ShipMonk | Order Fulfillment

Oct. 4, 2021

I have been running businesses for 30+ years, and I can say, without a doubt, that no single business I have ever worked with has damaged the reputation of my company more than ShipMonk. Make no mistake, ShipMonk is a sales company, and cares very little for their customers once they have signed you up. I strongly urge you to go back through Shopify’s reviews from 2020 and early 2021. Recently, the reviews are all “miraculously” five-stars, and do not sound authentic….sound a bit more like advertisements than reviews. Who knows, maybe these vendors have had experiences with a ShipMonk from an alternate universe. And i would not buy the "COVID, COVID, COVID, we have addressed those issues" line. A Zebra does not change its stripes. Here are my experiences…judge for yourself and beware before getting in bed with these guys. Also check out their reviews on Google. All of my experiences outlined below are well-documented, and if you check out other reviews, you will see similarly bad experiences, though maybe not in as much detail! ShipMonk’s systems are poorly designed, their internal communications are terrible, their email system is very inefficient and frustrating to use, and their customer service is atrocious, both in terms of response time, getting accurate information and maybe most importantly, attitude. It is extremely slow…be prepared to wait sometimes days for a response, which is often unhelpful or inaccurate, and then wait again for their response to your response, etc., etc. Many of their customer service reps are poorly trained, often not knowing answers to basic questions or, worse, delivering incorrect information, and it is almost as if they have been trained to take any opportunity to blame the customer for any issues that arise. All of this adds up to a terrible customer experience, a lot of frustration and stress, and often requires hours each week to sort out their mess, all the while fielding phone calls from unhappy customers due to shipping errors and delayed shipments. A fulfillment center should be taking fulfillment issues off your desk, so you can focus on your business. With ShipMonk, hours a week are spent double checking their work or trying to get them to do what they are supposed to do on time and without being asked. I was with ShipMonk for about a year and a half. They initially flat out misrepresented their capabilities to me. I see from WAMA Underwear’s review, that ShipMonk is still habitually misrepresenting their services in order to sign up new clients. Like WAMA’s, their misrepresentation to us was not discovered, of course, until all of our inventory had arrived at their warehouse. They made very little effort, or displayed any urgency, to rectify the situation, and made no offer to reduce their cost of service, which went up substantially due to their misrepresentation of what they could and could not do, and at what price. All the while, their auto-payment systems keeps pulling funds from your account, while getting any kind of solution drags on and on. I gave them multiple opportunities, and tried to work with them, to make things right, but they were clearly not interested and could not be bothered. It seems their sole focus is signing up new clients, and not providing good service with a good attitude to the clients they have signed up. They have almost an adversarial relationship with their customers, as if you are just a necessary evil to generate revenue and grow. We make and sell an exercise systems. ShipMonk sent our customers, among other things, a dress, a purse, a sweatshirt and tap shoes…yes, tap shoes. They always send you a form apology email, letting you know how they are working to see that this does not happen again…until it happens again. Mispicks, missing items and wrong sizes were also a common problem. Their time estimates for special projects are not to be taken seriously. They almost never meet their own estimate, and instead, deliver excuse after excuse. You cannot rely on their status updates to communicate with your customers, because you have no idea if they will do what they said they will do when they said they will do it, leading to upset customers who rightfully blame you. The costs they charged us for special projects were grossly over-charged, and only after I discovered them and brought it to their attention, did they acknowledge as much. To this day, it is not clear to me whether we were ever refunded the overcharges, and we spent months, yes months, just trying to establish a fair charge for the work (we decided to leave before that was resolved). They provide very little transparency in regards to their costs and pricing…you have to dig into their reporting for the information. Though they have many shipping options, they are rarely the most cost effective. Since leaving, we have found significantly cheaper and more cost-effective rates, faster shipping and improved reliability. The attractive shipping options they quote are before carrier surcharges, which can be as much as 50-80% of the shipping cost itself. They partnered with several carriers during our time with them, who were flat out incompetent, lost packages, did not provide adequate tracking, etc. And ShipMonk will not allow you to follow up on your own to get tracking updates from carriers directly, so you must suffer through waiting for ShipMonk to follow up, which takes up valuable time and rarely delivers any actionable information. ShipMonk does not seem to understand, or more likely does not really care, that they are representing you, their customer, in the marketplace. When they screw up, or take days to get back to you, or ship tap shoes to your customers, the customer does not blame ShipMonk…they only know that you screwed up their order. Such is life with ShipMonk. I hope you find this information valuable. I thought it was important to share my experience in detail with you, to expose what I believe to be a very poorly run and untrustworthy company in the fulfillment space. There are plenty of fulfillment companies in the marketplace, and if you do your homework, you can likely find ones who pride themselves on customer service, and doing their job competently as an integral part of your business. And if something does go wrong, will give it and you the attention you deserve. In our experience, ShipMonk is not one of those companies. They are a sales company trying to grow as fast as they can, and you, as their customer, are of little consequence.

