Parcel Price Comparison Website

[KevinRockett]

I am interested in some feedback on an idea I have had.

There is always activity here at UKBF in regards to parcel prices with online sellers posting requests for help in finding out prices.

For small/light or low value mail items advice given here is generally to contact RM. For the 2kg to 20kg items Parcel2Go, ParcelMonkey etc are generally mentioned and if it is the larger shipments then freight forwarders who are members here can help via pallet networks or haulage.

But I have never found a website where price comparison can be achieved regardless of the parcel size, weight, value and destination. A one-stop rates comparison facility for the mail item you want to send from A to B.

I am therefore thinking of developing a web solution where anyone can enter parcel details to get price options for ANY parcel going ANYWHERE.

You don't need to be a volume seller to use the web tool, you can have just one parcel to be sent and get a steer on what options exist, you can be a seller starting out and want to know how the rates drop for volume and pre-sort. Perhaps you are a RM account holder and want to understand DSA rates and service definitions. With the pallet & freight end of the scale, the website would show all costs involved such as fuel surcharges and if air freight then for example - airine handling, war risk, NES etc.

I guess what I have in my mind is a sort of moneysupermarket for post & parcels, a "parcel2anywhere" concept if you like where it does not matter if the item is a 120g large letter in a jiffy bag to Hull, a 15kg box to Hanover or a 100kg shipment to Hong Kong - the rates comparison comes to the screen regardless.

Any interest in something like this?

 

[roydmoorian]

Great idea if you can pull it off, but you will also need to include a reliability expectation % and insurance excesses and costs where applicable.

 

[KevinRockett]

Thanks Roydmoorian - grateful for the feedback. Yes, I am aiming to include as much "small print" detail as possible. I hope to cover everything via contextual content.

Website development is underway and the site should launch in Jan or Feb 2014 but seems there is not too much interest here, which suprises me given how often posts are submitted here asking about parcel prices and carriers (such as the MyHermes active one here at the moment...).

 

[Jeff FV]

Would be a great resource.

I have a Royal Mail OBA - my first port of call for UK deliveries less than 1Kg (or, often, upto 2 or 3KG if I can get them into my Royal Mail bag and keep the average weight below 1Kg)

My UKMail iConsign account for UK shippments 2Kg and above (poss above 1Kg if I can't do what I say above)

We get a few, sporadic, overseas orders. For these I tend to visit Royal Mail Price Finder Parcels2Go and (maybe) Parcel Monkey to get quotes.

HTH

Jeff

 

[KevinRockett]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your feedback. I am grateful.

In your post you mention 5 different and seperate web locations that you visit to check on prices and that is the EXACT point of what I am proposing.

All the info that you get from these 5 different places would be in one place and within this one place would also be volume and pre-sort rates for the carriers so that some level of modelling or business planning can be peformed such as - "what if I had double the parcels as I would hope to in 6 months time, what would I pay then etc" or "what if I wanted to commit to greater level of parcel sorting - what price could I then get". In addition to this picklists would allow for selections on insurance, delivery speed, returns service as so it goes on.

All the rates, all the options for any parcel to go anywhere regardless of carrier would be viewable on one website. This carrier-independent approach is what I am looking to achieve, as I say - a sort of moneysupermarket for post & parcels.

 

[Bobadob]

hey, i think you can try interparcel or P4D i think both these do what you are proposing

 

[KevinRockett]

Sorry, but with respect - neither of those 2 sites do anything like what i am proposing.

 

[Flash Online Designers]

what about myparceldelivery.com?

 

[KevinRockett]

Same thing, that site is nothing like what I am proposing as it is one of the many "courier consolidator" sites. Don't get me wrong, I am not criticising ant of them or being negative in anyway about these sites but they deal in only one area. They do it well though.

Look at it this way in terms of a broad 4 parcel-type categorisation I can make which would be : jiffy bag-box-pallet-container.

The site you mention is great for the box and may offer pallet rates but no use at all if you want to send a 150g item in a jiffy bag to a UK address for less than £0.80 and to Europe for less than £1.20. At the larger scale end unless I am missing something, these sites don't handle container shipments.

My proposal is for an easy to use website that provides rates comparisons for ALL parcel types to anywhere.

Perhaps I am being over ambitious, I don't think so but feedback here is not too encouraging though.

 

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

What about comparcel.com

 

[charlesdupont]

Comparcel does look like an implementation of your idea, if I got that right. Depending on how you plan on monetising it, and how much effort you can put into the idea, I'd say it's worth doing.

