EquaShip? Radically Reduces 2012 Shipping Prices in Disruptive Response to UPS? and FedEx?s Synchronized Annual Price Hikes

Seattle, Washington (PRWEB) December 29, 2011

EquaShip?, America?s new fourth parcel carrier catering exclusively to small- and medium-sized business shippers, today announced that it will dramatically lower its shipping prices in response to price increases from UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service that are taking effect in January.

?Once again we have seen the UPS and FedEx duopoly continue to post automatic, synchronized annual price increases that are at multiples of the national inflation rate and the Consumer Price Index,? said Ron Wiener, CEO of EquaShip. ?Smaller shippers who do not qualify for the deep discounts that larger shippers can negotiate will bear the brunt, with a typical real-world impact of about a 7% to 10% increase in their shipping bills.?

The combination of EquaShip?s price reductions and the other carriers? price increases translate to savings potential of anywhere from 40 percent to 79 percent compared to FedEx and UPS residential ground delivery.

The largest shipping discounts available to small and medium-sized shippers today are available only through major online marketplace operators like eBay. EquaShip can save even ?Tier 6? eBay merchants up to 71% compared to their best UPS rates and 60% compared their maximum USPS discounts.

Wiener noted that, ?Many of these shippers have told us that they are thrilled to have a viable new competitor to UPS and FedEx after having their shipping expenses rise 35 percent or more over the past five years. Especially as competitive pressure to offer free shipping to their customers has been rising intensely.?

EquaShip also competes head-to-head with other postal consolidators such as FedEx SmartPost. EquaShip?s new 2012 rates are up to 60 percent lower than SmartPost?s new published rates.

?It costs literally 37 percent less to ship a 1-pound package through EquaShip than through FedEx SmartPost,? he said. ?We deliver it faster and with real end-to-end insurance coverage for that much lower price.?

New EquaShip Website & Savvy Shipper?s Guide Available

EquaShip also announced that it has launched an all-new website in conjunction with the release of an all-new edition of its unorthodox pricing and services guide, The Savvy Shippers Secret Weapon Instruction Manual.

The manual has updated tables comparing EquaShip?s new 2012 rates with the higher rates from UPS, FedEx and USPS, and also includes a growing compilation of helpful advice to enable small shippers to dramatically reduce their shipping costs.

ABOUT EQUASHIP

EquaShip is the first and only carrier to offer USPS postal consolidation services to smaller shippers. Postal consolidation has become an increasingly popular method for major shippers such as Amazon to drastically reduce their parcel delivery costs. With transparent ?all-in? pricing, EquaShip can save smaller shippers 40 percent to 79 percent compared to UPS and FedEx residential ground rates, and up to 70% compared to USPS Priority Mail rates. EquaShip provides fully-integrated track-and-trace, $ 100 of EquaSurance? real, honest insurance coverage included with every package, and superior customer care, all with no hidden assessorial fees, special software or contracted volume commitments.

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Drop Shipping Gift and Fashion Jewelry Company, GiftsWithHumanity.com Announces Significant Price Reduction of up to 50% for 2012

Edgewater, FL (PRWEB) January 04, 2012

Gifts With Humanity's drop shipping program--a tool that enables website owners, eBay, and Amazon sellers to sell products to consumers then purchase them and have them shipped directly--experienced significant growth in 2011.

GiftsWithHumanity.com follows a volume approach to the Fair Trade handicraft market. Cofounder Kevin Ward believes that it is in the interest of the artisans they represent to price the products in a way that the hundreds of drop shippers who resell the products online can sell competitively and generate significant volume of sales for the artisans.

Traditional resale models require that resellers have capital to purchase, warehouse and ship products, taking a risk with the purchase that may not sell well for them. The drop ship model provides an opportunity for those without the investment capital to start online businesses without putting capital at risk. The model also encourages specialization, freeing the seller from the tasks of warehousing and shipping, enabling them to concentrate on marketing the product.

As the economy shows signs of improvement, Ward believes that the time is right for entrepreneurial sellers to expand or start their online businesses. By supporting these entrepreneurs with significant price reductions, Ward hopes that GiftsWithHumanity.com and the artisans they represent will see a significant growth in sales volume.

"The artisans have already been paid in full for these products," Ward said, "and the increase in sales volume will enable us to place more orders, more often."

Gifts With Humanity charges $ 25 per year to maintain drop ship accounts. Gifts With Humanity is a brand name of Global Fair Trade Crafts Inc., a member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) and the Fair Trade Federation.

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Webgility Achieves UPS Ready Certification and Offers Direct Integration with UPS Shipping Solution for eCC Software

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 09, 2012

Webgility, a leading provider of eCommerce and QuickBooks integration solutions, is now a part of the UPS Ready Program and has completed the UPS Ready certification for its product, eCommerceConnector (eCC). eCC is a QuickBooks Gold certified software that fully integrates with QuickBooks and QuickBooks Point of Sales, a wide range of online shopping cart and marketplace platforms (BigCommerce, Magento, Pinnacle Cart, Amazon, eBay, etc.), popular payment processors (Authorize.net, PayPal, and QuickBooks Merchant Service), and major shipping processors (UPS, UPS WorldShip, etc.). With eCC, eCommerce merchants can streamline and automate their order fulfillment, inventory management and accounting process.

Prior to becoming a UPS Ready provider, Webgility supported UPS WorldShip, a downloadable PC application that enables merchants to access UPS services and generate UPS shipping labels. Although, UPS WorldShip offers UPS services that help streamline your order fulfillment, there are some limitations since eCC does not directly connect to UPS web services.

As a certified UPS Ready software, eCC fully integrates with UPS web services and provides UPS shipping services directly from eCC. The certification process consisted of Webgility's engineering team working closely with UPS to make sure that eCC directly integrates with UPS APIs, supports all UPS features, and properly generates and prints UPS-approved shipping labels. UPS APIs supported by eCC include address validation, rating, time in transit, tracking, shipping, pickup, and many more. (For more information on eCC's UPS features, click here.)

The direct integration provides fast and reliable access to UPS shipping and visibility services. Online retailers can automatically download orders from their online store to eCC, process shipping with UPS, and record transactions in QuickBooks. They can compare shipping rates, validate shipping address, track shipments, set domestic and international shipping defaults, and much more with eCC and UPS. In addition, they can update their products and synchronize inventory and pricing between their online store and QuickBooks with eCC.

"Our previous integration with UPS was dependent on the WorldShip software and the XML interface was limited. With UPS Direct, we can now provide a seamless integrated shipping experience for our customers and the feedback since launch has been tremendous. We're also able to provide multi-package, bulk shipping, tracking and address validation features which are essential for increasing fulfillment efficiency and reducing shipping errors," says Parag Mamnani, Founder and CEO of Webgility.

About Webgility:

Webgility is an Intuit Gold-certified software company that specializes in eCommerce integration, inventory management and order fulfillment. Founded in 2007, Webgility is headquartered in San Francisco, CA and has a development and support centers in Indore, India. The management team possesses over 15 years of experience in the eCommerce industry and has helped thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses successfully launch web-stores and streamline business operations through integration software. Visit http://www.webgility.com for more information about Webgility products and services and sign up for a free 15-day trial of eCC.

About UPS:

UPS is the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain and freight services. With more than a century of experience in transportation and logistics, UPS is a leading global trade expert equipped with a broad portfolio of solutions. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., UPS serves more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. UPS can be found on the Web at UPS.com.

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