Is anyone currently importing UPS tracking numbers into AC7?

[draneb]

I want to go live this week but the main thing holding me back is that there is no way to import the UPS tracking numbers yet.

I have been using the Client Tools for AC5.5 which works great. I have UPS Worldship export the tracking numbers either after each label or at the end of the day and was then importing them into AC5.5 quickly and easily.

AC7 has been out for a little while now. I can't imagine everyone is keying in the tracking numbers manually. What are you all doing for now until the Dataport utility is released that supports this feature?

Thank you.

[Robbie@FireFold]

Shipper 3 is amazing. http://structured-solutions.net/ShowCat ... tegoryID=4

[draneb]

OMG Thank you Robbie! That is awesome. Is the version for $395 sufficient enough?
I don't think I will even need an employee anymore. Technology is beautiful.

[compunerdy]

Checkout this thread..

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=7329

[afm]

OMG Thank you Robbie! That is awesome. Is the version for $395 sufficient enough? I don't think I will even need an employee anymore. Technology is beautiful.

Please give the trial version a whirl. You can switch the trial version between Gold and Platinum to try both...though Trial Platinum will only print demo labels (Trial Gold will print real labels).

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions (support@structured-solutions.net).

[calvis]

Hi draneb,

It looks like the $395 version will import tracking numbers, but keep in mind that you need to use ShipRush with it as well which is an added cost. And keep in mind that the both Shipper and ShipRush uses an annual license model. So the yearly cost would be $395 + ShipRush ( $195 for basic or $290 for pro) and if you want to do USPS as well you need to add $479.40. Personally I hate to be held hostage with annual licensing, but the pros might outweigh the cons.

[afm]

Thank you calvis for the good summary. Let me add that ShipRush for UPS Basic does not require a UPS daily pickup account. If you are paying for a daily pickup account so you can use UPS WorldShip, then you might save money by switching to Shipper (I paid UPS $68/month for my daily pickup account).

And Shipper does much more than print the shipping label and record the tracking number. One less obvious feature is that Shipper uses CommerceBuilder to store the shipment information instead of updating the database directly. There are several advantages to this, but the most important is that the appropriate AbleCommerce events are run; exactly as if you shipped the package manually via the admin pages.

[compunerdy]

Andy,

Can you give a short walk through on the everyday steps to print ups and usps using your system/shiprush/endicia. I want to see whats involved compared to doing it manually.

[afm]

You bet. I'll post a screencast on Thursday.

[nickc]

What are you all doing for now until the Dataport utility is released that supports this feature?

Our warehouse is outsourced - we created a web service to automate AC7 admin tasks of shipping, payment capture, and order completion. As noted above, using the CommerceBuilder API means that the appropriate associated events get fired without any extra effort.

[afm]

Andy,

Can you give a short walk through on the everyday steps to print ups and usps using your system/shiprush/endicia. I want to see whats involved compared to doing it manually.

Here is a real-time video showing the download and printing a UPS label. USPS (and any other carrier) is the same except you would pick a USPS service instead of a UPS service.

watch the video

Assigning a service can be automated. In that case, it gets a little shorter: 1) click a button to download new orders, then 2) click a button to print the label.

You can also automate downloading new orders, printing the label, and uploading tracking information to the store. In that case, it is completely hands-off. The labels (and packing lists, invoices, etc) will just appear on the printer as new orders arrive.

[draneb]

Wow, that is incredible... I am definitely going to puchase your software. I wished all the shipping methods were built into one ShipRush software though.

I have one question. You wouldn't believe how many of our customers mess up on their own addresses. We are always correcting spelling of street names, correcting Zipcodes, etc. With such an automated process would we still be able to correct an address before printing the label?

Thank you.

[calvis]

Andy, so what is showed on the video is all you need to do? I mean you don't have to deal with ShipRush or the tracking number because everything happens automatically? No End of Day Processes? How do you void a package? Do you use ShipRush or Shipper when doing voids?

[compunerdy]

Andy,

1. Shouldnt the shipping method be pre selected from what was selected by the customer?

2. How do you put in the shipment weights? I know mine are never correct compared to what AC7 calculated.

3. So this screen is all you ever have to use? There is no need to access worldship, dazzle, etc..?

[afm]

Wow, that is incredible... I am definitely going to puchase your software. I wished all the shipping methods were built into one ShipRush software though.

I have one question. You wouldn't believe how many of our customers mess up on their own addresses. We are always correcting spelling of street names, correcting Zipcodes, etc. With such an automated process would we still be able to correct an address before printing the label?

Thank you.

You have 2 options:

1. You can double click on the package in Shipper to examine/change the details including the address, weight, package dimensions, etc. Then print the label.
2. In the video I clicked on the Quick Print Shipping Label button. The one next to it is the Print Shipping Label button. If you click on that one, a ShipRush window appears that let's you examine/change the label before it is printed.

[afm]

Andy, so what is showed on the video is all you need to do? I mean you don't have to deal with ShipRush or the tracking number because everything happens automatically? No End of Day Processes? How do you void a package? Do you use ShipRush or Shipper when doing voids?

If the information pulled down from your website is complete, then you do not need to deal with ShipRush to print the label or handle the tracking number. The #1 goal of Shipper is to automate shipment processing for e-commerce websites. Hopefully it does a pretty good job at that, but I welcome any and all suggestions for making the process even better.

