Shipping out Orders - Electronic Commerce 101 - THE BACKEND - Setting up the behind the scenes parts of E-commerce

You will most likely be shipping your orders by one or more of the big three shippers, United Parcel Service (UPS), Federal Express (FedEx), or the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Choosing which shipper(s) to use, will be determined by what you ship, how quickly you need it delivered, and the cost. Each shipper has their advantages and disadvantages.

USPS is the least expensive way to ship low weight items if it's light enough to ship 1st class mail. Their parcel and priority prices are competitive, but they have been raising prices recently making them the lowest cost shipper less often. They are also the least expensive way to ship internationally.

The main disadvantage of USPS is their tracking, or lack of it. If you ship with Delivery Confirmation or Signature Confirmation, you will receive notification when a package is delivered, but the tracking while a package is in transit is sporatic or non-existent. USPS is also inconsistent with their delivery times. Shipping to a location may take two days, then the next time you ship to that location, it could take six days.

FedEx and UPS are competitive and have many of the same benefits. Both have excellent package tracking, and a wide selection of different shipping options. Both offer price discounts for high volume shipping, and for shipping to commercial locations. Currently, FedEx is less expensive and a bit more willing to work with shippers on discounts, but that could change.

One disadvantage of UPS and FedEx are their international service. For international shipping, both appear to have good shipping prices, but their brokerage fees are far higher than USPS's, and often costs more than the shipping cost of the package. They will deliver the package to the international customer and bill them for the tariffs and broker fees. If the customer doesn't pay, of which there is no incentive to do so, they bill your account.

Each shipper offers free shipping software to print paid shipping labels if you start an account with them. There are also third party software, Stamps.com and Endicia, that for a small monthly fee, allows printing of USPS shipping labels. If you have an account with FedEx, Stamps.com's software will also allow you to print FedEx labels at a discount from the normal prices.

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