uShip Announcements

Update: Email Notifications

mickey@uship.com — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:31:00 GMT

As of this morning, all of the email deliverability issues have been resolved with the various Internet Service Providers that were affected. Those of you having issues should be getting all of your email notifications to your inbox without interruption. Again, we apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused.

It has come to our attention that some members are not receiving their usual email notifications from uShip. uShip is working on a solution with the affected Internet Service Providers to resume normal deliverability. In the meantime, please remember that all communications are available in the uShip Message Center. Additionally, you may want to open your ‘junk mail’ folder as some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may simply divert the message out of your normal inbox.

We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you and will return to full deliverability shortly.

Changes to Power Provider and Advanced Bidding Tools Eligibility

claire@uship.com — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:50:00 GMT

Effective June 1, 2008, uShip will be making an important addition to the TSP eligibility requirements of the Power Provider Program and Advanced Bidding Tools (Book It Now, Bid Valet, and Group Bidding).

In addition to all current eligibility requirements for these programs, TSP's will be required to be "an active participant in the uShip feedback system". This will be determined by looking at the ratio of the number of feedback left by a TSP to the number of feedback left for a TSP. On June 1, 2008, TSP's must have left at least as many feedback ratings as they have received in order to be "an active participant in the uShip feedback system".

Q: How do I know how many feedback ratings I have left and how many I have received?

A: Simple - just look at the feedback tab on your profile page. Next to "Feedback Left for xxx" and "Feedback Left by xxx" is a number in parentheses ( ) which represents the number of each.

Q: How often do I need to check that I have left as many feedback ratings I have received?

A: Every month (beginning June 1, 2008) uShip will look at your ratio of feedback sent vs. feedback received. As long as this feedback ratio is equal or greater than 1, you will be deemed as "an active participant in the uShip feedback system" for the rest of that calendar month, regardless of how this ratio changes during the month. Thus, it is likely that some TSP's will choose to leave a majority of their feedback just before the beginning of a new month to ensure that they qualify for these programs for the entire next month. Even if you forget to leave the required number of feedback one month and do not immediately qualify because of this reason, don't worry - you can instantly re-qualify for these programs once you get your "feedback sent" to "feedback received" ratio equal or greater than 1 (i.e., you do not have to wait until the following month). Again, once your feedback ratio qualifies you in any given calendar month, your eligibility will not change (because of feedback ratio) for the remainder of that calendar month.

(Note - all other current eligibility requirements (feedback score, % positive, etc.) for the Power Provider Program and Advanced Bidding Tools remain)

Q: Why is uShip making this change?

A: Feedback is the cornerstone of the uShip marketplace. While most TSP's do an excellent job of leaving feedback for their customers, a minority of active TSP's do not. This keeps themselves and their customers from being able to build on their reputation earned by transacting on uShip. uShip feels that this new requirement will ensure that service providers who are active on the uShip marketplace continue to help grow their own brand, which will ultimately result in more matches, more revenue for themselves, and more satisfied uShip customers. Most TSP's are already leaving more feedback than they receive and thus will not need not to make any substantial changes to the way they conduct their business on uShip.

New Advanced Bidding Tool – Bid Valet

claire@uship.com — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:25:00 GMT

uShip is excited to announce the launch of a new advanced bidding tool: Bid Valet. We have noticed that Service Providers frequently bid multiple times on the same shipment in competitive bidding situations. In an effort to make this re-bidding easier and faster, our new Bid Valet tool allows qualified* TSP's to automate their re-bidding based on their desired bidding strategy and timeframe.

Why should I try Bid Valet?

Save time bidding and re-bidding - just set your lowest acceptable bid price and Bid Valet will do all the re-bidding work for you to give you the most possible revenue. No need to come back to the site if you are on the road or away from your computer. Bid Valet works for you 24/7.

Get higher match prices – with Bid Valet, you can start with a higher bid without the hassle of re-bidding down to a lower price. Bid Valet will lower your bid in your customized time and dollar increments depending on how aggressive you want to be.

Be more competitive by automating your bids - you can set Bid Valet to automatically underbid competing Service Providers until you reach your lowest acceptable bid price

There are two ways Bid Valet works for you:

Automatically re-bid when you are underbid by other TSP's. If you are underbid the Bid Valet will automatically place a lower bid in small, predefined increments until reaching your preset "lowest bid" price. These bids are triggered after a 2 hour delay or if the customer declines your bid because the price was too high

Lower your bid periodically by a set amount. Bid Valet will automatically lower your bids in the time and dollar increments you choose, until you reach your "lowest bid" or until any bid is accepted.