From far away it does look like a hard to monetise idea that would get some traffic, but nothing huge by advertising standards for example. There are definitely opportunities in the space, so it could be a good way to get some traction and get at some of the real user pain points.

 

[PostalSavingsExpert]

If you want an alternative to Royal Mail for parcels up to 2kg then you might want to add us in there. Our prices can save anywhere up to 50% on depending on the destination but there is a minimum collection volume of 50 items.

 

[KevinRockett]

Just a last post to say thank you to all those who provided the sought-after feedback here and via PMs. Those that have understood what I am proposing have all been positive to the concept which I am naturally pleased about.

Those who think my idea is already in place with the courier sites mentioned have obvously not read my orginal post but that's fine.

So, thanks once again to everyone and I will post again when the site is open, which should be Jan or Feb 2014 as development has now started.

 

[cdmsjtr]

Please have a look at lifestylecouriers.com since we would like to included in your comparison platform.

 

[roydmoorian]

Please have a look at lifestylecouriers.com since we would like to included in your comparison platform.

Can you confirm that your system has a Quality Assured System in place which checks the Insurance Status of ALL the "lifestyle" delivery drivers including Hire & Reward, Goods in Transit, and Public Liability?

 

[cdmsjtr]

Yes, because the service uses a mixture of existing networks (it works differently to other platforms) that have the requisite quality assured systems in place.

 

[KevinRockett]

Thanks, yes I am happy to include LifeStyleCouriers in the comparison site when it goes live in Jan/Feb 2014.

 

[Ecnalwerg]

Sorry Kev, already exists it's called World Options. They have been around for around 12 years. They are only for business users though because of the restrictions placed by carriers. They compare all premium carriers for speed, service and price in with their quick quote tool. They also have City Link, DPD, Yodel and more. They have integrated pallet quotes UK to UK and pallet quotes for internationals with TNT. World Optionsalso offer imports, 3rd to 3rd (China to USA), Same Day, AirFreight and Containers. Pretty hardcore hey!
Seriously, be careful with the premium carriers, they hate to be compared to each other because it degrades their services. You might have noticed that resellers have been asked to remove logo's because of this. World Options customers can only see the quick quote tool once they have signed up for a business account. It's only then they reap the benefits of the reduced courier rates.

 

[KevinRockett]

Sorry, with respect I don't think the service you have joined this forum to advertise does ALL that I require. It appears to be Courier and upwards like all the rest. To prove me wrong could you let me know what they quote for a 100g "flat" item untracked to Germany or USA. If the quote is less than $1 then this service would be great and as you say able to be considered - "any parcel to anywhere" like the one I am developing.

 

[Ecnalwerg]

Kevin your completely right, we don't offer that because it's assumed in the UK that people will use the post office for UK to UK small items. Anything over 2kgs is where the post office can't compete, Parcel Force rates are so expensive for the service that is provided you may as we'll turn to a premium carrier. To answer your question regarding flat package (or are you referring to mail) WO offer them too in the form of envelopes for documents. The prices are great, however compared to Royal Mail they are expensive. Our envelopes are normally used for important documents that need to get there fast. City Link have good weight breaks for lighter Jiffy bags but once again if you want cheap as chips go to RM.
I read in the forum that you feel a little discouraged for the replies given in the forum, I'm sorry to hear about that. We like services like the one you are planning, they bring value to the customer. Once again if you need to chat about anything give us a shout.
Lance
P.S Germany to USA for under a $1 that's voodoo, if you can pull that off for your average Joe I will definitely be referring our customers to you for light weight packages.

 

[KevinRockett]

Hi, Thanks for the support, I am grateful. In regards to the untracked rates I quoted, they are not voodoo, they are reality but I noticed I put a $ not a £, sorry about that.

A 100g mail item to Germany untracked would be £0.98p

A 100g mail item to USA untracked would be £0.87 and a fully TRACKED service to USA for a 100g item only - £1.29

 

[roydmoorian]

Hi, Thanks for the support, I am grateful. In regards to the untracked rates I quoted, they are not voodoo, they are reality but I noticed I put a $ not a £, sorry about that.

A 100g mail item to Germany untracked would be £0.98p

A 100g mail item to USA untracked would be £0.87 and a fully TRACKED service to USA for a 100g item only - £1.29

Do you have a reliability index for the £1.29 service - and does it have to be part of a larger number of consignments collected at the same time or does the price stand alone ?

