Customize your shipping process with ShipStation’s Add-On Marketplace
You’ve spent countless hours customizing the look and feel of your business to make it feel like your business— so why not do the same thing with your shipping process? ShipStation’s new Add-On Marketplace allows you to do just that. These powerful add-ons are meant to solve your business’ unique challenges. Instead of feeling stuck in a one-size-fits-all solution, find the features you need to make your shipping process work the way you do business.
What can you add?
There are currently six add-ons available in the Marketplace:
- Inventory Sync
- Keep accurate inventory counts on every channel you sell on
- Cubiscan
- Connect with dimensioners for accurate package measurements
- ODBC
- Communicate between ShipStation and an outside data source
- ShipStation 3PL
- Manage all your clients in one place
- Dropship Manager
- Have clear communication with partners who deliver last-mile
- Auto-Split
- Automatically split orders that need to ship in multiple shipments
Note that some of these features are only available through the Add-On Marketplace, while some may already be included with your plan. You can find that information in the feature’s specific section below, or this page for the latest.
Keep inventory counts accurate with Inventory Sync
To grow your business, you need to expand the number of channels you sell on. That makes tracking inventory more complicated, unless you use ShipStation’s Inventory Sync add-on. This add-on is built to help your business grow with confidence. It pulls inventory levels from either ShipStation Inventory or ShipStation 3PL, or both, to update the selling channels you’re connected to in real-time. The selling channels you can currently sync with are: Amazon, BigCommerce, eBay, Etsy, Shopify, Walmart, and WooCommerce.
For a more in-depth look at the Inventory Sync add-on, read our latest blog on the subject.
The Inventory Sync add-on is currently only available through the Add-On Marketplace.
Automatically measure packages with Cubiscan dimensioners
If you use a dimensioner to measure the weight and dimensions of your packages, or have been contemplating on introducing one to your process, Cubiscan is the add-on for you.
What are Dimensioners? Dimensioners are external devices that accurately measure a package’s weight and dimensions, and ShipStation currently supports four Cubiscan dimensioner models:
- Cubiscan 110
- Cubiscan 125
- Cubiscan 150
- Cubiscan 225
When you add your dimensioner to your ShipStation account, your package’s measurements automatically apply to your shipment. This ensures you apply the correct weight and dimensions of every order you send out—which means you’re less likely to deal with adjustment fees due to inaccurate sizing measurements. You can even configure ShipStation to import a set weight and dimension for a product with a barcode scan after measuring an initial shipment.
To add a dimensioner to your ShipStation account, you can find instructions on how to do so on our Cubiscan dimensioner help article.
The Cubiscan add-on is included with High Volume plans in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is included with Enterprise plans in the UK, France, and Germany. For other plans, it can be added to your account through the Add-On Marketplace.
Connect your own data to ShipStation with ODBC
For those businesses that want to communicate data between an external source and ShipStation, we have Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). Two of the most popular examples of external databases that ODBC connects to ShipStation are custom SQL databases and UPS WorldShip®. ShipStation uses ODBC to integrate with these databases and treats them as an order source. This lets you pull orders from your database and update tracking and shipment information as you would with any other ShipStation integration. This can be a huge time saver for warehouses that are trying to integrate their well-established processes with ShipStation’s software.
The ODBC add-on is included with High Volume plans in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is included with Enterprise plans in the UK, France, and Germany. For other plans, it can be added to your account through the Add-On Marketplace.
Manage shipments for multiple clients with ShipStation 3PL
3PLs that use ShipStation can now monitor all of their clients under a single account. Currently, you can connect as many clients to your account as needed. 3PLs need only activate the add-on, and invite their clients. Once the invite is accepted, clients can start delegating orders to the 3PL. Clients can also configure carrier sharing with the 3PL, which specifies which carriers and services the client wants to use. Order status information is passed back to the client as the 3PL fulfills it, and customers are notified as usual. For even clearer communication, clients can also view a 3PL’s inventory counts if they use ShipStation Inventory.
In the future, there are plans to add features such as:
- Advanced Shipping Notices, where clients alert their 3PL that inbound inventory shipments have shipped.
- 3PLs to automatically calculate a client’s monthly bill using rate cards.
- Clients to pay their 3PL provider directly from their ShipStation account.
The ShipStation 3PL add-on is currently only available through the Add-On Marketplace.
Centralize your fulfillment with Dropship Manager
The Dropship Manager feature is meant for businesses who try to avoid holding inventory by connecting with vendors who deliver last-mile to the customer. With this add-on, you can delegate orders from your store to vendors, and even configure carrier sharing similar to the way clients can with their 3PL.
One business that excels at dropshipping, is Cocktail Courier. Selling alcohol is understandably an industry with heavy regulations, which is why Cocktail Courier doesn’t actually ship their alcohol. They receive an order, pack all the ingredients they can, then ship to one of their local partners who packs the alcohol and fresh citrus before finally delivering to the customer. With the Dropship Manager add-on, they’re able to streamline communication with vendors and cut back on errors.
The Dropship Manager add-on is currently only available through the Add-On Marketplace.
Save time managing unique orders with Auto-Split
For those orders that need to go out in multiple shipments, there is the Auto-Split add-on. Sometimes orders ship from different locations, are oversized and need to be broken up into multiple shipments, or maybe include products with unique requirements, like shipping with dry-ice. ShipStation helps you save time managing these orders by letting you customize what products you want to be split, and how, based on four options:
- Do not auto-split this product
- Exclusive Bulk Shipping
- A new shipment is created for all of the specified product in an order.
- Ships Individually
- A new shipment is created for a single quantity of the specified product in an order.
- Ship on Custom Quantity
- Specify the number of items that should be in each shipment of an order.
You can enable auto-split for single or multiple products from the Products tab in the ShipStation dashboard. To learn how to set up Auto-Split for specific products, check out this page.
The Auto-Split add-on is currently included globally in the High Volume plan, and the Add-On Marketplace for other plan levels.
How to Activate an Add-On
The process for activating one of these add-ons is quite simple. From the ShipStation dashboard,
- Go to Settings > Add-Ons.
- Click View Details or Try for Free on the feature you’re interested in.
- Review the details and click Confirm if you’d like the activate the add-on.
The add-on will now be up and running, and any add-ons included with your plan will already be in the Active section. Some of these add-ons require additional setting configurations before they can work properly, so click the Configure Settings button on the add-on to get it set up.
See all our latest innovations!
At the end of the day, you own your business. You work in it day in and day out, and are aware of what works well and what doesn’t. The Add-On Marketplace is meant to put more power in your hands. If you want to sell on more channels, but worry about keeping track of stock levels, try out Inventory Sync. If you want to get more accurate package measurements, consider using Cubiscan and a dimensioner. Use the experience you have running your business to find ways to improve it. One way you can do that if you haven’t already, is giving ShipStation a try for 30 days, for free, and uncovering all the ways we help you grow.
