Billing, payments, and deposits
Shipwire billing and pricing is set up to be easy to use and transparent. On this page you will find information about Shipwire pricing, including details about billing and deposits.
On this page
- How your Shipwire account billing works
- Your billing statement
- Outbound pricing
- Inbound pricing and deposits
- FAQ
How your Shipwire account billing works
No setup or receiving fees
All Shipwire accounts benefit from pay-as-you-go for order handling, storage, and shipping. Shipwire does not charge hidden fees. Any item you are billed for will be clearly identified and itemized. Receivings that do not follow standard receiving guidelines will be subject to nonstandard receiving fees and will be clearly identified.
No contracts
No minimum contract requirements or other ‘lock-in’ rules apply. You pay based on your usage without signing a contract.
Minimum Monthly Account Billing
If your usage of Shipwire does not result in at least $500 in total account billing per month (measured as the sum of your storage, handling, and shipping), Shipwire reserves the right to charge you the difference between your monthly usage and $500.
In order to give you time to setup and get used to Shipwire, Minimum Monthly Account Billing does not apply during the first 90 days you store product with Shipwire.
How payments work
You can pay for your Shipwire account with credit card, PayPal, or directly from a US bank account. Credit card payment is limited to accounts storing 250 items or fewer.
- Note: If you are using a credit card, the issuer for your card must be located in the US, Canada, UK, or Ireland. Supported cards are: MasterCard, Visa, and Amex.
Your Shipwire account must be prepaid in order to ship products.
Prepaying allows you to pay in advance of receiving any activity. As you accrue shipping charges, Shipwire deducts the cost from your prepaid balance. Shipwire will receive new merchandise and ship your orders as long as there are adequate funds in your account, so be sure to regularly check your account balance. To help keep your account balance up-to-date, you will receive e-mail alerts you when funds run low.
Suspended payment method
If your payment method fails two consecutive times, it will become suspended.
You can reactivate a suspended payment method by adding funds to your account using the following steps:
- Ensure your payment method has sufficient funds and does not have Shipwire listed as a blocked or “stop payment” merchant.
- Log into your Shipwire account.
- Under Billing preferences, verify your payment method information and click on Bank Account under Billing Information.
If any details are incorrect, update the needed fields to match what is on file with your bank. Click Update Billing to save your new information. - Go to the Add Money page and add funds to your Shipwire account.
Select a payment method and click the Apply Amount button at the bottom of the page. - Once funds have been added successfully, you will see this confirmation message: “Your payment has been successfully processed.”
Your billing statement
Shipwire pricing is made to be transparent. Monthly billing statements reflect this by clearly summarizing all charges by category. You also receive a detailed listing of charges for every order shipped. Here is what a typical monthly billing statement looks like:
- Plan Activity: A summary of orders shipped and returned during the specific billing period.
- Balance Summary: See your opening balance, monthly activity summary, and your closing balance within the specified billing period.
- Summary of Monthly Charges: A summary of all charges incurred within the specified billing period, broken down by billing category.
- Storage & Support Charges: An elaboration of the storage and support charges incurred within the specified billing period.
- Monthly Plan Charges: A detailed list of every charge and credit applied to your account during the specified billing period. Specific transactions, such as shipping orders, are identified by transaction ID and by the ship to customer. Additional information, such as the number of items shipped and the breakdown of shipping and handling, are also provided.
Outbound pricing
Shipwire has purposely aligned the way we price handling with the needs of fast-growing businesses. Our pricing is designed to be simple and transparent, automatic without the need for constant oversight, and to reward increased order volume with lower handling rates.
Shipwire outbound pricing consists of three parts:
Shipwire pricing is listed clearly on our Pricing page. You can get started without signing any contracts.
Order handling
To ensure that higher volume activity is rewarded, Shipwire automatically discounts your order handling rate as you ship more orders throughout the month. These discounts are achieved at specific tiers.
Learn how Order handling pricing works.
Storage and support
Calculating your storage and support cost will provide you with the price for storage space, unique products (SKUs), and inventory insurance for your business.
Learn how Storage and support pricing works.
Shipping
Shipwire provides transparent pricing for shipping with 17 different carriers so that you can access accurate and complete rates for every product you ship. You can also find a quick shipping estimate for any location right from your Shipwire account. Shipping must be paid for before a product ships.
Learn how Shipping pricing works.
Inbound pricing
You should always be familiar with the impact of sending merchandise.