You can use either option above on any bid - or use them both to doubly increase your chances of winning jobs. In addition, Bid Valet can be used simultaneously with other suites of tools such as Group Bidding, Book-it-Now, and My Rates to provide you with a "virtual business manager" that works on your behalf.

Click here to Learn More about Bid Valet, including examples of when a TSP might choose to use it. You can also give us your feedback and discuss Bid Valet in our uShip's Discussion forums. We are very excited about the power of this unique, customizable tool and we hope that all qualified TSP's will give it a try.

*Bid Valet is only available to "qualified" Service Providers who have at least 10 feedback and at least a 90% positive feedback rating.

Introducing uShip Local Moving

claire@uship.com — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:38:00 GMT

uShip knows that a local household move (one that is less than 50 miles) is much different than a long-distance move. To help both Shippers and Service Providers manage local moves better, uShip has made some major changes to the way these moves are handled on the uShip marketplace.

uShip is excited to announce the launch of uShip Local Moving, a better way to book and bid on local household moves. The major features of uShip Local Moving include:

Local moving booking requests
Hourly bids for local moves in the uShip marketplace

Local Moving Booking Requests

To help customers find local moving companies easier and to help Service Providers book local moves in their area more effectively, shippers can now send booking requests to local movers in their area, before listing their move in the uShip marketplace.

Shippers, when you are looking to move locally you will:

Be presented rates from feedback-rated moving companies in your area
Be given the opportunity to request services from one of these moving companies, by sending a pre-paid booking request
Hear back from your requested company within 24 hours

If a local moving company accepts your booking request, you will be sent contact information to work out any remaining details. If they are unable to accept your move, you will have the chance to request another moving company or list your move in the uShip marketplace.

How booking requests work for Service Providers:

To receive booking requests for local moves in your area, enter your local moving rates and cities you service in My Rates. These rates will be used to pre-fill your local moving bids, saving you time and making it easier to find and bid on more shipments.

Local moving booking requests you receive are:

Secured with a pre-paid deposit equal to the uShip fee* for that move
Exclusively guaranteed to the Service Provider requested, which means you have 24 hours to respond before the move is listed on the uShip marketplace.

* uShip fees for local moving are now flat rates based on the number of bedrooms. Learn more about how local moving works.

Hourly bids for local moves

In addition to adding booking requests, uShip has changed the way local moves are bid on in the uShip marketplace. Local moves will now be bid on by Service Providers based on an hourly rate and the number of movers required. This will help Service Providers make more accurate bids, which helps Shippers when comparing moving companies and rates.

We look forward to seeing more and more Shippers use improved uShip Local Moving to find and book moving companies. Service Providers-we hope these changes help you win more moving jobs and bid in a more efficient and accurate way.

As always, we welcome your feedback in the Local Moving discussion thread.

Announcing New Detailed Service Provider Ratings

claire@uship.com — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Starting today, Service Provider profiles are taking on an exciting new look. Now, in addition to the positive, neutral, and negative ratings you are used to seeing, service providers will have the opportunity to differentiate themselves by their customer service and quality of work with the newly launched Detailed Service Provider Ratings.

Here are some of the important details:

You will be rated in four categories: Communication; Care of Goods; Punctuality/Timeliness; and Service as Described - please see below for a detailed description of each category.
Ratings in each category will be based on a 5-star rating system that each shipper will be asked to submit when leaving feedback.
Detailed Service Provider Ratings will not appear in your profile until you have a minimum of 10 ratings submitted by shippers.
Ratings are only based on the average of your ratings for the last 12 months. This will allow you to identify an area that needs improvement and recover quickly from a poor rating.
In addition to the individual category ratings, each profile will have an overall star rating which will be an aggregate average of all your detailed ratings for the last year.

This is an exciting improvement to the way you build your reputation and market your business on uShip. Now you will be able to show off your strengths as a provider in more detail, and you will know exactly which areas your shippers think you need to improve upon.

As always, we welcome your feedback on this new feature. If you have any questions or comments, please visit the uShip Forums.

