In the past, we’ve talked about the benefits and drawbacks of using a fulfillment company for your crowdfunding project. This article will explore some of the differences and similarities between the top crowdfunding fulfillment centers including Shipwire, Fulfillrite, and Amazon.
Shipwire
Shipwire has been around since 2006 and is one of the larger fulfillment companies out there. It offers pick and pack, label printing, shipping rate optimization, returns handling, and shopping cart integration.
After reading reviews on TrustPilot, Shopify, and Yelp, I’ve included some of the pros and cons below, along with two reviews.
Common Pros Mentioned:
– eCommerce integrations: Shipwire integrates with several ecommerce solutions like Shopify, Zen Cart, WooCommerce, Magento, and more.
– Warehouse Locations: Shipwire has locations around the world including the US, Canada, UK, Australia, China, Germany, and Brazil.
– Comprehensive Dashboard: The company has an inventory/supply chain web portal that helps you keep track of shipments and customers.
“Their online dashboard makes managing orders and shipping a breeze and it is great to know that as our business expands, Shipwire has access to multiple international warehouse locations so we can keep costs down for our customers.”– Jessie B. Yelp.
“We have several different shopping portals for our products, in addition to our own website and Shipwire has been able to seamlessly integrate with all of them. Orders are received and all the necessary information is exchanged without having to be hands-on.” – Jeff M. Yelp.
“Shipwire was great when I was first setting up distribution through them. Their prices were competitive, but it was the service that set them apart. We decided to move our fulfillment back in-house because it’s so low-volume, so paying a fulfillment house did not make sense for our organization. But by and large, Shipwire was great and I’d recommend them. Their Shopify integration is especially welcome.” – Michael Nolan. TrustPilot.
Common Cons Mentioned:
– Customer Service: The biggest commonality I’ve seen among negative reviews has been poor customer service. Granted, there are also reviews saying they have good customer service.
There is a lengthy review on Shopify that points out some of the positives (good at handling emergency issues) and negatives (bad at handling larger issues and non-responsiveness).
“For simple issues requiring immediate action (like canceling an order that submitted to a warehouse already) I have no complaints. For larger issues, responses are slow and customer service is frustrating to deal with. If you call, you may get pushed to a voicemail system. If someone does answer, and you have a large issue, the person who answers won’t likely be able to help….
You can also email in your issue. Either way, you’ll then get a standard email back indicating that someone is looking into the issue and will respond by such-and-such a date with either a resolution, or an updated timeline. In many instances (at least for me), this initial date comes and goes with no follow-up from Shipwire. I’ve even had instances where, after that date passing, I’ve responded to the original email with a request for an update, never to hear back from anyone. Some issues, when addressed, are only partially addressed. Some issues seem to be ignored entirely. Some responses to issues are lackluster, at best.” – Michael Florucci. Shopify. (2013)
On Yelp, many of the negative reviews are also related to customer service. There is also a Yelp page with a longer list of negative reviews that mainly emphasize negative experiences with the company’s customer service.
“When trying to identify solutions with their customer service representatives, responses are scripted and robotic – resulting in an impasse in most cases – leaving the merchant without recourse for any situation that falls outside the scope of their narrowly defined'”process.’
If you need to make changes, or run across an in issue in the dashboard, be prepared for an email with a link to their FAQ, rather than hands-on help. You’ll have to figure it out on your own by trial and error because representatives are so wedded to prepared messaging and aren’t willing or able to effectively address your individual situation.” – Kaitlin H. Yelp. (2014)
It seems like this is an area the company can highly improve on.
– Unclear Rules/Fees: This is the second biggest common con that I’ve discovered from browsing around online. From what I’ve read, I don’t think Shipwire is deliberately trying to overcharge customers, I just think they need to be more clear about charges with a simple breakdown.
“Unclear rules regarding insurance, terms of coverage and exactly what they cannot handle (I sent them glassware to stock & ship, not until they break in transit, do they inform me they do not handle fragile items). Again, a package branded with my vendor’s name is damaged in transit (not fragile), STILL not covered. Never explained and yet kept taking my insurance coverage dollars every month!
