One of the most important decisions you make as an ecommerce merchant is your shipping partner. After all, you're relying on them to safely and swiftly deliver your products to customers across all four corners of the country.
With it being such a weighty decision, choosing a fulfillment service often feels like a cumbersome process, especially if youโre juggling speed with expenses.
So, to help you make your mind, weโre reviewing one such provider: Deliverr.
Billed by some as offering an โAmazon Prime-like' fast service, itโs only been around for a few years, but is already making waves.
Below we'll look at:
- What is Deliverr?
- Deliverr's pricing
- Deliverr's features
- Deliverr's pros and cons
- What other reviews say?
- Deliverr's customer service
- Our final thoughts
That's lots to cover, so let's dive straight in!
A Deliverr Review: What's Deliverr?
Deliverr.com is a dynamic shipping and fulfillment startup based in San Francisco. It delivers products for its clients, who are namely eCommerce brands, super fast. With massive online marketplaces like Amazon raising customer expectations where fast delivery at โno extra costโ is concerned, Deliverr's mission is simple. To: โenable any seller, regardless of size, to delight their customers with fast and cost-effective fulfillment.โ
Deliverr rivals Amazon Prime by providing fast (1-2 days) shipping to online sellers. When an eCommerce store owner uses Deliverr, they're automatically eligible for Prime-like programs, including Walmart 2-day free shipping and eBay guaranteed by x date delivery. With these Deliverr programs, merchants greater online visibility, and more sales.
How does Deliverr offer such quick shipping times?
Deliverr can ship your products so quickly because they rent warehouse space across the United States. But, best of all, they stock their warehouse shelves in each location based on whatโs selling well in that specific area.
To summarize what Deliverr has to offer, its website describes itself as: โFast and affordable fulfillment [that enable you to] Accelerate your Walmart, eBay, Amazon, Shopify, and Wish sales.โ
Why does Deliverr emphasize its affordability?
Deliverrโs model's described as affordable because it stores your products in regions across the country, thereby reducing shipping costs. Deliverr also enables customers to pay just one fixed-rate (more details later) for its service.
All you have to do is create a free account with Deliverr, connect your sales channels (e.g., eBay, Shopify, etc.), and tell Deliverr what you want to send, and Deliverr determines which of its warehouses to send it to. Note: you can send to Deliverr's warehouses as much or as little stock as you like. Then, as orders come in, Deliverr picks, packs, ships, your products directly to your customers.
Deliverr Review: The Pros and Cons
With everything you know now, perhaps you're considering using Deliverrโs fulfillment service for your ecommerce business. To help you make an informed decision, we've provided a quick pro-con list. Hopefully, this will help you weigh up whether this is the right service for your business:
The Pros ๐
- Deliverr offers an affordable and simple pricing structure
- Deliverr's strategically positioned warehouses across the US ensure 95% of customers are eligible for 2-day shipping
- Their algorithmic approach helps merchants allocate their inventory intelligently across Deliverr's network of fulfillment warehouses.
- Fast-shipping tags boost your products in search engine results
- Deliverr integrates with all major online marketplaces, plus Shopify (the most popular online store builder).
- Deliverr offers fast and reliable fulfillment
The Cons ๐
- Deliverr doesn't offer many branding options.
- Deliverr doesnโt provide your much control over the fulfillment process
- No international fulfillment
- Customers have criticized Deliverr's customer support for taking between 1-3 days to respond.
- There's no option for you to create employee accounts. This makes delegation difficult.
- Deliverr doesnโt handle or process returns
Deliverr Review: Pricing
Deliverr describes its pricing as โAmazon-like.โ It also calls it โsimple, transparent, and affordable.โ All your fulfillment costs (shipping, picking, packing, boxing, and sending) are consolidated into two fees:
- Fulfillment
- Shipping
Let's look at this in more detail:
Fulfillment
Deliverrโs fulfillment costs are based per unit and vary depending on the item's weight, measurements, and service level. This includes the cost of Deliverr receiving your item, shipping it, order handling, box costs, picking, and handling costs.
There are three order fulfillment speeds available:
- Standard Delivery (5-7 days)
- 3 Day Delivery
- 2 Day Delivery
Prices start at $3.99 per unit, and we just said fulfillment costs (including shipping) are based on different item sizes, and the Deliverr website uses the items below to demonstrate this:
Standard Costs
- A small item such as a phone case weighing 1.5oz: $3.99 per unit
- A product like protein powder weighing 1.25 lb: $5.95 per unit
- A larger item like an espresso machine weighing 12lb: $10.21 per unit
- A heavier unit like a computer monitor weighing 17lb: $17.98 per unit
How Does This Compare with Deliverr's Competitors?
- For the same items bought via Wish Express, costs are $3.99 per unit, $5.95 per unit, $10,21 per unit, and $17.98 per unit.