Detailed Service Provider Ratings categories:

Communication
Did you keep in touch? Was the shipper able to reach you as needed?
Care of Goods
Did the shipment arrive in good condition? Were all necessary precautions taken?
Punctuality/Timeliness
Did the shipment arrive on time? Was there a problem with scheduling?
Services as Described
Were services accurately described in the bid? Was everything performed as promised?

uShip Announces Phone Alerts

claire@uship.com — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:14:00 GMT

uShip has partnered with Unwired Nation to bring uShip members an exciting new service. Now you can be notified via phone when you receive activity on shipments you have listed or bid on in the uShip marketplace.

What are Phone Alerts?

Phone Alerts are automated phone calls that let you know about uShip activity that requires your attention.

Shippers are notified immediately by phone when:
• A new bid has been placed on your shipment, including amount and expiration date
• An answer to a question you asked about a bid has been posted

Service Providers are notified immediately by phone when:
• A question is asked about a bid you placed on a shipment
• A bid you’ve placed on a shipment has been accepted

Why use Phone Alerts?

Communication is essential for a successful uShip transaction. Being immediately informed about uShip activity ensures that opportunities for Shippers and Service Providers to connect are not missed.

• uShip works for you—24/7* – No one can be at their computer all day, managing their uShip account. With Phone Alerts, uShip will call you with updates on important bids and questions.

• The best bids are never missed - Great bids sometimes happen on weekends or are placed on a restricted timeframe and may expire or be cancelled before a Shipper can respond. To keep these bids from being missed, Phone Alerts will notify Shippers the minute a bid is placed.

• The answers you need, when you need them - Because Shippers and Service Providers are called when important bid questions are asked or answered, communication (and matches!) occur faster.

• Connect and ship faster than ever – Even if they are on the road or away from the office, we’ll call Service Providers to let them know about accepted bids. This way, Shippers and Service Providers can get in contact and ship faster.

*When you sign up for Phone Alerts, you can set the hours uShip should call you. No midnight calls unless you want them—we promise!

How to receive Phone Alerts:

• Shippers: Sign up to receive Phone Alerts when you list a shipment

• Service Providers: Sign up for Phone Alerts when you place a bid

All uShip members can sign up for Phone Alerts by updating your communication preferences in My uShip.

We’re excited to have partnered with Unwired Nation to bring this exciting new feature to the uShip marketplace. Phone Alerts are just another way uShip is working hard to improve the shipping experience for all our members. As always, we welcome your feedback in the Phone Alert discussion thread.

My uShip Reminders: A better way to manage your uShip tasks

claire@uship.com — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:36:00 GMT

uShip is excited to announce My uShip Reminders, a digest view of all the actionable items on your account and an improved way for you to manage your uShip to-do list. My uShip Reminders lets you keep an eye on tasks that require your attention, without having to navigate through My uShip.

Service Providers will be notified about things like questions asked or answers, bid requests, or feedback that needs to be left. Shippers-My uShip Reminders shows you new bids, pending questions, and other activity on your shipments. My uShip Reminders will also be used to keep you up to date on new tools and services that make using uShip better and easier.

You will see this new feature in two areas of the website:

My uShip reminders in the upper right-hand corner (by your login information) shows your most pressing tasks.
My uShip Snapshot on the home page and at the top of My uShip will show a complete uShip to-do list, with all your tasks and notifications.

This is just another way uShip is improving the shipping experience for all uShip members and making uShip easier and faster to use. We hope you enjoy this new feature and welcome your feedback in the My uShip Reminders discussion thread.

Important Change to Freight Shipments

claire@uship.com — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:26:00 GMT

To help Service Providers better distinguish between shipment types, we have changed how freight shipments are defined on uShip. There are now two types of shipments that can be thought of as "freight":

Freight Ready shipments are marked with a yellow colored freight icon and are already crated and palletized. Only carriers who can handle palletized or crated freight shipments should bid on and service these shipments.
Freight Eligible shipments are marked with a gray freight icon, and are not necessarily crated or palletized. Shipments marked as Freight Eligible are from shippers who are willing to consider freight bids alongside other types of bids. These shippers are informed that freight services require that their shipment be crated or palletized, and that basic freight services do not include loading, unloading, inside pickup, or inside delivery-although you are free to offer these services when you place a bid.

Along with adding the Freight Ready and Freight Eligible icons to Find Shipments, uShip has added a new "Freight Ready" filter under "More Filters." If you are interested in serving these Freight Ready shipments, simply select the new filter and you will only be shown listings that are crated or palletized to be shipped as freight. Just another improvement that will make finding and bidding on the right jobs easier than ever!

