ShipBots is a standard storage and shipping order fulfillment service for ecommerce stores. It also provides one-of-a-kind fulfillment options for subscription boxes, retail, Amazon FBA preparation, merchandise, and apparel. Is ShipBots right for your online store’s needs in the successful 3PL (3rd-party logistics) industry? We look at the company’s main features, services, pricing, and customer support in this ShipBots review. You’ll be able to tell if it’s a viable solution for storing products and delivering orders to customers promptly this way.
The Main Features and Services
To give you a better understanding of how ShipBots works, we’ll take you through the entire fulfillment process, the tools used along the way, and the options available to you when working with ShipBots.
Here’s what to anticipate:
- ShipBots provides training, installs its online inventory management portal, syncs with your online store, and imports products when you become a new client.
- Your company selects fulfillment needs and sends products to ShipBots for storage.
- All inventory is kept in one of ShipBots’ three fulfillment locations in Kansas City, Los Angeles, or Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. It’s 15 minutes from Long Beach and 10 minutes from LAX to find their main fulfillment location in Los Angeles. They also have limited warehouse space on the east coast and in the Midwest.
- When you accept an order in your store, ShipBots receives a notification. They are in charge of selecting, packing, and shipping the essential materials.
- The customer receives a tracking code, the merchant receives shipment information on their dashboard, and the customer is informed about possible returns.
Following our testing and analysis of the process, we’ve come to the opinion that the following are some of the most exciting features and services to anticipate:
- Regular ecommerce fulfillment, subscription boxes, Amazon fulfillment prep, retail, and more services are available. They also offer unique storage and fulfillment services, such as delivery duty paid, temperature-controlled storage (for perishable commodities), and more.
- Storage and receiving pricing at the warehouse are transparent.
- Customers can choose between 2-day and express shipping options on your website.
- Customers can choose between one-day and worldwide shipping options.
- Top carriers including USPS, FedEx, and UPS provide discounted shipping choices.
- Receiving images of your inventory storage and fulfillment in the warehouse to see when, how, and where it is stored and fulfilled.
- Inventory, orders, shipping, and warehouse management software with four sections.
- Identify the best SKUs, block SKUs, and receive low stock notifications with these tools.
- Features for taking returns, automating the fulfillment process, and integrating with your online business are available when you place an order.
- Real-time shipping quotes and exclusive discounts. You’ll also get tracking numbers to send to your consumers, as well as tracking reports to help you make better decisions in the future.
- There are three warehouse and fulfillment center locations throughout the United States, allowing for quick shipment anywhere in the country. ShipBots also assists with inventory distribution between those locations.
- Customer service is available by phone, email, and live chat, as well as a wealth of online tools to help you learn about fulfillment and navigate the process.
- To reduce fraud and keep a watch on those targeting your store, use an address validation tool.
- Checking in on chargebacks with a claims management function.
- Top ecommerce platforms including Magento, Bigcommerce, Shopify, and WooCommerce have integrations.
- Marketplace and other sales channel integrations include Etsy, eBay, and Walmart. Alternative marketplaces such as Jane, Storenvy, and Jet are also used.
- Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and QVC are just a few of the physical and online stores that have been integrated.
- Returnly, ShipStation, and Skubana are just a few of the shipments tools that have been integrated.
- TradeGecko, Stripe, Salesforce, and ChannelAdvisor are just a few of the business systems that have been integrated.
- International shipping options for getting products to customers in other countries in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable cost.
- Plain packaging is provided for free, and custom packaging is available for a cost.
- A comprehensive returns management system that allows customers to print a return label and return it to the ShipBots warehouse of their choice. You won’t have to accept returns to your own office this way.
ShipBots handles various fulfillment pieces, from kitting and wrapping to temperature-controlled storage, that you either can’t get anywhere else or that are far too expensive. These ShipBots services and capabilities appear to be adaptable, configurable, and all-around ecommerce fulfillment solutions. You can’t go wrong with ShipBots for order storage and fulfillment because of the numerous integrations, 2-day shipment, and fantastic web platform.
ShipBots Fulfillment Center Locations
During our ShipBots assessment, we discovered three warehouses:
- The primary facility is in Los Angeles, California.
- Kansas City, Missouri (MO)
- Rocky Mountain, North Carolina
Because the LA location covers most of the west, southwest, and northwest, the Kansas City location covers the Midwest and some of the south, and the North Carolina location handles the east coast and southern states; these locations allow for quick shipping times to all parts of the “lower 48” of the United States.
Shipments to Hawaii and Alaska, like most fulfillment firms, will take a little longer. Although ShipBots has no locations outside the United States, the company nonetheless offers international shipping. That implies you can ship to Canada and most North America in a reasonable amount of time. If you’re shipping to another country, you’ll have to use FedEx, USPS, or UPS’s international services, but ShipBots can still help you fulfill your orders. Shipments will not reach your clients as quickly as they would if delivered to a fulfillment facility in their home country.
They also have a film that takes you on a tour of the main Los Angeles warehouse locations, showing you how the operation works, the many types of storage and tools utilized, as well as other graphics like packing materials, staff, and machinery.
When it comes to product distribution, ShipBots requests that you send items to their warehouse for stocking. At first, you can choose the locations (based on your data). Still, ShipBots eventually provides insights regarding product shipments and advice on relocating inventory to enhance efficiency and lower costs.
