Shopify's shipping features vs ShippingEasy—what's different about them? How much do they cost? Which is a better fit for my ecommerce business?
If you're looking for an order fulfillment solution for your online store and find yourself asking these questions, you've come to the right place.
With global ecommerce sales on the rise, order fulfillment is one of the most important yet complicated parts of running an online store. Doing it right paves the way for a seamless experience in the day-to-day running of business operations. Not having a proper order fulfillment process in place can cause order cancellations, refunds, and lots of unnecessary time spent on rectifying easily avoidable mistakes.
In this guide, we'll dive into two of the best ecommerce fulfillment services on the market, Shopify's shipping features and ShippingEasy, and break down their key differences so you can make an informed decision about what's best for your online business.
What are Shopify's shipping features?
Shopify's shipping features are built directly into the Shopify admin, helping online store owners manage their buyers' purchases easily and quickly. There's no separate app to install or monthly fee to pay—shipping is a fundamental part of running your store on Shopify.
Top features include the ability to buy and print discounted shipping labels directly from your Shopify admin and access to specially negotiated shipping rates, thanks to partnerships with top logistics companies such as UPS, USPS, and DHL.
Shopify's shipping features are available to all Shopify merchants. They're easily accessible from the Shopify admin page, allowing online store owners to consolidate and manage all of their ecommerce activities—including shipping—within a single dashboard.
What is ShippingEasy?
ShippingEasy is a cloud-based shipping solution for online merchants. It provides support for businesses selling on leading marketplaces and ecommerce platforms such as eBay, Etsy, and Shopify, allowing them to sync and manage their digital orders easily in one single space.
Like Shopify, ShippingEasy also has partnerships with shipping companies and can offer its users special rates for their shipments—be it domestic or international. ShippingEasy helps its users automate their shipping process for a hands-off fulfillment experience, from managing orders and generating labels to tracking packages.
Shopify vs ShippingEasy: Main differences
Now that we have a clearer picture of what Shopify's shipping features and ShippingEasy are, let's break down some of their differences.
1. Pricing
Shopify
Shopify's shipping features are included with every Shopify plan at no additional cost. There are no monthly fees for shipping—you only pay for the labels you use. Shopify has a free trial, after which fees apply. This varies according to the different subscription plans:
- Starter: $5/month (social media selling only)
- Basic: $39/month (up to two staff accounts)
- Shopify: $105/month (up to five staff accounts)
- Advanced: $399/month (up to 15 staff accounts)
You can also choose to subscribe to Shopify's annual plans and enjoy savings of around 50 percent.
ShippingEasy
With ShippingEasy, users have six plans to choose from, including a free plan:
- Starter: $0/month (up to 25 shipments)
- Basic: $29/month (up to 500 shipments)
- Plus: $49/month (up to 1,500 shipments)
- Select: $69/month (up to 3,000 shipments)
- Premium: $99/month (up to 6,000 shipments)
- Enterprise: $159/month (up to 10,000 shipments)
ShippingEasy's paid plans also come with a 30-day free trial. Unlike Shopify, there are no discounted annual plans.
It's important to note that ShippingEasy places a limit on the number of packages its users are allowed to ship with them per month. Users on its Starter (free) plan are allowed up to 25 shipments, while Basic plan users can send up to 500 shipments. This goes up into the thousands for its other paid plans. There is no such limitation with Shopify's shipping features.
2. Availability
Shopify
Shopify's shipping features are available to merchants in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Italy, and Spain and can ship anywhere in the world. This means that if you're an online seller located in any of these seven countries and currently selling on Shopify, you will be able to ship with Shopify.
If you're not based in any of these countries and need help with creating shipping labels, feel free to take advantage of Shopify's free shipping label maker, which you can also use to generate return labels.
ShippingEasy
ShippingEasy is only available to sellers in the US. If you're located outside of the US (and US territories), you will not be able to create an account with them.
3. Shipping carriers and discounts
Shopify
Shopify partners with leading logistics companies to offer its users discounts of up to 88 percent on shipping rates for different mail classes. This includes expedited shipping options like two-day and overnight delivery.
The carriers Shopify works with in the US are USPS, UPS, and DHL. Worldwide, Shopify works with multiple overseas carriers.
ShippingEasy
ShippingEasy also boasts significant pre-negotiated discounts with top carriers, including up to 86 percent off UPS's daily rates. Its main partners in the US are USPS, UPS, DHL, and FedEx.
With both Shopify and ShippingEasy, you can access these special shipping rates from within their platform, and do not need to have your own separate account with these couriers.