End of Day Processing
If you have a UPS daily pickup account, then you will need to run End of Day processing. With Shipper 3.0, that is done via ShipRush (right click on ShipRush icon in the system tray and select Process End of Day). In Shipper 3.1 Platinum Edition, this will also be a button in Shipper. I will not be able to add it to Shipper Gold Edition because the ShipRush interface in Gold Edition does not support it.

Voiding a Shipment
With Shipper 3.0, you use ShipRush to void a shipment (right click on the ShipRush icon in the system tray, select View Shipments, then delete the shipment). It will be a button in Shipper 3.1 Platinum Edition (not Gold for the same reason as above).

[afm]

1. Shouldnt the shipping method be pre selected from what was selected by the customer?

The method is an arbitrary name that you gave to your shipping rate. It be "Via Clown Car". Shipper could try guessing the appropriate Service based on the rate provider and rate name, but it doesn't (not that it didn't cross my mind...it just did not make it into 3.0). However, you can tell Shipper what Service to assign for a given Method.

2. How do you put in the shipment weights? I know mine are never correct compared to what AC7 calculated.

You have 2 options:

1. You can double click on a package to examine/edit the package details including the weight, dimensions, reference fields, etc.
2. You can click the Print Shipping Label button (I clicked on the Quick Print button in the video). This will display a ShipRush panel which let's you edit the label details including the weight.

3. So this screen is all you ever have to use? There is no need to access worldship, dazzle, etc..?

There is no need to access WorldShip or Dazzle (they can be uninstalled). You would use ShipRush to run End of Day processing or void a shipment (see my other answer above).

[compunerdy]

1. Do you know how the shiprush for endicia would work as far as having to pre-pay for the postage? What if I let my postage balance run down etc?

2. With this setup we should be able to use a thermal printer for both ups and usps correct?

3. Where would we be entering customs info for usps international shipments?

[afm]

1. Do you know how the shiprush for endicia would work as far as having to pre-pay for the postage? What if I let my postage balance run down etc?

It works very much like Dazzle. You can buy postage using the ShipRush icon in the system try (right click on the icon, select Shipping Settings > Endicia Account, and then click on the Buy Postage button); or you can purchase postage online.

2. With this setup we should be able to use a thermal printer for both ups and usps correct?

Yes. The list of supported thermal printers is shown at the bottom of this document,

http://structured-solutions.net/Shipper3Editions

3. Where would we be entering customs info for usps international shipments?

Shipper will pre-fill some basic customs information...enough to allow ShipRush to automatically print customs documents if you click on the Quick Print Shipping Label button. If you want to edit the customs information, you would click on the Print Shipping Label button instead.

[calvis]

(not that it didn't cross my mind...it just did not make it into 3.0).

OK Andy, what version will this be included in? Gold or Plantium? Both? Can you guarantee that all improvements made to Shipper will be included in both the Gold and Plantium?

[afm]

(not that it didn't cross my mind...it just did not make it into 3.0).

OK Andy, what version will this be included in? Gold or Plantium? Both? Can you guarantee that all improvements made to Shipper will be included in both the Gold and Plantium?

I am running an informal survey of proposed features,

What features would you like in Shipper 3.1?

If you have time, please take a look and let me know what features you think are most important (including any features that should be on the list but are missing).

Some features will be added to Platinum and not Gold. Gold and Platinum use different interfaces to ShipRush and the interfaces support different capabilities (the ShipRush interface that Platinum uses is a super set of the one that Gold uses). If I add a service guessing feature to Shipper, it will probably be added to both Gold and Platinum. But I really can't make any guarantees about the future. Please make your decision about Shipper based on what it does today, not what it might do tomorrow. If it doesn't make the grade today, you can always look again in a few months.

I know I am new to the AbleCommerce world and that might be making you nervous. Here's a short background about me and my company:

I graduated from Princeton University in 1982 with a BSE in Civil Engineering, and from RPI in 1984 with a MS in Civil Engineering. Initially I worked for a paper company (Westvaco) in New York City as an engineer, but moved to the Engineering IT department after a year. After spending several more years in various computer departments for 3 companies on the east coast. I moved (back) to Oregon in 1997 to work for Intel. In 1998 I started Structured Solutions to do consulting and application development for e-commerce websites.

My first company website was published in 2003 (www.sfaddons.com archive). Shipper 1.0 (then called Shipper for UPS) was released in June 2004. Since then I have made many, many enhancements driven by 100's of customers. Shipper 3.0 represents the current culmination of that development, and I fully expect to continue the pace of improvement over the next 4 years.

[Robbie@FireFold]

+1 for Andy.

I can send him a bug at 6:45PM EST. I get a response with a new build at 12:45AM EST!!

There's only been a few bugs we've had to work out. Very minimal considering I was the first person to buy it.

[afm]

+1 for Andy.

I can send him a bug at 6:45PM EST. I get a response with a new build at 12:45AM EST!!

There's only been a few bugs we've had to work out. Very minimal considering I was the first person to buy it.

Great...now look where the bar is set!

(Robbie was the first Shipper 3 customer, buying it 3 days before release!).

[compunerdy]

Andy.. I sent you a E-mail this morning. Just checking to make sure it went through.

[afm]

Andy.. I sent you a E-mail this morning. Just checking to make sure it went through.

Got it. I just replied.