The rules around labeling and receiving are so complex, you think they’d include that your items need to be sent out in generic packaging.” – Sabrina Sandberg, TrustPilot. (2014).
“They also aren’t as transparent about pricing as they claim to be. There’s a 15% up charge on USPS shipping rates that isn’t well advertised at all. Oh, and that “free standard packaging” – well Shipwire appears to have a very limited definition of what ‘standard’ is. 8 of the last 10 of my shipments had an additional box fee of about $0.55 per order.” Michael F. Yelp. (2013)
Overall
Based on the reviews I’ve read, I think this user’s report sums it up: “We have been using Shipwire for well over a year now with a quite extensive worldwide customer base. I like that it’s fast and easy and as long as you just do regular shipments everything goes very smooth. But, if you for once need to do anything besides standard shipping, like a special project, ship out large quantities, get some help or basically anything that requires attention from their customer service, then things are not as smooth anymore. If you’re thinking about submitting a special project that has to do with your inventory then forget about it.” – Alex B. Yelp.
No doubt, Shipwire offers some great features and services and like all businesses, has happy and unhappy customers. If you’re going to do business with them, I’d recommend reading through all charges/rules carefully and getting any agreements in writing before sending inventory or paying invoices.
Fulfillrite
Fulfillrite was founded in 2009 and is a small east coast fulfillment company in Lakewood, NJ. It offers pick & pack, labeling, sorting, return handling, and shopping cart integration.
After reading reviews on TrustPilot, G2Crowd, and Shopify, I’ve put together some pros and cons for using Fulfillrite. As a disclosure, I have worked with Fulfillrite in the past because I like their approach to business and how they help creators. I was not able to find any negative reviews online, but do think there are negatives to consider for crowdfunding project creators.
Common Pros Mentioned:
– Customer Service: The most common positive reviews I’ve seen have been related to the company’s customer service. Keep in mind that it’s easier to score a high rating in customer service when you are a smaller company.
“Signing up with Fulfillrite was one of the best things I have ever done for my company PianoMaestro. Fulfillrite continues to exceed all expectations, and frees up valuable time for us to focus on other parts of the business. The web portal is top-notch. Service is reliable (zero mistakes / issues so far) and reasonably priced compared to other options we explored. Most importantly, Joe is extremely responsive and a pleasure to work with. This is the Lexus of fulfillment companies. Highly recommend.” – Ken Ihara, TrustPilot.
“I was referred to FulfillRite by a friend who had already used them successfully on a large Kickstarter project. I had hundreds of books to send all over the world. I was guided through setting up an account and all the particulars of incoming and outgoing shipments. As a long-time book designer and producer, but in my first time handling the fulfillment details, I could not be any happier than how my rep held my hand through many complexities, including making sure the books arrive in the correct form from the printer, uploading shipment files, dealing with exceptions, and depositing payments. When any holdups occurred (my bank failed to deliver a check through billpay), FulfillRite worked with me to make it right, when it wasn’t their fault to begin with.” – Glenn Fleishman, TrustPilot.
– Web Portal & Integrations: Fulfillrite has a web portal which customers use to manage orders, inventory, and payment. The company also integrates with Shopify, Etsy, BackerKit, Magento, and more.
“This app [shopify] has been so easy to set up and consistently runs without error. Joe from Fulfillrite went out of his way to assist in the set up. I consider his app and fulfillment service a partner in my business. I highly recommend this app and Fulfillrite’s fulfillment services to all ecommerce physical product businesses!” – Predator Guard on Shopify Integration.
“I have been working with Fulfillrite for the past several months, and I have been continuously impressed by all aspects of their service. The integration with Shopify is seamless and hassle free – with the click of a button my accounts were synched up. The dashboard is intuitive and easy to use, and the client service is outstanding.” – Kalyana Textiles. Shopify.
Common Cons Mentioned & Items To Consider
– Payment Options: “Only con is that you have to manually pay via PayPal for each bill and to preload shipping funds. Wish they would do automatic billing with credit cards.” – Natural Force Nutrition (2014)
– One Fulfillment Center: Unlike larger fulfillment companies, Fulfillrite’s center is located in Lakewood, NJ. Companies like Shipwire have centers around the world, which can factor into your decision. I would be clear about asking how this might impact your fulfillment needs.