 

[antropy]

moneysupermarket for post & parcels

Sounds like a great idea. Is there somewhere I can enter my email address to be notified when it goes live?

 

[japancool]

I think a lot of posters are missing the point. Unless I'm very much mistaken, many of the sites mentioned on here are consolidators, meaning that they will have their own deals with the major carriers, and therefore charge different prices.

If I want to send a 5kg package to Germany, I will get a different price for the SAME major courier if I go to parcel2go compared to p4d.

So, I think the OP's idea is a good one, get quotes from all the relevant sites and let the customer decide which one to use.

 

[KevinRockett]

Thank you Japancool, you appear to be the first poster to totally understand what I am developing and to acknowledge the carrier independance of it.

To answer the question about the reliability index, sorry no I don't have one. The £1.29 tracked to USA has minimum of 50 items in a collection at the same time to get that price but this is 50 tracked items to USA of any weights.

 

[GraemeL]

Thank you Japancool, you appear to be the first poster to totally understand what I am developing and to acknowledge the carrier independance of it.

I still dont get it. (Maybe you have not explained it well if japancool is the first to understand?) The rates for my parcels can't be found anywhere on the internet as I have contract prices with my carrier. Isn't this what any business with significant volume would do?

For a one off shipment - quite different.

G

 

[japancool]

I would have thought the target market would be businesses who are sending out reasonable volumes of packages, but not enough to warrant a direct contract with a carrier. I fall into that category.

 

[KevinRockett]

The key thing is that if you have volume and only within one parcel category type and if you are happy with the rates you have acheived with one carrier who can service ALL your needs then what I am developing would not be of interest to you.

However as Japancool says above, if you have reasonable volumes across a lot of parcel types then you would hopefully be interested in such a website so that you can see the rates for a 100g untracked item to Germany on the same screen as a 100KG shipment to Australia, fully tracked etc and everything in between.

This thread has been around a while now but if you look back at how I started it a few months ago it was on the back of seeing posts pretty everyday here from online sellers who typically had an RM business contract for all their less than 2KG untracked items but had a few > 2Kg packages to send, could not send them via RM and started to look around at the courier consolidation sites to get prices and then onto here to ask for advice.

The key element is the carrier independence and the fact that rates comparison should be displayed for ANY parcel to ANYWHERE regardless of parcel type and carrier. This is why I have described it as a sort of "moneysupermarket for parcels" concept.

 

[Evelyn Feng]

Totally agree with Kevin's view above. We have a contract with Parcelforce, but that's for a particular type of parcels (weighing 20kg). Using their contract tariff on our other types of parcels (eg. 160 g) isn't sensible at all - the delivery cost is more than my parcel value. So I have been looking for other courier companies for a while now. Getting quote, writing to them, and waiting. Quite time consuming and still no result yet. If we have a website like OP described, we will save a lot of time.

Also, I went to that comparcel mentioned in earlier post. The information is not accurate! I got a quote of £2.50 of Hermes. Then I clicked Buy this. What happened? Being directed to Hermes, then the price turned into the normal one: £4.20. 68% higher of that website's quote. I think that site needs updating.

I look forward to Kevin's project launch.

 

[roydmoorian]

Using their contract tariff on our other types of parcels (eg. 160 g) isn't sensible at all - the delivery cost is more than my parcel value.

Maybe, just maybe the item isn't suitable for distance selling.

It is the total cost of the delivered item which is ultimately important to the buyer and maybe being able to acquire 1 item without incurring bus fares, parking charges and spending time doing so.

 

[Evelyn Feng]

Maybe, just maybe the item isn't suitable for distance selling.

You'll see hundreds if not thousands of items sold online for under £10. What I meant is using a courier's company's quote for large cartons on small parcels won't work. This is why although we have a contract with a courier, we still need to look for delivery options online. If OP project goes live, I'll definitely give it a try.

 

[KevinRockett]

Posting again just to update those who have shown interest that the launch is now going to be April/May 2014.

Although the site is in early beta and not that far from ready I need to wait for the annual price changes for Royal Mail/DSA parcels for 2014 so that I can launch with these included from the outset.

I am also pretty busy with my e-consultancy at the moment in regards to postage for the same reason - the up coming RM annual price changes.

This time it looks like Large Letters are to be affected with suggested increases of 20% for non-uniform LLs. This has meant that some of my Clients need me to make changes to software/systems in prep for this, diverting me and my 2 programmers away from the PCW.