- For the same items bought via Shopify, 2-day delivery costs are $6.72 per unit, $8.31 per unit, $12.60 per unit, and $19.86 per unit.
So, as you can see, Deliverr matches, if not, beats its competitors where prices are concerned.
Storage
Deliverr's storage costs are also priced on a per-unit basis. Quotes to house products fluctuate depending on their size, more specifically, the number of cubic feet the unit takes up, and how many months you plan to store your products for. Merchants enjoy reduced rates for long-term and seasonal storage.
Letโs examine the storage costs associated with the same items listed above:
- Phone case using 0.02 cubic ft: From January to September: $0.015, or $0.048 from October to December
- Protein Powder using 0.07 cubic feet: From January to September $0.051, or $0.168 from October to December
- Espresso Machine using 0.62 cubic feet: From January to September $0.447, or $1.488 from October to December
- Computer Monitor using 1.50 cubic feet: From January to September $1.08, $3.60 from October to December
Hopefully, this gives you a feel for how much you'll pay with Deliverr, but if you want a clearer idea for how much it'll cost you to store and ship your products, the Deliverr website has a price calculator. This comes in handy for working out your costs ahead of signing up. If, however, youโre into the details, as any entrepreneur should be, you need to sign up (free). Then you can import your catalog and receive a line-by-line price breakdown in โless than 5 minutes.โ
Deliverr Review: Deliverr's Core Features
Weโve already covered some of Deliverr's main features in our pricing and introductory sections, but hereโs a quick round-up, of Deliverr's stand-out functionalities:
On Deliverr's website, its โfeatures' are described as โsolutions' and are split into sections according to the online marketplaces, eCommerce platforms, and social media profiles you use to sell your products.
The ones Deliverr integrates with are listed are:
- Amazon
- Walmart
- eBay
- Shopify
- Wish
Each of the above sections offers a slightly different array of core features to best complement your chosen sales channel.
For example, if youโre a Shopify eCommerce store owner, youโll enjoy the following:
Optimized for conversions:
You can display โ2-day deliveryโ badges across your site, and sales funnel
Built for your brand:
Your delivery badge can be customized to reflect your brand's colors and place it where ever it best suits your online storefront (or anywhere else across your sales funnel).
Reliability:
If an order doesnโt arrive on time, your customer receives $5 worth of credit funded by Deliverr, so you can rely on Deliverr to get the job done. A reliable shipping service fills customers with confidence, so its no wonder that eBay sellers saw a 28% increase in health item sales, a 112% increase in art supplies sales, and a 45% boost in cosmetics sales.
Whereas, if you sell via online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, eBay, or Wish, the core benefits described are:
Filter inclusion:
The majority of online marketplaces present buyers with the option to filter items for โfree and fast shipping.' Deliverr enables you to add this shipping tag to your products, which elevates your items into searches boasting less competition.
Buy box prominence:
Deliverrโs fast-shipping badges boost the prominence of your items within the marketplace. This can win your products โfeature spots', like space inside the โbuy box.โ Both eBay and Walmart have initiatives like this, which you're more likely to profit from with Deliverr.
Improved search rankings:
Buyers are interested in fast shipping, and marketplaces know that. As a result, items with fast shipping tags often feature higher in their search results. By offering speedy delivery times, you're more likely to gain greater visibility and, thereby higher conversion rates.
Warehouse locations across the US:
Regardless of the online sales platform you use, Deliverr features fast nโ free 3-day shipping to over 95% of your buyers across the US. They do so by intelligently distributing your inventory across multiple locations, including:
- California
- Texas
- Missouri
- Pennsylvania
- Ohio
- New Jersey
All of Deliverrโs warehouse partners are thoroughly vetted to ensure they can handle at least 2,000 orders a day and have a minimum of 15,000 square feet of storage space available.
Deliverr Review: The Integrations
Deliverr features several one-click integrations with tools you might already be using. In total, it partners with four direct sales channels, which we've already mentioned above, and eleven inventory management systems. It also integrates with ten product listing tools and boasts advertising partners like Facebook, Instagram, and Google PLA.
Here are a few of the plugins Deliverr has to offer:
- Sellbrite
- Geekseller
- Acenda
- Skubana
- ChannelAdvisor
- Linnworks
- Zentail
- SellerCloud
- Ecomdash
- Listing Mirror
Deliverr Review: The Customer Support
If you run into any issues, you can contact Deliverrโs support team online. You can submit a contact request or use their live chatbox on their website, or browse their help center. Their online knowledge base includes FAQs covering six overarching topics, offering advice on how to get started, and topics like inbound shipments, inventory, orders, fast tags, billing, and reporting.
