when PirateShip started offering deeply discounted UPS rates, I dropped Shipstation altogether.
Shipstation has a great interface and customization, but at a certain point I couldn't justify the monthly cost when I was using PirateShip more and more.
I am too spoiled. After shipstation everything else feels like it's poorly setup and takes forever to print just 1 label. Shipstation I can select 10 or more orders and print, done. I setup process rules for the top selling items and don't even have to look at orders or adjust weight based on variations. Shipstation does it all. If anyone ships more than a dozen orders a day the time saved more than pays for itself. It also helps me prevent mistakes due to how it integrates and the automation like over $7 shipping it sets it to priority (for when people have upgraded). So amazingly customizableand automated. Their prices have gone up but still worth it. Back when we shipped 200 or so orders a day it literally saved hours. The price ads pennies to each order cost. Not to mention being able to add notes or change shipping options when a customer contacts me to make a change or upgrade shipping. I don't have to remember and make mistakes.
Edit: oh and they now have a UPS saver option. A 1lb 10x4x4 box was $6.50 usps was $8.50 and even the cheapest cubic is $7.50 or more.
Shipstation is to etsy/pirate ship like etsy is to buying postage at the post office.
@digitaldoodlebug ShipStation is now offering Cubic? I contacted them and asked them about Cubic rates, and they wouldn't give them to me. That was the game changer for me, and the main reason dropped it. Might reconsider.
It's hard for me to tell. Can't seem to find an up to date cubic list but changing the weight higher did keep the price the same. How long ago did you stop?
Ok, confirmed. Etsy recently did cubic rates too. I did a calculation for zone 6 with etsy, shipstation, pirateship. 3 lb, 10x4x4 and all came to 8.79. Or parcel cubic is $7.74. UPS ground is $8.77 across both.
But shipstation UPS ground saver is what is $6.50, that seems to be a cubic style rate as larger packages go higher but not affected by weight. A larger package was same price shipstation and pirateship UPS
Love Love Love Pirateship! Easy to set up, great prices with multiple options, (price, carries, upgrades) integrates with Etsy and Shopify. And best of all amazing customer service!!!
I just tried to purchase a label and when one clicks the little truck icon it is either dead or locked--can go no further, so I just went to PS and bought labels. Since this is costing Etsy money one would think they would be working on it at lightning speed!