So, once again - thanks to everyone who has shown interest in the price comparison site, I will update again in late Feb/Mar when hopefully I might have an actual launch date.

 

[Evie]

Kevin, I'd be very interested in this.

I currently have a direct account with Parcelforce and have recently trialled some alternative carriers. My Parcelforce rates to Australia, China and the Far East are ridiculously high, but UPS and DHL, (who I can send with through Transglobal for about half the cost), always seem to have customs issues resulting in my customers being unhappy, whereas Parcelforce seem to be able to bypass these issues for some reason. I believe it's something to do with using the postal service in the receiving country.

Anyway, I've spent this afternoon trawling through Google, looking for companies like Parcel Monkey, P4D etc., who offer Parcelforce's services, but at a reduced rate. So far, I've only found slight reductions, which would be offset by the inconvenience of having to enter and pay for each parcel separately. There are probably some great companies out there who just don't show up on a Google search, so your idea would be brilliant for me.

Looking forward to hearing more about it.

Evie

 

[a8star]

I have found despatchbay to be best for UK and european parcels.

 

[KevinRockett]

Just a quick thank you to Evie for the nice comments. I will let you and the many other interested parties know the moment I have a release date.

The last poster has missed the point, the site he mentions is simply a reseller for ParcelForce. Nothing wrong with that of course but no relevance to this particular thread...

 

[BigTimeTrader]

what a good idea, yes parcel2go , interparcel, wedelivertheworld etc etc are good sites but they are the resellers, they therefore will not be showing all available rates.

so, yes, KRC is not talking about creating "another one of those sites" - if I understand correctly, you want to create a site which shows all the data and rates which "those sites" provide?!

but, how do you gather all the available rates?! seriously, what sort of development/ coding can you use to gain all that data?

best of luck, I am very intrigued.

 

[MyBusinessStory.co.uk]

Great idea, i use transglobal.org that do this kind of thing for worldwide shipment. great idea though i would use it..

Let us know if you plan to go ahead we would love to do a case study about you on Mybusinessstory.co.uk

 

[lukington]

Hello,

I had your exact idea 3 years ago and began implementing it in 2012. It has only just been released in beta - comparcel.com. Someone actually mentioned it towards the beginning of this conversation.

As you can probably tell from the time it has taken it has not been easy, or cheap!

Main issues that have arisen:
- Resellers are not always keen to cooperate (so can make it extremely difficult to retrieve their data). The majority of our resources go on keeping these data links alive.
- As you can tell by this very message board, It's very difficult to get its point across as everyone always assumes parcel comparison already exists in the form of Parcel2Go and the like.

I really hope some of you find it useful. I'd appreciate any feedback. We're constantly working to improve it and will be continuing to integrate sellers and resellers far and wide.

Kevin I'd also love to hear how you're getting on!

Luke McSwiney
comparcel.com

 

[Jeff FV]

Hello,

I had your exact idea 3 years ago and began implementing it in 2012. It has only just been released in beta - comparcel.com. Someone actually mentioned it towards the beginning of this conversation.

Luke McSwiney
comparcel.com

Hi Luke

I just tried your site for one of our "standard" parcels. The cheapest option was to use "InPost" through P4D, however, when I clicked through to this, I wasn't given this option. I did, however, find a service (UPS drop off) that I often buy through parcels to go, but it was 70p more expensive than using P2G.

 

[lukington]

Hi Luke

I just tried your site for one of our "standard" parcels. The cheapest option was to use "InPost" through P4D, however, when I clicked through to this, I wasn't given this option. I did, however, find a service (UPS drop off) that I often buy through parcels to go, but it was 70p more expensive than using P2G.

Hi Jeff,

InPost is given as an option on P4D, but when you get to the results page you have to click the button which says 'View available options' at the top right next to "Would you prefer to DROP OFF your parcel? There are 8 options available from £2.99". Not the easiest to find, I'll agree!

I'm not sure I understood the next part. Do you mean UPS drop off via P2G was listed as 70p more expensive on comparcel than on P2G itself? If so, that's not the case. Prices on comparcel include VAT (unless you untick 'Include VAT' on the calculator). Perhaps that's what you saw?

All prices are kept current up to the hour. However, resellers add and remove services all the time. Though our bots are always collecting service information, we only deploy one service update per week.

Thanks for your feedback.

Luke