Deliverr negotiates on your behalf any query you might have with its warehouse partners. However, because they use third parties for all their fulfillment services (i.e., they don't own their own warehouses), it may take a longer time for them to get back to you.
Deliverr Review: FAQ
Last but not least, we're going to wrap up this Deliverr review with answers to a few frequently asked questions:
Does Deliverr offer customization?
At this stage, Deliverr doesnโt offer any customization options for its packaging and doesnโt enable users to include promotional materials or mailers with their shipments. All Deliverr packaging is brand-neutral. This is one of the reasons Deliverr can keep its pricing affordable and its turnaround times, speedy.
Does Deliverr handle returns?
Deliverr doesnโt currently process or handle returns. If a customer returns an item, it's not returned into your sellable inventory and is disposed of. This might occur at the cost of the merchant. If returns are essential to your business model, you'll have to handle this directly through the third party service.
Does Deliverr insure my products?
Deliverr doesnโt insure products stored within its fulfillment center network. It outlines this in its terms of service. Its maximum liability for inventory loss is limited to 5% of the total product value or one month of the average storage bill, whichever is lower.
How long does it take to start shipping with Deliverr?
It's simple to get started with Deliverr's order fulfillment services. From day one, you can get started by connecting your online sales channels with your Deliverr account. Within eight days, you can have your inventory sent out.
Deliverr will guide you through the steps required to ship to them. Then, by day 10, you can activate your โfast tags', and the platform will take care of updating your listings across all your sales channels. Around the same time, you can start selling!
How does Deliverr ensure 2-day shipping times?
Deliverr works with warehouses across the US to allow its users to send items to various locations strategically. From there, shipping times of below three days can be achieved for over 95% of US customers! The service uses predictive algorithms to help sellers allocate inventory to the places with the greatest demand for your merchandise.
Does Deliverr offer wholesale fulfillment?
At present, Deliverr only handles direct-to-consumer fulfillment. Larger orders can be processed by issuing a removal, which is charged using the removal fee. Deliverr offers no special preparations or labeling for removals.
Deliverr Review: Who Benefits from Using Deliverr?
Deliverr is a reliable order fulfillment service with a keen focus on marketplace sellers. If you sell items via Wish, Amazon, Walmart, or eBay, this could be an excellent choice for you.
While Deliverr doesnโt offer merchants much in the way of customization or control over the fulfillment process, it provides a convenient and fast shipping service to over 95% of American customers.
Chances are if youโre an online marketplace seller, it's more important to you that you increase your outreach on these platforms rather than building your own brand. If that is the case, fast shipping tags will help you rise to the top of customer searches.
Overall, Deliverr is an affordable service and is therefore suited to a broad range of sellers, even if theyโre just starting out. If shipping and fulfillment is a big hassle or you canโt otherwise offer fast nโ free shipping options, Deliverr presents a viable solution.
However, for store owners building their own brand using eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce, Deliverr probably isn't the shipping provider for you. You're better off looking for an alternative service that offers more control over your branding and a greater degree of visibility over the fulfillment process. But, bear in mind, these kinds of solutions usually cost more!
Ready to Use Deliverr?
We hope you enjoyed this Deliverr review. While Deliverr might be limiting to some, it offers an excellent service for sellers with multiple channels to take care of. If you're concerned about how COVID-19 has impacted Deliverr's operations, then check out this resource (this is where you can keep up to date with all the latest on that front).
Have you tried Deliverrโs fulfillment service before? Let us know in the comments below how your experience went!
Does Deliverr require you to send inventory to multiple locations in order to get 2-day shipping coverage? Can we pick and choose only one location?
Donโt do it! I have been a Deliverr client for 16 months. Their service is a great concept and prices are great, and it started out OK, but they are growing way too fast or something. The service has seriously gone downhill in the last few months. For example:
โ Orders over Cyber Monday took 2 weeks to ship out and almost got canceled by Walmart. Despite what Deliverr claims, this still hurts your Walmart delivery metrics.
โ They are CONSTANTLY losing inventory now โ both inbound and inventory in their warehouse. They sit on orders for a few days and then email you saying you should manually fulfill it, because they lost the inventory, leaving you to scramble to ship it out yourself. This is happening for 30-50% of orders lately.
โ Their support is helpful but EXTREMELY slow. It takes WEEKS and multiple messages to hear back from them. Several times, I had to email their executive team directly to get any kind of response.
โ They donโt add any bubble wrap or protective packing to boxes. They literally stick your product inside a big cardboard box and seal it up. Absolutely indefensible for a reputable fulfillment company like them. I emailed about this multiple times, but they didnโt seem at all concerned about it and didnโt promise they would change anything.
I do not recommend them anymore!
Isnโt that terrible, I lived outside US and wan deliverr to fulfill orders for meโฆbut that was such a bad experience you had.
Im considering Shipbob too, which company are you using now?