Where ShipStation users usually are when they call us
ShipStation describes itself as shipping software that brings carriers, automations and discounts into one login. Most of its users started by shipping their own orders: importing them from Shopify, Amazon, eBay or WooCommerce, printing labels in batches and setting rules so the right service is chosen for each parcel.
That setup scales well on screen. It scales less well in a unit where the same people are receiving stock, packing orders and answering customers. The usual trigger for a 3PL conversation is not the software, it is running out of space or hands during a busy spell.
What changes when the parcels leave your building
Moving to a 3PL means the decisions you encoded in ShipStation rules, which carrier for which parcel, how items are packed, when orders are batched, now have to be carried out by someone else. We take those preferences on board during onboarding and turn them into packing specifications for our team, including custom packaging and inserts where you use them.
Carrier choice is made per order on cost, speed and destination, using carriers including DPD, Evri and Royal Mail, and every parcel is tracked with proof of delivery. Orders placed before 9pm are dispatched the same day (cut-offs vary by carrier, service and daily order profile), and picking runs at 99.9% accuracy.
You also stop holding stock yourself. Goods-in is checked against purchase orders, stored as pallets, cartons or bins, and visible in our client portal, so your stock count is no longer something you work out at the end of the week.
How orders pass between ShipStation and Smart
Your channels keep feeding orders into ShipStation exactly as they do today. With Smart connected, the orders you want us to handle flow through to our warehouse automatically rather than waiting for someone to print a label.
When we dispatch, tracking and order status sync back into ShipStation, which can then update the store or marketplace the order came from and notify the customer the way it does now. Stock levels sync back as well, so you are not selling items that are no longer on our shelves.
Andy Paine, your named contact, works through which stores and rules should route to us before go-live, so nothing is shipped twice or missed during the switch.