Introducing "Profile Completeness" for Service Providers

claire@uship.com — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:04:00 GMT

A complete profile is one of the best ways for uShip Service Providers to market their business and win more jobs, so uShip is excited to announce our new "Profile Completeness" feature, which helps Service Providers determine exactly what to add to their profile to attract more customers.

Now when Service Providers edit or view their own profile, they'll be given their "Profile Completeness" percentage, which compares the information in their current profile to a "model profile" based on the metrics of uShip's most successful providers. The more information you add to your profile, the higher your Profile Completeness number. According to our research, Service Providers with profiles that are 100% complete are the most successful at winning jobs in the uShip marketplace. As more Service Providers use this feature and update their information, we will continue to track and update the Profile Completeness feature to give you the accurate feedback on the effectiveness of your profile.

Want to see how complete your profile is and what you can do to get to 100%? Log into My uShip and select "Edit My Profile" to explore this new feature.

We're very excited about this feature and hope to see more and more Service Providers with 100% complete profiles. Feel free to let us know your thoughts about this new feature in the Profile Completeness discussion thread.

New Advanced Bidding Tool - Group Bidding

mickey@uship.com — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:14:00 GMT

uShip is excited to announce the launch of our first advanced bidding tool: Group Bidding. Group Bidding will enable TSP’s with limited capacity who are on tight schedules to win more jobs, much faster than ever before.

Group Bidding allows qualified TSP’s to “group” and name similar shipments, (for example, “Chicago to Seattle”) and set a limit on how many shipments from that group TSP’s are willing to service. The system will automatically cancel all open bids in the group once a TSP reaches their limit for each group. This allows TSP’s to bid on numerous shipments all at once without the risk of overbooking and/or risking cancellations. Group bidding is only available to “qualified” service providers who have at least 10 feedback and at least a 90% positive feedback rating.

Example: Bid on multiple loads in the same direction

A TSP will be travelling from Chicago to Seattle and only has room for two vehicles in their multi-car trailer. The TSP finds 4 vehicle shipments going in similar directions and is willing to service the first two that accept their bid.

The TSP is qualified* and decides to use group bidding. When he bids on the first vehicle, he creates and names a new “group” using the dropdown menu in the bidding box and uses the dropdown menu to set the group’s settings to only accept a maximum of 2 shipments. He then bids on the other three vehicles, and assigns them all to the same group.

Once this is set:

The TSP can only match a maximum of 2 shipments from this group, regardless of the order the bids are placed or accepted.
If the TSP reaches 2 matches from this group, all their open bids on other listings in the group will be automatically and immediately cancelled.
The TSP may always manually cancel any open bids in the group before they are accepted by a customer.

Example 2: Bid on large front haul loads going in different directions

A TSP is in Chicago and has the capacity and desire to service one large household move for $2000 or more whose delivery is less than 500 miles from his current location. The TSP uses our search filters and finds three shipments that fit this criteria. Instead of bidding on them one at a time, the TSP uses group bidding to group these shipments and bid on all three in the same session. From the group bids table in My uShip, the TSP uses the dropdown menu to change the group’s settings to accept a maximum of 1 shipments from the 3 in the group. As soon as the first customer in this group accepts a bid from this TSP, all the other open bids in this group will be cancelled automatically.

You can also create, name and delete new groups directly from your My uShip and move open bids from the Open Bids table to the new Group Bidding table in My uShip.

We are very excited about the power of group bidding and hope that you will give it a try to win more jobs, faster! Feel free to give us your thoughts and comments on this feature at the Group Bidding Discussion Thread.

Optional Listing Upgrades

mickey@uship.com — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 20:27:00 GMT

uShip is excited to announce that we recently launched two optional upgrades, Featured Listings and Urgent Listings, for members who list a shipment in the uShip marketplace. Prices for each upgrade vary depending on the category.

Featured Listing Upgrade:
Members who choose this option will have their listing presented in a larger format in a special bordered and highlighted box at the top of every search results page. This allows service providers to find and view a Featured Listing immediately. The result for shippers is more bids, faster. Featured Listings are also a strong signal to service providers that a shipper is serious and ready to transact.

Urgent Listing Upgrade:
Members who choose this option will have a special Urgent icon placed next to their listing. Service Providers can now view Urgent listings in their search results, and even target their search uniqely to Urgent Listings with uShip’s new Urgent Listing Filter. As with a featured listing, urgent listings indicate a willingness to transact quickly - an advantage for both shippers and service providers.

