Endicia vs. Stamps.com

[HarvesterOfBeer]

I've been using Endicia for Mac to ship 10-30 eBay sales a week. I've been quite happy with the service and the support I've gotten in email. I went with Endicia as they had support for MacOS as well as supporting Zebra label printers directly. I sell a fair amount to non-US customers, and having the customs forms done automatically on the Zebra labels (for 1st Class and Small Flat Rate) is awesome. SCAN forms rock.

I use the URL feature to integrate Endicia into a custom web-based shipping tool I wrote.

My main wish is that they would have a good API that I could call to better support round tripping information. I can easily get information about a shipment into Endicia, click the button to print the label and autogenerate the email, but getting the tracking number and other shipping info back out (so I can record it locally and also updated eBay) is a pain. I have a rickety system set up now using a text file and an AppleScript but it is fragile.

If you want to use a Mac as your shipping computer, I think Endicia is your option. If you're Windows based, then either is likely a good option. No love for Linux yet...

[IHeartEngineering]

Do any of these postage systems work with Linux?

[adafruit]

we don't think so... we have a dedicated windows box for shipping. but someone might be running one of these with wine or something?

http://htyp.org/Endicia

[felis]

I don't know about Endicia, but Stamps.com doesn't work very well in the evening. Every so often (for example, right now), it takes 5-6 attempts to print a label due to server timeouts. Also, Stamps.com software crashes all the time while handling international shipments.

[HarvesterOfBeer]

I don't know about Endicia, but Stamps.com doesn't work very well in the evening. Every so often (for example, right now), it takes 5-6 attempts to print a label due to server timeouts. Also, Stamps.com software crashes all the time while handling international shipments.

I can't remember a problem with generating a label through Endicia that wasn't me doing something wrong, or a full-on outage at Endicia (maintenance, etc). The Mac software has never crashed on me.

[FineLineAutomation]

Because of the size of the stuff we ship, it's actually more cost effective for us to use UPS. If you ship more than $50 a week, you can call them and work out negotiated rates than are well below even the published daily pickup rates and in most cases better than what USPS can do. They also set up a tier structure so the discounts increase as you ship more packages. The Worldship software is nice as is not having to drop packages off. Where they can't compete is if all of your orders fit in the USPS flat rate packages, especially the small flat rates.

Regards,

Nate

[HarvesterOfBeer]

Good to know. So far almost everything I ship is quite small. I make heavy use of the small flat rate box and the padded flat rate envelope. I also do about 40% in First Class postage. Hard to beat the price.

[wheat]

Hi Neutron Spin,

Please consider Stamps.com as an option.
...
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
Eric
Stamps.com

We explored Stamps.com some months ago and it was not a happy experience.

I can only hope you are not the same person who advised the Zen Cart folk that they would not understand the "software development issues"

That said, the add on for Stamps.com did not work then

Does it work now ?

Thank You

Wheat

[nootropic]

I've been using Endicia for Mac and have been very happy with it. I integrated it directly into my Zen Cart by writing some custom software (not that hard). I can simply click on a "print shipping label" link in each order and it automatically launches Endica and fills in the shipping information. It's very streamlined and I didn't have to buy any special software to integrate my operation. Never had any problems with the Endicia software itself.

[StampsComCorp]

Hi Felis,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Regarding the server timeout issues you are encountering in the evening, that should not be happening at all. Please call our tech support at 1-888-434-0055 so they can troubleshoot your machine.

Thanks!
Eric
Stamps.com

[StampsComCorp]

We explored Stamps.com some months ago and it was not a happy experience.

I can only hope you are not the same person who advised the Zen Cart folk that they would not understand the "software development issues"

That said, the add on for Stamps.com did not work then

Does it work now ?

Thank You

Wheat

Hi Wheat,

For the ZenCart integration, we certainly had our fair share of issues starting out. But the tech team has fixed many of the issues and the feedback has been very positive from the ZenCart community. But with that said, we still have more work to complete. So the program is not perfect yet, but it is much better than before.

Regarding your comment on "software development issues," that comment certainly should NOT have come from any Stamps.com employee. Can you send me a link to the post so I can investigate?

Let me know.
Thanks!
Eric
Stamps.com

[itcamefrommars]

I just want to reiterate about pitney bowes....
I do alot of ebay selling to fund my start up and it has been pure nightmare sometimes.
I'm checking out stamps.com for my ebay, and am starting to explore the options behind encidia and stamps.com for the official business.
I'm launching in 2012 officially... wow delays delays delays!

I know ebay might be a little off topic... but I know that some maker businesses from individuals to taydia and dipmicro use it to supplement their exposure. So it may be of interest to some. I have totally changed my offerings there...

I personally say AVOID EBAY AT ALL COSTS IF POSSIBLE!!!!!!!
Insane stories... and any buyer can scam you with no recourse - and you are lucky if you spend 10-12 hours talking to 12-24 ebay reps to get to the upper ivory tower decision makers. Ebay reps lie about what they record in case files 90% of the time and pass the buck 100% of the time. Ebay is the reason I cannot launch my biz yet as I am selling 100's of vacuum tubes from the 40's 50's... worse business there it.
My startup - it's more than kits btw... lots of educational stuff - all open source. I really can't wait to announce it!

[felis]

Hi Felis,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Regarding the server timeout issues you are encountering in the evening, that should not be happening at all. Please call our tech support at 1-888-434-0055 so they can troubleshoot your machine.

Thanks!
Eric
Stamps.com

I got a call from level 2 tech - thank you for that! He guided me through reinstall of QB plugin, and since I didn't have any international shipments at the time I was unable to test it right away. Now, after some testing I know the situation is even worse. Previously, I was able to print 3-4 international labels before crashing, now it prints one label and crashes on the second, every time.

The phone number you left connects to the frontline - I refuse talking to them. Could you please give me a number where I can talk to somebody who has a clue? I'm hoping I'm not asking for too much...

[paulstoffregen]

Hello Eric,

I'm evaluating switching to either Endicia or Stamps.com (from a fairly well tuned but somewhat manual system I use today). Would you believe I'd pretty much written off using Stamps.com, until one last google search turned up this thread?

I am only interested in a "hands off" XML interface, which I can fully automate from my own custom software.

Why not use Stamps.com? Well, I registered on your developer site to get the XML spec. I downloaded version 1.1, which is dated 11 Nov 2009 and is the only version offered. On page 3, it says:

Stamps.com will soon add additional ways to process an XML file using the client. These include the ability to request that a folder be monitored for XML files or have an XML file processed on demand.

Endicia's XML documentation describes running their Dazzle program from the command line with an option to specify the XML file. Comparing only the published documentation, using Endicia over Stamps.com seems like a no-brainer!

I hope you'll update your XML spec.

[stevid1]

I strongly suggest before you make a decision between Stamps.com and Endicia that you test their tech support wait time. Call them both up and push the number for tech support and see how long it takes. This is really important because if you have a problem and you are in the middle of doing shipping you need someone there within a reasonable amount of time to take care of problems - and they do happen with both companies. I am moving my business from Endicia to Stamps.com because I had a small issue and have had to wait 30 minutes to talk to someone. While I did not need tech support often, this unacceptable wait time does not work for me. Good luck