I've been working on integrated FedEx and USPS shipping for BVC5. These work just like the "Ship by UPS" feature that comes with BVC5...although they look a little different. Please feel free to post questions or comments here, or send me email.


Also let me know if you are interested in beta testing. The first beta test will probably be available well before I get the signoff from either carrier, so they will create test labels and postage only. But if you think this will be a critical feature for your store, your early input could make the difference between something you can barely use and something that really rocks.

Off the top of my head (a dangerous place)... for a low volume shipper (I REALLY HATE my pick-pack-ship days) I say go for it. Some features I've counted on from either Shipper or Fed Ex Ship Mgr.: (Assuming you're doing away with the need for Fed Ex Ship Mgr....)


Storage of addresses for 'off catalog' products. A simple database of customer nicknames and ship to's with emails....

Storage of popular box sizes. I use about 20 different sizes on a regular basis. Be nice (as with Fed Ex Ship Mgr) to be able to scroll down a list or pick a letter to populate the package size field, plus a 'Z' wildcard.

Better yet, if the product page has dims and only one of any product is sold, grab the dims from the store, if BV passes these through at checkout.

Easy - and I mean easy - recall of tracking numbers. (see below, not all orders go through BV checkout) Nothing makes you sound less than competent that when a customer wants a tracking number and you need to go through multiple screens to get to 'history' and it's in a stack of coded shipments.

Not everything I sell/ship comes from the website. A way to enter a product, addy, etc., into BV5 admin just to generate an invoice, sales records, labels, etc., would be wonderful. Until BV5 allows COMPLETE editing or creation of an order from scratch, (basically creating and selling a one-time product which exists solely on the invoice), I need to have two order/fulfillment schemes - one web based, one manual. Seems short sighted I can't make up a product on the fly on the admin page, and then ship it and use BV's admin to keep track... So, I'd still need Fed Ex Ship Mgr. on my desktop.

I'd like BV5 to have a place to enter a 'ship to' email. The 'Sold to' email is good, both would be better. Perhaps you could offer this feild so if it's filled in, a ship notice with a tracking number will go to the recipient.

Carry over of fields from one package to the next. Picking the projected ship date for each next package and the "bill to" when they don't change form package to package is a pain.

I'm not sure about you, but when I ship something with a retail value of $200.00, I'd like the insurance to reflect this. When I drop-ship an order for a reseller and his invoice is created at a discount, Fed Ex sees a value of $140.00. I then have to change this back manually to $200.00 so I have full coverage. I've asked BV to incorporate the full retail value into the database at checkout... maybe someday this will be done.

Tab navigation please. I hate having to reach for my mouse while typing.

Ship notification/delivery notification to: shipper, third party seller, recipient. Mentioned earlier, bear repeating.

Reporting of the actual shipping cost (after the size, weight, etc. are entered) in addition to the 'billed' shipping cost should be on the screen to not only double check for errors but to adjust invoices. Manually entering a size on ship day can bring big surprizes. I've repackaged large items to save $20.00 in shipping costs. Real-time/actual reporting is a must.

Zip code/city lookup? Too much to hope for?

Creation of a return label. I've had to generate 2 in the last 5 years, but it should be there.

I'm not even going near considerations for international import/export, duty, etc.

Hazardous materials declarations / special handling.

Spacing of the fields on your example... you can tighten this up A LOT. I hate not being able to see the entire form on the screen, and scrolling is for the birds.

Related to tracking/history: I'd like to keep a separate database of activity, even if its just a simple speadsheet on my computer, something in a separate file on my site would be better.

Fed Ex prints a paper tally at the end of each ship session. Can you do the same?


Fed Ex Ship Mgr. is way more than I need. As you said, for a small shipper something less cumbersome right in BV5 would do fine.

A big list, sorry.

I will help test. I definitely could use this feature for certain packages. This would really make the move to BV5 worth it for us.

Andy,

I could test -- it sounds like a good alternative to the Shipper/ShipManager and Shipper/Galaxy combinations -- questions:

I'm assuming your pdf print file could be configured to use a FedEx thermal printer?

What type of account information would you create for USPS -- the same one I use for Galaxy?

Thanks

Hi Andy,

Not sure currently, but I do know that in the past Fedex also supported EPL2 for thermal printing of labels.

Hi Andy,

Just as a little potential tip, we tried just about everything in the past to get something web-based to automatically print to a printer on our local network. After hours upon hours of trying different things and forum postings, and everything else under the sun, we deemed it pretty much impossible. Our workaround to the problem was to create a windows service that locally on a computer on the local network that had access to the printer in question. The service would connect to the "web site" and look in a pre-determined directory for raw label files that would then be downloaded and output to the printer on the local network. This in some ways functions like your Shipper software and has been something we had been considering to do with BVC5 to go along with a more robust inventory system which included serial number tracking.

[quote="caplink"]
....Our workaround to the problem was to create a windows service that locally on a computer on the local network that had access to the printer in question. The service would connect to the "web site" and look in a pre-determined directory for raw label files that would then be downloaded and output to the printer on the local network....Very cool idea. Thank you.


I imagine a service-based solution is much more stable than a browser-based solution such as a FF extension or IE control. The browsers seem to change every other week. Windows services have pretty much been the same for years.



I have to store the labels anyway so that they can be re-printed (paper jam, etc). I keep this in mind as I flesh these out.



Thank you again.

Here are some screencasts demonstrating USPS Shipping

Screencasts

I expect it will replace Ship Manager for most tasks. Shipper will be a better choice for higher volume shipping.

Andy, I just watched the videos. Slick. I'm up to my pits w/Chrismas stuff... first thing Jan.

Shipping w/Fed Ex Ground from inside BV5. Oh, my.