– WooCommerce Integration: At the time of writing, Fulfillrite does not have a WooCommerce integration. After running a successful crowdfunding campaign, many creators will sell or pre-sell the product on their website. WooCommerce is a common plugin to use to help manage shopping carts and sales. This can be a drawback if you are planning on setting up a WooCommerce store.
9/18/2014 Update from Fulfillrite: Although we don’t currently offer a direct plug in with Woocommerce we do offer direct integration via Woocommerce API.”
Overall
I really haven’t been able to find any negative reviews online of Fulfillrite. If you’ve had a negative experience, I invite you to comment. Again, this may be because they are a smaller company. Personally, I like their customer service style, though I think their website could have more information about their online portal, and detail regarding their services.
Amazon
Amazon also provides fulfillment services which can be used to ship out your crowdfunding rewards. They offer to store, pick, pack, and ship your product. They also process returns. If your using them to fulfill crowdfunding rewards, then you would be using “Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment” not “Fulfillment by Amazon.”
After searching around online, I’ve compiled a few reviews that might be helpful in determining whether or not you want to use them to ship out your rewards. Good reads include:
Kickstarter Fulfillment With Amazon via ComixTribe.
Offering Worldwide Shipping on Kickstarter via StonemaierGames
Using Amazon Fulfillment to Ship your Kickstarter Product via GamesWithoutStrings
Common Pros Mentioned:
– Easy to Use: Most of the reviews I read emphasized the efficiency and ease of use once you set up the fulfillment services. It took away headache and worry from shipping out items.
“At this point [after a campaign], Amazon takes over, and like Wolverine, they are the best in the world at what they do…and what they do is pack and ship stuff to people. In the three Amazon warehouses around the US, they pick, pack, and ship the graphic novels to backers for you. And they do it for CHEAPER than you could do it yourself!
…Often the most popular reward for graphic novel Kickstarters is just the book itself, which is something that Amazon has been doing exceptionally well for more than a decade. Avoiding all of the above steps for hundreds (or in some cases thousands) of rewards, and letting Amazon do it instead can easily save Kickstarter project managers hundreds of hours.” – ComixTribe.
“It’s actually simple. These companies ship so many items daily that they have special deals with the USPS. Deals that literally cut the cost of their shipping to 50% or below. That blew my mind. To give you a concrete example, Amazon fulfilled my Kickstarted game at a rate of $5.75 each. To ship the game myself, it would have cost $6.50 per game or so for states near Georgia and around $11.00 per game to go cross-country to California.
That being said, there are other costs: shipping your product to the fulfillment center is the big one and there are a few more smaller, miscellaneous expenses. If your math works out, using 3rd party fulfillment will save you both time and money. (This math is talked about in detail in Part 2)….
The golden marvel of Amazon is it’s insanely cheap rate for shipping you back your product. What’s the rate? Fifty cents per item. Need 50 games to shop around to local game stores? 25 bucks. Need 100 games to sell at GenCon? 50 bucks. It’s great.” – GamesWithoutStrings.
Common Cons Mentioned
I wasn’t able to find many negative reviews of Amazon’s fulfillment services, aside from lack of integration with ecommerce solutions like ShopLocket. If you’ve used Amazon, I invite you to leave a comment below regarding your experience.
Update: It was brought to my attention that Amazon’s international shipping is a bit tricky. Only media products are eligible for international Multi-Channel Fulfillment shipping. See here.
“There are two options under US FBA Export: FBA Global Export and Worldwide Media. Media (books, music, video, DVD) and non-media products are exportable through the FBA Global Export program. Only Media products are exportable through Worldwide Media.
FBA Export is available to sellers that use Amazon.com Fulfillment and Multi-Channel Fulfillment. However, only media products are eligible for Multi-Channel Fulfillment exports.”
Conclusion
If you’ve used any of these companies or other companies to help manage fulfillment of your Kickstarter or Indieoggo rewards, I invite you to leave a comment with your review. Also, let me know if I left any out that you’ve used. I think building a relationship with a fulfillment company is a good first step towards setting up an ecommerce business and can be a huge asset if you need to ship out a bunch of rewards to backers around the world.
