Critical Factors in Reviewing <A href=”http://www.fulfillmentplusny.com/direct-to-consumer/picking-and-packing.cfm”>Pack and Ship Services</a>

 

As you can tell from the name, a pack and ship service handles the packing and shipping of merchandise. They tend to center on selling services to small businesses that are either unable to ship items themselves or plainly don’t want the bother. They can be a fantastic alternative to setting up an in-house dispatch center.

 

<A href=”http://www.FulfillmentPlusNY.com”>Pack and Ship</a> Vendors vs. Fulfillment Services

 

Pack and ship services often do not store merchandise, but concentrate on shipping services. Invoices, billing and all communications with the customer continue to be done by the retailer. They are particularly important if you need to ship hard to package items or items that need special shipping or insurance.

 

The majority of pack and ship operations deal with several carriers – USPS, DHL, FedEx, UPS and several others. They may also arrange local transport and might provide custom drop-offs to and from airports. Most will even pick up items as well as deliver them, so they can function as virtual mail boxes.

 

Fulfillment services usually offer storage facilities as well as shipping. They may also pick and pack thereby satisfying all your shipping and storage needs. The major difference between a fulfillment service and a pack and ship service is that fulfillment services will typically offer to warehouse reasonable quantities of items offered for sale. They will charge for order assembly in addition to packing and shipping fees.

 

In a comparison between the two there truly is no contest. A fulfillment service is definately the best option simply because they are able to store merchandise for you.

 

Specialty Services

 

Several pack and ship services specialize in external shipping. Their familiarity with insurance, import and export laws and international shipping costs can be invaluable. Additionally some offer one or more of the following speciality services:

·           Guaranteed delivery – same day, overnight and next-day.

·           No size constraints and custom crating for delicate or unique packages.

·           Cargo insurance – essential for time-sensitive deliveries, perishables and foreign country shipping.

·           Package tracking

·           Office add-ons onsite: copies, supplies, fax, mail boxes and even notary services.

Some small, locally owned pack and ship services will hold items in hand (if you rent a mailbox) and ship them at your direction. However, they are usually not set up for any warehouse functions so this is only useful if you sell small items.

 

<A href=”http://www.fulfillmentplusny.com/faq.cfm”>Fulfillment services</a> usually offer specialty services that pack and ship services do not: customer contact in the form of receipts mailed to your customers, tracking information and in the case of some fullfilment services, billing services. This can be very convenient when the only customer contact required is a courtesy follow-up email.

 

Choosing between pack & ship and fulfillment services

 

Pack and ship companies are usually the best option if you are shipping odd items or if you need to send very few expensive items. They also offer the benefit of both sending and recieving packages. They often have more shipping options than fulfillment services too. This becomes very important if you want to send vauable or fragile merchandise and cannot take the chance that items will be damaged. In this case, insurance and package tracking become much more important than the need to send multiples.

 

Pack and ship businesses allow you more control over the order. Because you initiate the process you can say when the item should be shipped. Depending on where the package is and where the customer is, a pack and ship company might be the only way to get something to your customer’s doorstep overnight.

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