Best Shipping Refunds Solutions

Refund Retriever: Best for Getting the Highest Shipping Refund

Refund Retriever is a trusted name in the shipping refund service industry, and will claim refunds on your behalf from UPS and FedEx stemming from over 50 types of carrier service failures. Refund Retriever also identifies potential shipping problems and notifies you when an outside circumstance might affect a delivery. LTL (Less than Truckload) and truckload freight is often difficult for small businesses, but Refund Retriever makes it simple via their partnership with Freight Cowboy. Additionally, Refund Retriever has teamed up with U-PIC Insurance to help small businesses access better rates.

Parcel Audit and Shipping Analytics

Refund Retriever pays close attention to your shipments and continually audits for incorrect carrier surcharges, other billing mistakes, and late deliveries. In most cases the only way for a business owner to discover a late delivery is to investigate on their own (or receive a customer complaint), so Refund Retriever can get you refunds you otherwise didn't know you were owed.

You can access an easy-to-use, in-depth dashboard analyzing your shipping habits, negotiated carrier discounts (with confirmation your discounts are being applied), and more. Information includes a detailed breakdown of each shipment, including shipping account number, weight and dimensions, tracking number, and which carrier service was used (e.g. Ground). This provides a detailed analysis of your shipping, and includes reports on disputes and refunds as well.

Pricing and Refund Distribution

Refund Retriever does not charge any monthly fees, instead taking a percentage of the refunds they help you claim. The percentage taken depends on your annual shipment volume: businesses shipping up to $250k per year will be charged 50% of refunds, with this number decreasing as you scale up. Up to $500k annually in shipments, the charge drops to 45% of refunds, and up to $1M it drops to 40%. Businesses shipping more than $1M per year can contact Refund Retriever to negotiate custom rates.

All refunds you receive will be credited to your carrier account in full, with Refund Retriever charging you only after you have a chance to verify the refunds via an end-of-the-month report and are 100% satisfied with the service. Refund Retriever accepts Bitcoin as well as credit cards and PayPal for payment of your invoice.

Contract Renegotiation and Discount Benchmarking

Refund Retriever uses its analysis of your shipping habits to identify additional discounts they can secure for you from your shipping carriers, and will renegotiate with UPS and FedEx on your behalf. This is enhanced by Refund Retriever's newest service, benchmarking, in which Refund Retriever compares your level of shipping discounts for each service with those of other companies shipping at a similar volume. With this information, Refund Retriever reports to you the discounts other businesses are receiving and helps your business get similar discounts. They will also create custom reports for you as needed.

Takeaway

Refund Retriever is a solid choice for any small business looking to get the most out of their relationship with UPS and/or FedEx, receive the best discounts, and claim refunds for late deliveries and other service failures. Ease of freight logistics and better package insurance rates will also benefit any business.

LateShipment.com: Best for User Delivery Notifications

LateShipment.com is a comprehensive logistics optimization system that provides numerous features in addition to securing refunds from late shipments and the inaccurate charges that come from over 50 types of service failures. It works with FedEx, UPS, and DHL, and is the only shipping refund app that integrates whatsoever with USPS, although only for Priority Mail Express.

Parcel Audit and Shipping Analytics

LateShipment.com constantly monitors your shipments and verifies shipping invoices, checks for billing errors, and automatically files refund claims where appropriate. They offer real-time shipment tracking and delivery management via LateShipment.com Pulse (a free, cloud-based service included with your membership).

Your dashboard will have access to extremely detailed analytics including data such as geographic reports of locations most likely to experience late deliveries, supply chain insights offering information to identify potential areas for improvement, shipping carrier usage for stores offering more than one carrier, and more. They also use this data for leverage in negotiating better shipping contracts for you.

Pricing and Refund Distribution

LateShipment.com has no monthly fees, instead taking a portion of the refunds they claim for you. Unlike some of the other shipping refund solutions on this page, LateShipment.com charges a flat rate of 35% of refunds regardless of your shipping volume. This is good for stores that expect to remain at a consistent number of deliveries and don't want to need to scale up to access a lower discount, but large stores may be able to save more with a scaling solution.

Your refunds are sent back to your shipping carrier; depending on your carrier and payment method, these refunds may be credited to your account for future shipping or may be sent back to your original payment method. LateShipment.com does track your approved refunds and provides a summary on your dashboard.

Customer Notifications and Last Mile Certification

LateShipment analyzes each delivery, predicts failures, and automatically informs your customers about their delivery status, taking much of the weight off your business in case of late shipments or other problems that businesses often unfairly take the blame for. They will also provide you with Last Mile Certification and a way to display this on your website to let your customers know your business is reliable for shipping. This helps increase sales and reduce cart abandonment due to shipping concerns.

Takeaway

In addition to automatically claiming shipping refunds for you, LateShipment.com is best for a business that needs a reliable, automated way of keeping customers notified about their delivery status. If you've had customer service issues due to delivery problems, it may be the best solution for you. Additionally, if you use USPS Priority Mail Express, this is currently the only shipping refund solution on this page that integrates with it.