Shipwire charges storage fees for products when they arrive at the fulfillment center. Once the inventory arrives at the dock and receiving is initiated, storage fees will begin to apply. If your receiving does not meet receiving guidelines or there is a work order attached to a receiving that causes a delay, you are still responsible for storage fees as the products are being configured for storage.
Receiving fees
People often ask us why we don’t charge a receiving fee — does that mean that there is no cost to receive with Shipwire? There is a cost to receive your products; our receiving costs are included with our per-item ship fees. The reason for this is to eliminate confusing and costly receiving fees, and to assist our merchants with minimizing their upfront cash outlay.
Please note that Shipwire may require a security deposit for accounts with a high quantity of items. The number of items is determined at the time of receiving. A package can be broken down for individual shipping, but it cannot be rebuilt for bulk shipping later. Sending product to Shipwire in lots and having them broken them down as needed can significantly reduce the number of items in your account. This also applies to shipping in bulk back to yourself, as well as disposing of obsolete inventory in bulk. Read our guide on shipping in bulk to learn about best practices
If you have any questions about receiving, please contact our Care team.
Deposits on receivings
Because we incur the cost of receiving products until they are shipped to your customers, we may charge a security deposit for merchants storing a large number of items:
- Merchants storing more than 500 items are charged a security deposit. Upon exceeding 500 items in inventory, a deposit will be required.
- By storing your products in master cases (e.g. more than one product nested inside a container defined with its own SKU), you can avoid being charged a security deposit.
- Upon “breaking” a master case, the individual products inside (i.e. base products) will become available (i.e. shippable) inventory. If breaking a master case sets the number of items stored above the 500 item threshold, a deposit will be required.
- After “breaking a master case,” its contents cannot be re-packed into a master case unless a work order is commissioned.
An example of a receiving cost and deposit: If your “Receiving Cost” deposit is $500.00 for 500 items and you ship half the items, your required deposit will reduce by half, or $250.00.
If you have any questions please contact the Shipwire Care team.
FAQ
Q.When do I start accruing costs?
A.You start accruing costs the day we receive your first inventory. At that time, you will need to enter billing information and your subscription will automatically start.
Q.How are shipping fees paid?
A.We pay all your shipping fees as they occur. Each of these fees is then debited from your Shipwire account balance within 24 hours. You must maintain a minimum balance to cover a small percentage of expected shipping fees for your inventory. The minimum balance is recalculated daily based on your inventory the previous day.
Q.Can I choose to sign up for a contract to lock in pricing?
A.Yes, higher volume merchants can lock in a pricing tier by signing up for a contract. Please contact our sales team for further information.
Q.How do I cancel service?
A.You are free to discontinue our service at any time without penalty. Your account will remain available to you. You can easily restart service later. There are no cancellation or startup fees. Simply submit an order for the last of your merchandise, and fees will automatically stop after the last of your inventory has been shipped out of the fulfillment center.
Limitations:
All inventory must be depleted for your storage and support fees to stop.
Shipping inventory to yourself is treated the same as shipping inventory to your customers. You must submit an order and use one of our shipping services. You will need an account balance sufficient to cover the number of items being shipped.
Please note that the number of items is determined at the time of receiving, and while a receiving package can be broken down for individual shipping, it cannot be rebuilt for bulk shipping later. Following the bulk shipping guidelines will help you avoid unnecessary fees by setting up master cases containing many items as a single item.
Q.How do I dispose of obsolete inventory?
A.To dispose of specific inventory, and have the inventory removed from your storage count, contact our Care team directly.
Limitations:
Disposing of obsolete inventory is the same as shipping inventory, but without the shipping fee. You will need an account balance sufficient to cover the number of items being disposed of.
Please note that the number of items is determined at the time of receiving. A receiving package can be broken down for individual shipping, but it cannot be rebuilt for bulk shipping or disposal later. Following the bulk shipping guidelines will help you avoid unnecessary fees and will demonstrate how to set up master cases containing many items so that a case can be received as a single item. This article is also applicable if your product is at risk for obsolescence, or if you need bulk disposal.
Q.Can I let my slow moving inventory sit indefinitely?
A.Shipwire is a shipping service first and foremost, therefore we reserve the right to apply long-term storage fees or require that slow-moving inventory be disposed of or shipped at your cost.
Q.How do I close my Shipwire account permanently?
A.You can terminate your Shipwire account at any time. Learn how to close your account and exit inventory on the Leaving Shipwire page.