Rank: Member
Joined: 4/19/2005(UTC)
Posts: 51
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Does anyone use a UPS thermal label printer to print directly from the BV order manager? Currently we print out shipping labels on a laserjet and then put them in the UPS plastic envelopes and attach them to the boxes. UPS has now furnished us with a great label printer but BV is not setup to print on it and I can't seem to get a clean label. I have even tried to clean up the .gif image that is created along with the .htm in Images/UPS/ and couldn't get it to print correctly or without extra blank labels.
Or do most people use UPS Worldship and then import their order to it? We use UPS Worldship for our Brick & Mortar stores but use BV's online version for our internet fulfillment. I am trying to create an easier fulfillment plan for my customer service people because they are starting to get swamped.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jason :freaked: |
Jason Pace |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 11/5/2003(UTC)
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My Shipper product can connect your BV site(s) to UPS WorldShip. It looks and works very much like an email program. The typical workflow for your customer service people would be:
1. Click on Send/Receive in Shipper (or schedule it to run every few minutes) and let Shipper prepare the shipments for processing in UPS WorldShip...assign the service, etc.
2. Enter the order number in UPS WorldShip to import the shipment information (addresses, service, weight estimate, etc).
3. Weigh the package...or use the weight estimate.
4. Print the label.
5. Click on Send/Receive in Shipper to upload the tracking information.
If you don't choose any of the automation options, it typically takes about 10 seconds or so to download, import, print, and upload a shipment.
If you choose to use all of the automation options, the label will automatically print and the tracking number will automatically be posted back to your store.
Most people fall in between those 2 extremes...automating some of the steps and manually performing others (such as weighing the package). |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 4/19/2005(UTC)
Posts: 51
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Thanks Andy. I have taken a look at your software and we will consider it. I am more interested in just getting the document to print out correctly and to continue to use the BV Software already included. I would be rather surprised if no one is actually using a label printer already with the BV system. I don't think our volume is any more than most users. |
Jason Pace |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 1/17/2007(UTC)
Posts: 69
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we need this too - any suggestions?
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Rank: Member
Joined: 11/5/2003(UTC)
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There are 2 hurdles to overcome:
1. BVC5 retrieves a GIF image of a label appropriate for a laser printer. You need to retrieve a different format appropriate for the UPS thermal printer. Since BV Software does not release the source code for the UPS interface module, you will need to create your own rewrite with that feature.
2. Printing from a browser to a UPS thermal printer is tricky. Label printers need special commands which causes them to not be a good match with the browser print model. UPS has a browser plug-in for their thermal printer (http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/shipping/help/create/labels/technical.html). I don't see any documentation, but perhaps you could discover how to use the plug-in to print the label that you retrieve in step #1 above.
If I were pitching this job to someone (I'm not), I would estimate 10-20 hours to rewrite the UPS interface and another 10 to hook up the browser plugin. Some of the time to rewrite the UPS interface would be spent gaining approval from UPS, which can take weeks. So the overall time (20-30 hours) would span 1-3 months. |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 1/17/2007(UTC)
Posts: 69
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The thermal labels look so much more professional than a folded piece of paper, plus the thermal printer saves a manual step in taping the thing on the package.
I'm hoping there is a better answer out there somewhere.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 3/3/2006(UTC)
Posts: 1,737
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Fed Ex Ground supplies labels with 1/2 of the sheet being peel n'stick. UPS doesn't have this? |
Optimists invent airplanes,
Pessimists buy parachutes. |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 1/17/2007(UTC)
Posts: 69
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After some further investigation, we found that because BV Commerce stores the address information as a block of text in XML, there is no way for World Ship to pull the data. So basically, the answer is it can't be done. If BV would change the way the address information is stored, this would allow us to write some routines to integrate World Ship. Seems like an easy thing to change in a future version.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 2/21/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,113
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why write your own when Andy Miller's Shipper Product does it for you -- not only does it automate the pulling into WorldShip but sends back your tracking info back to your store. |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 11/5/2003(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: "O2G" 
After some further investigation, we found that because BV Commerce stores the address information as a block of text in XML, there is no way for World Ship to pull the data. So basically, the answer is it can't be done. If BV would change the way the address information is stored, this would allow us to write some routines to integrate World Ship. Seems like an easy thing to change in a future version.
Shipper takes care of the data mismatch issues for you, and much more. For example, Shipper... ...Creates the packages for you in BVC5 (you would need to create them manually). ...Forces the calculation of package dimensions and weight. ...Assigns the correct tracking provider and tracking number to the package in BVC5 so you and your customer can track the package from BVC5. ...Optionally updates the customer's address book with the corrected address from UPS WorldShip. ...Runs the appropriate BVC5 workflows when recording the tracking information (to send confirmation emails, change the order status, etc). These are very hard to do using UPS's simple data import/export feature. Shipper comes with a free 45 day license so you can test it out. Let me know what you think. |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 3/24/2005(UTC)
Posts: 311
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I use Andy's Products for both USPS and UPS shipping and its a great product. I would HIGHLY recommend you getting it. It makes our lives easier and it has been doing so now for a couple of years. |
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