ShipBob is thought to be one of the best companies in the US that fills orders. It has six fulfillment centers outside the US and almost as many in the US. The company provides a wide range of services to its eCommerce clients.
ShipBob is not the best eCommerce fulfillment choice for every business, no matter how big or small it is. Here are the best things to do instead of ShipBob in 2023. Let’s look at it and see what works best for you.
Who is ShipBob?
ShipBob, a leading order fulfillment service, offers same-day delivery for orders placed in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other nearby cities. There are two kinds of services offered by the business:
It’s a free platform that businesses can use to keep track of their inventory and orders, talk to customers, and provide physical logistics.
Services for warehouse inventory.
Even though it is a smaller fulfillment service, it has a number of advantages over larger ones, such as low startup costs, fast onboarding, and low fulfillment rates. It also lets customers stock up on goods and send in groups if they need to. ShipBob also offers crowdfunding fulfillment services, which are a cheap way to send out a lot of orders.
ShipBob’s pros and cons
ShipBob can save you a lot of time and money if you use it the right way. It won’t be the best option for everyone, though.
Pros of ShipBob:
- Methods for product fulfillment that save time.
- Superior customer service in comparison to alternative fulfillment providers.
- A great way to sell things online that isn’t just eBay.
- Costs for delivery that are fair and fit your needs.
- You can grow your business because there are a number of prices and places to choose from.
- The interface for sending WRO orders is excellent and easy to use.
Cons of ShipBob:
- For new users, there may be a small learning curve (try asking the support team).
- Some pages on the service take a long time to load.
- At first, it might be hard for you to figure out how the prices work.
When do you need an alternative to ShipBob?
It’s a big deal to decide to work with a 3PL. The onboarding process, system integration, and shipping of your products to their warehouses will all be finished. All of that takes work and costs money. Moving to a fulfillment center that can provide the services you want is a hassle if you find out that the business can’t handle your products properly.
If you sell heavy, big, or bulky items, you should look for alternatives to ShipBob. The 3PL says that the average weight of a package is up to 20 pounds, but it will accept items that weigh more than 20 pounds. But if your items are heavy, you might want to think about an alternative to ShipBob.
Top ShipBob Replacements for 2023
There are some alternatives to ShipBob, such as Shopify Fulfillment and ShipMonk. To make sure you choose the best fulfillment service, you should get quotes from all of them and think about some of the more unusual features and ways they can work with your business.
Fulfillment Shopify
The first thing on the list is Shopify Fulfillment. Shopify has a well-known eCommerce platform that works with a large network of fulfillment centers all over the US and Canada.
You might choose Shopify over ShipBob because of its 2-day delivery, simple pricing, easy returns, and smart warehouse management system that chooses the best place to store your items based on where your customers live.
What’s important:
- The most competitive 3PL price on the market.
- A huge network of warehouses and distribution centers spread across the US and other countries, including Canada.
- Fast shipping to almost all US cities in just 2 days.
- Every order is inspected, the returns process is handled, and the order is tracked.
- Intelligent management of warehouses and fulfillment for the most efficiency.
- Any item you can sell in the next six months can be stored for free. After that, they start to charge for storage.
- You can choose to deliver anywhere in the world and choose how quickly you want it to arrive.
Prices:
Even though you have to contact Shopify and fill out an application, Shopify does have some information about its standard eCommerce fulfillment pricing:
- $7.32 to fill a 4 oz (0.15 kg) order.
- $7.76 to fill an 8-ounce (0.3 kg) order.
- $8.63 to fill a 12 oz (0.45 kg) order.
- $13.22 to ship a 4lb (1.81 kg) item.
The price of the second and third items in the order will be cut. As you add more items to each order, the prices of all of those items go down.
Your shipping costs include the following:
- 2-day delivery
- Taking care of and storing everything
- Postage and supplies for packing
- Using your Shopify dashboard to manage your stock
- Why you should pick Shopify Fulfillment:
Shopify Fulfillment is the best alternative to ShipBob because it is simple and cheap. Quotes can be found online in just a few minutes, and they include a number of costs related to fulfillment. With Shopify Fulfillment, the selling and shipping parts of your business are all in one place, so you won’t have to switch between dashboards like you would with ShipBob.
Red Stag Fulfillment
Red Stag Fulfillment is one of the best ShipBob alternatives because it is smaller, has better customer service, and can deliver to most of the US in just two days. It can also deliver to 13% of the country in just one day.
What’s important:
- At each of its facilities, Red Stag Fulfillment has strong security and product protection systems in place.
- With an error rate of only 0.02%, they will pay you back if something goes wrong.
- 96% of the US gets shipping in two days. Some remote areas get shipping in three days, and 13% of the US, mostly in the Knoxville and Salt Lake City areas, gets shipping in one day.
- Integrations with popular systems like WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, and Bigcommerce.
- A cloud-based program for keeping track of inventory and managing a warehouse.
- Tracking and managing returns.
- Real-time fulfillment that is automated.
Prices:
With Red Stag Fulfillment, there are no set-up costs, SKU maintenance costs, hidden fees, or long-term commitment requirements. You should call Red Stag Fulfillment to get a personalized quote for fulfillment.
