ShipStation

Whether the stock figure can be trusted: every goods receipt, sale, transfer, return and correction booked as a movement, stock per location and channel, batches, serial numbers and best-before dates where the goods need them, reorder points and purchase orders, and stock synchronised to every sales channel so nothing is oversold.

0 — No stock keeping; quantities live in the shop or in a spreadsheet.

3 — A stock number per product that can be edited by hand, with no movement history, no locations and no link to purchasing.

5 — Stock per product and warehouse updated by orders and goods receipts, synchronised to the connected sales channels, with low-stock alerts and purchase orders to suppliers.

8 — Every movement booked with a reason and a user, stock per bin location, batches, serial numbers and expiry dates tracked, stocktaking (cycle or annual) supported, bundles and kits resolved to components, and reorder suggestions from sales history.

10 — The stock record is an audit-proof ledger: complete movement history exportable, inventory valuation method stated (FIFO, average cost), multi-warehouse and multi-entity stock with transfers in transit, demand forecasting documented, and the stock figure reconciled across every channel in near real time.

The physical work in the warehouse: goods receipt against a purchase order, putaway to bin locations, picking strategies (single order, batch, wave, zone), scanner and mobile app guidance, packing with checks, and the performance figures a warehouse lead runs the shift by.

0 — No warehouse process support; staff print the order and walk.

3 — A pick list or packing slip printed per order, with no bin locations, no scanning and no check that the right item went into the box.

5 — Bin locations, goods receipt against purchase orders, pick lists sorted by route, and barcode scanning on a phone or scanner to confirm picks and packs.

8 — Several picking strategies (batch, wave, multi-order trolley), putaway suggestions, packing with weight or scan verification, handheld scanner support named, and pick, pack and error rates reported per user and shift.

10 — A full WMS documented end to end: slotting and replenishment, cross-docking, multi-client operation for 3PLs with client billing, integration with automation (conveyors, pick-to-light, AutoStore or similar) named, and offline-tolerant mobile apps with an audit trail of every scan.

Getting parcels out and back: carriers connected, label creation in bulk, rules that pick the carrier and service, customs documents for non-EU destinations, tracking and the notifications the recipient sees, a returns portal, and whether the customer uses its own carrier contracts or buys labels through the vendor.

0 — No shipping features; labels come from each carrier's own portal.

3 — Labels for one or two carriers created one by one, with no rules, no tracking for the recipient and no returns handling.

5 — Several carriers connected with bulk label printing, a choice between own carrier contracts and vendor rates, tracking numbers written back to the shop, and a basic returns label flow.

8 — Shipping rules by weight, destination, value and channel choose carrier and service automatically, customs documents (CN22/CN23, commercial invoice, EORI, HS codes) generated, branded tracking pages and notifications, a self-service returns portal with reasons, and pickup points supported.

10 — Shipping runs without a person: rate comparison across carriers at label time, own contracts for every connected carrier, delivery promise and checkout options from live carrier data, returns with refund or exchange triggered on receipt, and carrier performance and cost reported per lane.

Moving goods beyond parcels: pallet, groupage, full and part truckload, sea and air freight booked with carriers or forwarders, quotes and tenders compared, transport orders and documents (CMR, eCMR, delivery notes), shipment tracking across modes, freight cost audit, and CO2 emissions reported per shipment.

0 — No freight features; pallets and trucks are booked by phone and e-mail.

3 — A form to send a booking request to one forwarder, or freight rates shown without booking, tracking or documents.

5 — Pallet and groupage shipments booked with several carriers from one place, prices compared, transport documents generated, and the shipment status tracked.

8 — Spot quotes and tenders sent to many carriers with responses compared, the customer's own freight agreements and rate tables stored, eCMR or digital delivery notes, multi-modal tracking, freight invoices checked against the agreed price, and CO2 per shipment reported to a named standard (GLEC, ISO 14083).

10 — Transport management run in the system: route and load planning, dock and yard slot booking, carrier scorecards, freight cost allocated to orders and cost centres, and a carrier network that connects by API or EDI rather than by e-mail.

How the tool fits the business around it: maintained connectors to shop systems, marketplaces, ERP and accounting (DATEV and the like), a documented API and webhooks, EDI for retail and logistics partners, rules that automate order routing and status updates, and a documented export of orders, stock and shipment history when the customer leaves.

0 — No integrations; orders are typed in or uploaded by hand.

3 — A CSV import and export and one or two shop connectors, with no API and no automation.

5 — Connectors to the main shop systems and marketplaces, a public API with documentation, and rules for common automations (order status, carrier choice, notifications).

8 — A broad connector list with ERP and accounting exports, webhooks, EDI (EDIFACT or similar) supported or offered through a named partner, rule engines for order routing across warehouses, and the API rate limits and versioning documented.

10 — The tool is an open part of the stack: every object readable and writable by API, a developer sandbox, connectors maintained by the vendor with a stated support policy, and a complete data export (orders, stock movements, shipments, documents) in open formats documented for the end of the contract.

Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where order, customer and shipment data are hosted, and who the subprocessors are (hosting, carriers' label APIs, payment, e-mail, analytics). Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; recipient addresses flow to every connected carrier, so the processing chain counts, not only the server.

0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, subprocessors unnamed, and no privacy policy that covers the service.

3 — A privacy policy exists, but hosting location is unstated or non-EU and the processors behind the service are not named.

5 — EU hosting stated and an EU contracting entity, but parts of the chain (support, e-mail, analytics, payment) run through non-EU providers without a stated safeguard.

8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity, subprocessors listed with locations, a data processing agreement offered for the recipient and customer data, and the role of carriers (as independent controllers or processors) explained.

10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting and every subprocessor, data export and deletion documented, and a security certification (ISO 27001, SOC 2 or BSI C5) published rather than implied.

Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: subscription per tier, user, warehouse or module, the per-order, per-label or per-shipment fees, label rates and surcharges when shipping through the vendor's contracts, connector and setup fees, hardware, minimum term, and what happens to the data on cancellation.

0 — No public prices at all; every customer is a sales call.

3 — A starting price or "from" figure exists, but the volume fees, included orders or labels, and how the price scales are unclear.

5 — Prices per tier are public with the main inclusions, but at least one commonly needed piece (per-order or per-label fees beyond the allowance, connectors, extra users or warehouses, onboarding) is unpriced or "on request".

8 — Every tier priced publicly with included volumes and the fee per order, label or shipment beyond them, add-ons and setup listed, minimum term and VAT treatment stated, and whether own carrier contracts are allowed on each tier said plainly.

10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given order volume, warehouse count and module set, with every fee, label surcharge, hardware and support cost and the cancellation and data-return terms published.