If you are a service provider, we urge you to start searching for, viewing, and bidding on Featured and Urgent listings right away. Since these customers have paid for these upgrades, you will find that they communicate better and accept bids faster than any other potential customers!

Introducing My Rates for Service Providers

mickey@uship.com — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:05:00 GMT

uShip is pleased to announce a new marketplace tool, My Rates, which allows you to input and save your preferred booking rates directly into uShip. This new feature is designed to help you book new business faster and easier, acting as a new way for Service Providers to calculate bids, save time, and win more jobs.

Using My Rates, Service Providers can now sumbit their rates for Boat, Auto, and Motorcycle shipments. These rates will be used to pre-fill your bids, saving you time and making it easier to find and bid on more shipments.

Are you ready to get started? Go to My Rates to create your rate profiles today!

• Input My Auto Rates
• Input My Boat Rates
• Input My Motorcycle Rates

Marketplace Improvements: Listing Duration and Book it Now

mickey@uship.com — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 16:51:00 GMT

In order to both better align our shipment listings with customers’ shipping needs and to improve responsiveness and communication between customers and transportation service providers, uShip has made two very important changes.

Shorter Listing Durations:
uShip is shortening overall listing durations. Previously customers could choose between a 10, 20 or 30 day listing duration. We have now reduced these options by approximately 33% to 7, 14, or 21 day options. This change will increase the level of responsiveness that TSP’s can expect from customers and will help to more quickly remove “expired” listings from the uShip marketplace. Finally, this will better align listings with the customer’s intended timeframe.

Improvements to Book it Now Listings:
Cancellations for Book it Now listings are high, with the most common reason being that the customer had already shipped the item, but had not removed their listing from the uShip marketplace. In fact, our research showed that Book it Now transactions that occurred after 7 days were 3 times as likely to cancel as those accepted within the first 7 days.

Thus, effective today, when a customer chooses to set a Book it Now price for their listing, the Book it Now option will only be good for the first 7 days of the listing. After the initial 7 days, if the listing is still active, transportation service providers will bid using the traditional bidding system.

Now, when you now see a listing with Book it Now, you will know the listing is no more than 7 days old and is less likely to be cancelled because it was stale or expired

Note: Book it Now bids are only available to TSP’s with 10 or more feedback score and 90% or more positive feedback.

Changes to eBay Item Shipments

mickey@uship.com — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:08:00 GMT

We have made several important changes to eBay Item Listings in our marketplace that will improve the user experience for both our eBay users and our TSPs. Here’s how it will work:

· Required eBay Item Import: Now all eBay items listed on uShip are required to be imported from eBay. This allows uShip to monitor the status of eBay Items and automatically update the status when the eBay auction ends. If the buyer does not win the auction, we automatically delete the uShip listing. Conversely, if the buyer wins the eBay auction, we automatically change the status on uShip to from “Auction Item, Not Yet Won” to “Auction Item, Won”.

· Auction Safeguards: Previously, eBay users were able to accept bids on uShip for the transportation of items that they had not won yet on eBay. This led to an increased risk of cancellations if the shipper ended up not winning the eBay auction. While eBay users may still receive uShip bids for eBay items they have not yet won, they will no longer be able to accept a bid on uShip until after they successfully win the eBay auction.

· New Auction Icon: Our new auction icon () will only be displayed on shipment listings that are “Auction Items, Won”. Our research shows that eBay users listing an “Auction Item, Won” are more than twice as likely to accept a TSP’s bid on uShip (compared to a non-auction item listings). If you are a TSP and you see this icon () on a listing, you should feel confident that the shipper is indeed serious about getting their recently purchased item shipped.

So keep winning eBay items and shipping them with the highest-rated shipping solution on eBay’s Solutions Directory!

Happy uShipping!

The uShip Team

Changes to Amount to Me Calculator

claire@uship.com — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:22:00 GMT

Effective Aug. 1st, uShip will change the “Amount to Me Calculator” on each bid page. It will now be a tool that allows a TSP to enter any "Amount to Me" that they wish to earn on that job and the tool will calculate and displays the Total Bid, before the TSP actually submits the Total Bid to their customer. This will let you know, before you bid, exactly what price the customer will see when they receive your Total Bid.

To avoid confusion on the part of the customer, TSP’s may no longer mention “uShip fees”, "uShip commission", or similar language in their Q&A – this will now be a flaggable offense. All price discussion in Q&A must refer only to a Total Bid price, which can now be easily calculated using the new “Amount to Me Calculator.”