4. Order fulfillment
Shopify
Shopify allows users to buy and print shipping labels directly from the Shopify admin, eliminating the hassle of heading down to the post office. And because shipping is built into the Shopify dashboard, there's absolutely no setup required, and it's in the same space you manage your products, customers, and inventory.
As soon as you're ready to fulfill your orders, simply select the ones you want to fulfill and ensure parcel information like weight and quantity is filled in. Based on this, Shopify will automatically calculate shipping rates and generate shipping labels for you to print out at home and stick onto your packages. You can then drop them off or schedule a pickup with your selected courier—all within the Shopify platform.
ShippingEasy
Fulfilling orders with ShippingEasy is as straightforward as it also allows you to create and print shipping labels on their platform. The entire shipping process can also be automated, and this goes for all orders, whether they're coming in from a marketplace or your own ecommerce website.
Plus, you can personalize the entire shipping experience for your buyers by adding your brand logo on shipping labels (not available for its free Starter plan) and customizing tracking emails.
5. Ecommerce support and integrations
Shopify
Since Shopify's shipping features are built into the Shopify dashboard, users can access the thousands of apps and integrations available on the Shopify app store easily. From logistics couriers and ecommerce store design to dropshipping and marketing, the integrations available to Shopify users are wide-ranging.
This means that whether you're running a tiny ecommerce store or a larger company with more moving parts, you're certain to find integrations that suit your business needs.
ShippingEasy
With fewer than 60 integrations (at the time of writing), ShippingEasy provides significantly less support for ecommerce businesses than Shopify. Plus, as it's a shipping solution, most integrations are related to logistics, order and inventory management, and online marketplaces.
That said, ShippingEasy does allow users to work with its in-house marketing support. This is an add-on that's available for a monthly fee starting at $14/month, and includes the possibility to get help with segmenting customers, building customized email campaigns, automating requests for product reviews, and more.
6. Package tracking and insurance
Shopify
Shopify offers tracking services for all shipments, regardless of which logistics carrier sellers choose to use.
Shopify sellers get $200 worth of shipping insurance coverage automatically included with each label they purchase—at no added cost. This is provided they:
- Subscribe to the Shopify, Advanced Shopify, or Plus plan
- Use Shopify Payments
- Are located in the US
US-based sellers also have the option to purchase additional protection of up to $5,000 from Shipsurance. Insurance claims can be filed on the Shopify platform itself.
ShippingEasy
ShippingEasy also provides tracking services for users who create labels through their platform. Users can choose to track the status of their shipments on ShippingEasy itself or the carriers' website.
Certain shipping services contracted through ShippingEasy include insurance coverage of up to $200 per shipment. If you'd like more protection, ShippingEasy also partners with Shipsurance to offer coverage of up to $10,000. Depending on the insurer, claims can be filed through ShippingEasy directly.
7. International shipping
Shopify
Not only can ecommerce store owners ship globally with Shopify, but the entire international shipping process is simplified. Shopify has built-in customs forms and generates the required paperwork for all international shipping labels purchased through the admin. Plus, sellers using DHL Express to ship from the US will also have their documentation sent to customs automatically.
Like domestic shipments, sellers shipping internationally with Shopify can also enjoy specially negotiated rates and arrange for courier pickups.
ShippingEasy
With ShippingEasy, sellers can ship to any destination in the world. The platform facilitates the process by helping its users prepare the right paperwork for customs clearance.
ShippingEasy also allows you to submit your customs forms electronically when shipping with USPS, UPS, or FedEx.
Shopify vs ShippingEasy: Which should you use?
Now then, which should you use—Shopify or ShippingEasy? There's no question that both are excellent order fulfillment solutions, but there are certain features that set them apart that must be considered when deciding.
For instance, if you've just started your online business and are trying to keep your overhead costs low, ShippingEasy's free plan for a maximum of 25 shipments per month can be a pretty attractive option. That said, if you're already running your online store on Shopify, it would probably make more sense to ship with Shopify. There is no added cost and no shipment limit, and shipping is integrated directly into the Shopify platform, so you can manage orders easily in just one space.
Larger ecommerce businesses or those in their expansion phase may also benefit more from shipping with Shopify because of the endless integrations Shopify offers.
The final decision may boil down to your location. Shopify's shipping features are available to sellers in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Italy, and Spain. As for ShippingEasy, only merchants in the US can create accounts, which is required even for their free Starter plan.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the best way to decide whether Shopify or ShippingEasy is the best fit for your business is to check out both solutions. Since both offer the possibility to try them out for free, you can dip your toes in and see what each one is like.