71lbs Shipping Refunds: Best for Understanding Shipping Costs

71lbs is a robust shipping refunds solution for any size business, complete with account monitoring and automated claims for shipping refunds from over 65 types of shipping failures. 71lbs also offers ocean/air freight forwarding and will work to secure the best rates for you. Additionally, 71lbs can also insure your parcels for a reasonable rate — and both the pricing and the insurance itself is superior to that offered by FedEx or UPS. While most package monitoring features are exclusive to FedEx and UPS, 71lbs has partial support for DHL and USPS — keep reading for details.

Parcel Audit and Shipping Analytics

Much like the other shipping refund options on this page, 71lbs constantly monitors your shipments to identify problems for which you should have been refunded, including late deliveries, incorrect surcharges, and much more. The 71lbs system compares your shipping results to the guarantees offered by UPS and FedEx and automatically claims any refunds to which your business is entitled. Plus, 71lbs seeks out new opportunities for improving your shipping rates by comparing your rates to those of other businesses with similar volume, with a benchmarking process similar to that of Refund Retriever.

Your analytics dashboard gives you a complete picture of your shipping process, including your shipping activity, tracking for your deliveries, and display of insights into all aspects of your business's shipping. You can view your analytics dashboard on desktop or with a user-friendly iOS or Android app, so you can track your shipping on the go.

Pricing and Refund Distribution

71lbs comes with no contract or fees of any kind, instead charging a percentage of the refunds they claim for you similarly to the other shipping refunds solutions we've covered. The percentage they collect is based on your shipping volume, and while there are no specific tiers listed, this usually comes out to around 40% of your refunds.

71lbs credits your full refund back to your carrier account. Your first refund (if any) should appear within 2 – 4 weeks of your 71lbs account activation, while your analytics become visible within 2 weeks. You will be invoiced at the end of the month for the percentage owed to 71lbs, and you can pay via credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or American Express), PayPal, or check.

Parcel Insurance

71lbs offers shipping insurance at an affordable rate and with superior coverage over the basic insurance offered by FedEx or UPS. With 71lbs, your shipment can be covered without the need to prove negligence on the part of the carrier and can save you up to 45% over carrier-provided insurance. 71lbs can unconditionally insure packages sent via FedEx, UPS, DHL, or USPS.

Takeaway

71lbs is a strong contender due to its wide variety of services, including comprehensive refund monitoring and claims, benchmarking and contract negotiations, and freight capabilities. Their package insurance is another strong feature that makes them an excellent option for any business looking for better insurance coverage for shipments, which is worth considering especially if you sell higher-ticket items.

Share a Refund: Best for Online Stores Using Multiple Carriers

Share a Refund is an excellent shipping refund solution for small businesses shipping with FedEx, UPS, and DHL. Like the rest of our selection, Share a Refund monitors your shipping carrier accounts and automatically claims refunds for you where applicable. They collect refunds for you when a shipment is late, misbilled, or fails to deliver, along with a host of other shipping problems.

Parcel Audit and Shipping Analytics

Share a Refund analyzes shipping to discover errors and processes audits at a baseline of 1,000 per hour. Your shipping accounts are constantly monitored for refund opportunities, and all eligible refund claims are automatically filed. Share a Refund will also examine your shipping rates as part of their Carrier Agreement Optimization process, and negotiate better rates on your behalf.

The in-depth dashboard displays updated reporting on your business's refunds and refund potential, with detailed information on your shipping process and all refunds that were attempted and/or collected. Share a Refund also provides weekly emailed report on all activities related to your shipping accounts. This is a convenient summary of Share a Refund's actions on your behalf, and can help you better understand your savings.

Pricing and Refund Distribution

Share a Refund takes their name from their pricing structure: they simply charge a flat rate of 50% of the refunds they claim for you, thus "sharing a refund." This differentiates them from some other shipping refund solutions that charge based on sales volume. Other than their 50% cut, Share a Refund charges you nothing.

Your refunds are credited back to your shipping carrier accounts where they will apply to future invoices. Share a Refund's 50% commission is charged weekly to a credit card you store with them on file. This differs from the monthly invoicing of the other shipping refunds solutions, resulting in smaller weekly bills rather than a larger monthly bill. Of course, you're only charged based on 50% of any refunds collected for you, with no charge at all if no refunds were secured that billing period.

Takeaway

Share a Refund is a reliable choice for any business looking to collect on their shipping refunds, and its support for DHL separates it from some of the other shipping refund solutions. While some high-volume businesses may want to look for another solution with a different pricing structure, i.e. a smaller commission based on larger amounts shipped, this may not matter to a smaller business that would find itself paying 50% anyway with another provider. Regardless, your business will benefit from automated shipping refund collection and detailed reporting with no effort required on your part.