Overall, we like ShipBots’ current locational structure. It’s well-designed, provides for quick shipment to most of the United States, and you can move inventory around to suit your needs. International shipment is still possible, and ShipBots appears to be open about its activities. It is, in fact, a smaller boutique fulfillment operation with a human face. You may talk to a genuine person who knows the industry, and they even have films to show you around the facilities.
Pricing
Our ShipBots analysis discovered that costs varied depending on your fulfilment needs. You’ll also need to chat with a customer service agent to understand better how much you should budget.
We have some insight into what you get for your money with ShipBots, as well as whether it’s overpriced or not.
To begin, the cost is determined by your fulfilment solution. The following are the possibilities available through ShipBots:
- Ecommerce fulfilment as usual.
- Fulfilment of subscription boxes
- Preparation for Amazon FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon).
- Fulfilment of merchandise
- Fulfilment of retail orders.
- Fulfilment of apparel.
We don’t know which of the solutions given is the most expensive. Extra fees are likely to appear if you depart from traditional ecommerce fulfilment providers. Compared to standard ecommerce fulfilment, most 3PL suppliers charge more for packing together subscription boxes.
One of the most impressive aspects of the ShipBots pricing is that they publish estimates on their website; this isn’t typically the case with fulfilment companies, as they prefer to get you on the phone and sell you, their services.
You can use these cost estimates to get an idea of how much you’ll pay before contacting ShipBots. Furthermore, because ShipBots has no hidden fees or contracts, you are always informed of your costs and can cancel at any time.
The following are the pricing forecasts for normal ecommerce fulfilment (alternative fulfilment methods have different rates, but they may be similar in some ways to the prices below):
- Receiving: For all merchants, they include ordinary receiving. This is a huge advantage over many other 3PL competitors who charge you to get things. Any unique receiving projects may incur additional fees.
- Storage: ShipBots charges per storage unit used every month. Each pallet has a monthly cost of $36. Each shelf has a monthly fee of $10. Each monthly container costs $5.
- Picking and packing: This is all free for the first 4 picks in one order. After that, a $0.20 fee is applied for each extra pick.
- Standard packing materials: All basic boxes, dunnage, tape, and mailers are provided free to ShipBots retailers. Specialty packaging materials, bespoke inserts, and anything else not included in the regular packing list is extra. This is one of our favourite aspects of ShipBots.
- Shipping: This is dependent on the order, as it is with any other fulfilment service. Fees are set by shipping companies based on dimensions, weight, destination, and other criteria. The good news is that ShipBots has forged alliances with major airlines and passed on significant savings to its customers.
Furthermore, as part of your warehouse services, all ShipBots merchant partners receive these for free:
- The software for order and inventory management.
- Customer service that is dedicated.
- Shipping is discounted.
- Photos are being received at the warehouse.
- Coordination of freight.
- Validation of the address.
- Management of insurance claims.
- Preparation and processing of orders
Overall, ShipBots appears to be a cost-effective and sensible fulfilment service, thanks to its no-fee receiving, choosing, and packaging materials. You’ll save money on delivery as well. Keep in mind that all of these expenses will change as you add custom fulfilment features to the mix.
Customer Support
A functional merchant/3PL partnership requires excellent customer service. If an order goes missing, you must contact someone immediately. If you have a billing issue, you must speak with someone. It’s great to have customer service professionals willing to work with you to set up a pricing structure for special fulfilment situations.
That was clear during our ShipBots review, given that it’s a boutique with in-house customer service professionals, available web information about the company, and a slew of freebies for all merchants.
First and foremost, we appreciate that all merchants have access to specialized customer service. If something goes wrong with an order or you have a question about the process, you can phone or email someone at ShipBots. Warehouse reception images, order processing information, and claims management give you peace of mind.
ShipBots can be reached via phone or email, depending on your preferred method of communication. If you need to mail something to the company or plan a face-to-face appointment, they even provide their headquarters address.
ShipBots also has a social media presence where you can keep up with its posts and ask short queries. You may discover them on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
ShipBots has you covered in more ways than one regarding internet resources. To begin, read the ShipBots blog to learn about retail warehousing, managing 3PL relationships, and supply chain management best practices.
The ShipBots Support Center is the go-to location for finding informational articles. Type in a keyword, and you’ll find resources for refunds, shipping, Amazon FBA preparation, and more.
You can also discover more about the ShipBots fulfilment process by reading the online FAQs or contacting them via the contact form. In general, we haven’t found many issues in ShipBots’ customer support department. They offer a chat window where you can talk to someone immediately, all of the internet resources are relevant, and the direct contact ways make you feel like a VIP customer.
Is Shipbots Right for Your Ecommerce Order Fulfilment?
As an ecommerce third-party logistics provider, ShipBots has a lot going for it. First and foremost, it is a small firm with knowledgeable customer service agents and personal account managers. You can see footage of the company’s warehouses and talk to people who know what they’re talking about. It’s also fantastic due to its low prices, convenient warehouse locations, and shipping reductions.
Overall, we suggest ShipBots to any online business, no matter how large or small. We also recommend ShipBots if you need temperature-controlled storage or unique sorts of fulfilment, such as subscription boxes, retail, or Amazon Fulfilment prep.
