Hi, Shan from Shippo here! We power applications like this by helping them connect to multiple shipping carriers from one API to compare rates, print labels, track shipments etc. Through the combined volume we get through the platform we also help businesses get volume discounts from carriers.
For this new product, no. We use a ton of different technologies to make different parts of our business work. We prefer to focus on solving consumer + smb pain points vs owning the entire stack ourselves.
OK. Thanks for the reply. So that might be a continually updated value, as opposed to an originally scheduled date? As a seller we have an interest in knowing when a package is delivered later than originally expected. I'm doing some programatic, carrier-specific things to monitor this internally, but would be interested in finding a way to this through something like Shippo's API. Basically, show me delivered and undelivered shipments that are beyond the originally scheduled/promised delivery date. Possible?
Our product is the API and we’re very much focusing on letting developers build on top of it. Comparing shipping APIs is like an iceberg, you need to look below the water to see the difference.
Let's start with the technical stuff.
1. We've actively taken the route of having deep, certified carrier integrations with each of the shipping providers we support. For instance, we are an USPS ePostage partner, being one of the only 3 companies with a direct connection with the USPS (http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y16/m03/i17/s02). This means that we don't rely on any other APIs to generate USPS rates, labels etc. ensuring that our uptime is more stable (https://status.goshippo.com/) and less dependent on other systems.
2. We've built out an internal engine that generates shipping rates (and soon, labels) locally. This means that even if carrier APIs go down, you can
generate rates through Shippo.
3. Being partners with carriers and forming good relationships means that we are able to get our customers better support with them. For instance, we're able to help connect customers to local USPS and DHL reps to help them better manage real-life ops. From a developer perspective, issues that we bring up are also expedited because we know who to go to.
4. We aggregate shipping volume across our platform to help negotiate for discounts with carriers. When you start with Shippo, you don't need an account to start shipping, we set you up with master accounts immediately (but of course, you can plug your own in).
The big picture stuff.
Our goal is to be there from a business' first order, all the way to being directly connected to their system and warehouses as they grow. This means working with both business/ops people and developers.
1. For SMBs/business/ops people, they can use our interface, which is built directly on top of the API, to access all the awesome things. They can manually upload orders, CSVs or use our shipping app on platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, etc.
2. For developers, all shipments created through the API automatically are synced to the dashboard. You won't need to build your own interface from scratch. Anyone can start manage shipping right away.
We want to make shipping easy for everyone - no matter what size your business is, or who you are at a company. Building an API to make this happen is the best way to do it at this day-and-age, but we believe that it's important to also make the power that the API provides accessible to everyone.
Actually! We do offer a web interface for this exact thing. Many of our customers are small businesses who don't have developers to integrate the API, so we built a dashboard for them to compare shipping prices, print labels, and track shipments. (You can also use it even if you're not a business)
Are you from Shippo? Would you mind if I contacted you directly to ask some questions? As it happens I'm in the process of comparing a few services like Shippo to purchase for a 3PL company and I'd love to be able to chat with someone. Email in my profile if you don't mind reaching out.
Yes, from Shippo here. Will shoot you an email. :)
edit: if anyone else would like to chat, sales@goshippo.com is the best place to get to us. That goes directly to a few of our inboxes, so we're get back to you in no time.
Shippo is a shipping API company that connects e-commerce businesses and marketplaces to multiple shipping carriers from one place. Our API powers shipping for companies like Shyp and Weebly, and we recently partnered with Stripe to offer shipping directly through their API.
With Shippo, businesses of all sizes can easily access Amazon-quality shipping operations and data. We are doing for shipping what Stripe has done for payments.
You will be faced with challenges in building and scaling mission-critical systems that are used by thousands of customers as a core part of their checkout flow and fulfillment process. From designing robust APIs to turning data sets into shipping recommendation engines, we need a strong and diverse team to help us grow quickly.
Current technical openings include:
* Senior backend engineers - we work with Python (Django), Postgres, AWS
* Senior frontend engineers - we use Ember
* Data Architect
* Support engineer
* Developer evangelist
* Senior product manager
Technical hiring process:
1. Phone screen
2. Tech interview 1h via skype - pair programming
3. Onsite half day - pair programming/whiteboarding, meet the team/founders
For more details on the roles, check out https://goshippo.com/jobs/ Please be sure to mention you saw the note on HN!
Glad that you're addressing the whole shipping industry in your question here!
Shippo customers vary pretty widely. Many inventory and warehouse management systems actually use our API to get the address validation, shipping integration, label creation functionalities you mentioned [0]. We're just white-labeled. These customers want to focus on what they're good at instead of having to maintain the shipping side of things.
Our other sweet spot are marketplaces [1] who'll never need an OMS or WMS because products never go through their hands. They want to also tap into multi-carrier capabilities because of better pricing and convenience for their end-customers. Again, they use our API as an easy way to plug into the shipping world without having to deal with all the things.
Our guess is that:
1) Seller convenience, you don't necessarily need to pack up a box since it's being hand-delivered. Whereas with UPS/FedEx, you'll have to put something in a box so that it doesn't get destroyed during shipping.
2) Since it's getting picked up by an individual (sometimes on bikes), it's nice to know if they're going to be handling something very fragile or sturdy.
Just our assumptions - Uber will of course have the real answer.