Why you should pick Red Stag Fulfillment:
Red Stag Fulfillment is one of the best ShipBob alternatives for people who are tired of dealing with big fulfillment companies. Red Stag works well if you want to reach a 3PL contact right away without slowing down. Red Stag can also help you ship internationally, but most of its work is focused on getting packages to their destinations quickly within the United States.
ShipMonk
ShipMonk helps businesses like subscription box services, crowdfunding campaigns, retail stores, e-commerce sites, and more get their products to their customers. It is a good alternative to ShipBob because it has software for managing inventory and a network of fulfillment warehouses.
What’s important:
- More unique features, such as 321 services, shipping with duties paid, or FBA prep services.
- There is delivery protection and an automated site for making claims.
- There are actionable reports for many topics, such as cost breakdowns, unit movement, order tracking, and how often shipments happen.
- Managing freight and getting it back.
- Some of the biggest markets, like Amazon and eBay, are free to connect to.
- Integrations with WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Shopify, which are all well-known eCommerce platforms.
- Delivery from the two warehouses on the east and west coasts of the US.
- ShipMonk has a service called “snap and pack,” in which each order is photographed before it is sent.
- Shipping again on its own.
Prices:
ShipMonk has different prices depending on how the order is sent out. Having said that, the starting eCommerce fulfillment cost is based on how many orders you get each month.
Here is a good example:
- From 0 to 500 orders per month, the first item will cost $3.00.
- $0.75 for each extra item per order.
- The set fee for promotional inserts is $0.20.
- Processing a return costs $2.00 plus $0.50 per additional item.
- Also, regular storage costs (which vary) include:
- $1/month for a small bin
- $2 a month for a medium bin
- Large: $3 per month
- Bin XL: $4 per month
- Pallet: $25/month
Why you should pick ShipMonk:
ShipMonk is a good choice if you want a unique service that ShipBob can’t give you, like 321 services or seller-filled premium products. ShipMonk’s prices may also be better for your business because they have set prices for things like promotional inserts and costs that go down with the number of orders you place each month.
ShipHero
Even though ShipHero has a big network in the U.S., it is still small enough that picking a warehouse won’t be too hard. It’s also a good idea to think about smaller networks, since a service like ShipBob might make it harder for you to get feedback on your items.
What’s important:
- Huge warehouses that are well protected and have 14-foot ceilings, internal badge systems, and top-notch security.
- Integrations with eCommerce software like WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, and Shopify.
- ShipHero can be linked to other business tools through a free API.
- Software for keeping track of and managing stock.
- Marketplaces like eBay, Etsy, Amazon, and Walmart make it easier to sell and fulfill orders through multiple channels.
- Business apps like CartRover and ChannelAdvisor can talk to each other through connectors.
- At the ShipHero storage facilities, returns are taken care of.
- Intelligent warehouse routing takes away the need to decide where to store products in the best way.
Prices:
ShipHero has three warehouse management systems (WMSs) to choose from:
- Standard WMS for Brands is $1,850 per month.
- Enterprise WMS for Brands: Pricing is made to order.
- WMS costs $1,995 per month for 3PLs.
- Why you should pick ShipHero:
Compared to ShipBob, ShipHero seems like a better choice if:
- You desire a more controllable, compact network.
- You would want a cost structure that is easy to understand and includes everything.
- You need direct access to all of the United States and maybe even Canada.
ShipStation
ShipStation has many of the same software features as ShipBob, such as the ability to sync with your eCommerce platform, manage shipments, process orders, and send tracking information. However, ShipStation is not a good 3PL alternative to ShipBob.
What’s important:
- A full shipping solution for internal shipping instead of working with a 3PL.
- Automation and shipping labels that are built in.
- Management of both the products and the stock.
- Plans for carrier pickups and paperwork at the end of the day.
- A smartphone app that lets you keep track of fulfillment in real time.
- Packages in transit can be tracked.
- With market-wide analytics and multiple ways to ship,
- There are integrations with Magento, Wix, Shopify, Bigcommerce, eBay, Etsy, and WooCommerce, among others.
- Scanning, split shipments, order tagging, and other tasks can be done automatically.
- Emails, packing lists, SMS tracking, refunds, and tracking sites with a brand.
Prices:
ShipStation does charge for its software, but you also have to think about the cost of shipping. Here are the price lists for ShipStation:
- Starter: $9.99 per month for 50 shipments.
- Bronze: $29.99 per month (500 shipments per month).
- Silver: $59.99 per month for 1,000 shipments per month.
- Gold: $99.99 per month for 2,000 shipments per month.
- Platinum: $149.99 per month (5,000 shipments per month).
- Enterprise: $229.99 per month for 7,500 shipments per month.
- Use the ShipStation USPS Shipping Calculator to get a rough idea of how much it will cost to ship something.
ShipStation is a good choice because:
ShipStation may work very well for businesses that are just starting out or that are growing and adding their own facilities and fulfillment processes. Instead of using a third-party logistics system, you manage everything from a single platform, like ShipStation.
Last Words
Even though there are many other 3PLs, shipping tools, and fulfillment companies you can look into, these ShipBob alternatives may make the most sense for most eCommerce businesses. Find the right person for your business. On dropship-empire Blog, you can find more business ideas.