Enter Shipping Sidekick. Shipping Sidekick is an inexpensive online shipping rate comparison service that enables you to instantly compare shipping rates and package delivery times from four major U.S. carriers: the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), FedEx, UPS and DHL. Knowing the lowest rate will help you save money on shipping charges.
Shipping Sidekick is perfect for small business owners, eBay sellers, or just anyone looking to send packages at the best possible rate without having to visit all the different company websites.
How much does Shipping Sidekick cost? Shipping Sidekick is free for 14 days. After that, it costs $14.95 per month, payable online via credit card. Similar online services include ShippingandTracking.com, iShip and RedRoller. But I couldn't find any service offering shipping rate comparisons for a lower rate or at a faster speed.
How does Shipping Sidekick work? It's very simple. You create an account at ShippingSidekick.com and enter some basic information about the package you want to ship. You then see a chart like this:
Each company's overnight, priority/rush, and basic ground shipping costs are shown. You can click on each displayed shipping rate to view more details about it.
Just being able to instantly compare rates will save you valuable time that should make Shipping Sidekick basically pay for itself within a few days or weeks. On top of that, you'll save money because you'll always know what the lowest possible rate is for the delivery time you need.
Gina Trapani at Lifehacker ought to take a look at this service. It's a simple, effective way to get quick price quotes from major U.S. shipping services.
Still curious about Shipping Sidekick? Check out the Shipping Sidekick launch announcement. Also, Shipping Sidekick has an Affiliate Program whereby you can get money for referring new customers to the service.
A couple of comments:
1) RedRoller includes four carriers right now; not two; the two other carriers are Eastern Connection and Overnite Express.
2) RedRoller is FREE! Shipping Sidekick charges $14.95 a month to just provide rates.
3) RedRoller lets you print a shipping label, keep your history in one place, track your packages, and use one address book.
4) RedRoller offers discounted rates; Shipping Sidekick takes you to the carrier site where you could pay 30-50% more than RedRoller rates.
5) RedRoller offers services, like DHL@home, not even available on the DHL site. These rates for shipping to residences offer a huge value to eBay shippers.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 15, 2007 3:04 PM | Permalink to Comment