July 7, 2021

ShipMonk has been a really great partner with excellent customer service. Like everywhere, last year with the pandemic and then a blow out November/December, and then lingering effects of COVID-19 there were several unavoidable issues and delays but it is very clear ShipMonk had the leadership and strategy on how to come out of it and put in a lot of new tactics to make sure they are in a better position next year. They are continually improving and making things better which is something important with any partner. We recommend them!

July 5, 2021

Love the customer service and the amount of support I received during my onboarding process! I'm anxiety-prone especially when it comes to getting started with something new and ShipMonk has been a great help...plus good vibes all around! The software is easy to use as well and has everything I need.

July 1, 2021

This was the first 3PL we have partnered with. We initially chose to work with ShipMonk because of their experience and infrastructure with Shopify and their ability to deal with mass quantities of orders. Their onboarding process was simple and a straightforward plug-in through the app store. The App interface is very well made and has some great resources for training purposes. We worked with Kerry who has gone above and beyond in communication and transparency. Their whole team of Happiness Engineers is a major highlight of our experience. On the ground their operations exceeded our expectations. We had 5 figures in order quantity, and they maintained an error margin of around .01%. All orders were fulfilled within 2-5 days keeping our customers extremely happy. Some minor things that we would like to see improved on: Accurate up-to-date inventory counts after fulfilled orders. A more straightforward "assisted" claim process for orders with errors. Even more visibility into the receiving process. Quicker updates to billing cycle and pricing changes. Overall, we would recommend to any company who is looking for custom fulfillment specialists. Just be clear to set expectations early, and ShipMonk will deliver.

July 1, 2021

Horrible experience... Stay far away! Initially, they (Erik van Bilderbeek, Jennifer Santanna & Kerry Neysmith) promised us they can do everything we asked. We sent 50% of our inventory to them. Only to find out after they received our products that their system doesn't allow them to do so. Before launching we placed test orders to ourselves to see if Shipmonk can fulfill correctly and each time they made unacceptable mistakes. We sell underwear and they literally had measured some of our underwear products with a 7 inch height. Actual height is about 0.3". Shipmonk also weighed our products incorrectly adding a 1 pound 8 ounces weight for an underwear. Actual weight is 0.2 lbs. These measurements and weights were mistakes after our complaints getting their manager, Kerry, involved and re-measuring everything. How can they be so off? How can they be so negligent!? After 3 months of consistent issues after issues we just couldn't continue with them. 3 months of time lost. Thousands of dollars lost with Shipmonk even though all the issues were clearly theirs. They do not own up to their own mistakes. We ended up having to pay for their negligence. Highly Not Recommended! Stay Far Away! Find Another Fulfillment Center!

June 24, 2021

We love using ShipMonk their customer service is the best and with dedicated "happiness engineers" there are real people that can help solve fullfillment issues. They are an extention of our customer service and we appreciate their quick response times and attention to detail.

June 23, 2021

I absolutely love ShipMonk! Their seamless integration with the Shopify cart is what led me to them. From my first call to ask questions about the service, to the onboarding process these guys made me feel like I had a team working with me to get my product up on the market. My Fulfillment Consultant Brandon was there every step of the way to answer my questions even the stupid ones. Not once was I pushed off to an FAQ or a link to go find the answers on my own. ShipMonk is not just a fulfillment house; they are an addition to your business team. So if you're on the fence and searching through reviews to make sure you're making the right decision like I was, trust these are the guys you've been looking for.

June 23, 2021

We moved to Shipmonk due the increase in volume that we were doing along with the analytics they have to offer. The communication has been well with Michaela, Kerry, and Carmen and they are always happy to help. There is a lot of self education with the software but it is typically user friendly. They were able to get 7000 orders our in 2 days for us. The only charge that is difficult to track is the additional surcharges, residential delivery fee, and fuel surcharges. These sometimes add up but they are always happy to talk it through. Very pleased thus far!

June 18, 2021

Shipmonk is so helpful, quick, and efficient! Their customer service is some of the best we have ever dealt with and they really are sure to treat your business as a partnership. 10/10 would recommend Shipmonk!

June 17, 2021

We love doing business with Shipmonk! Their customer service is extremely helpful and friendly. We love how efficient and streamlined their system is.

June 16, 2021

We have been using Shipmonk on our new website (a few months now) with great results. The customer service is outstanding, especially for people who don't have too much experience dealing with 3rd party fulfillers. Their platform is a bit complex, but there are plenty of resources that explain everything and the support team is always helpful in smoothing out any issues quickly and patiently explaining how to properly use the tool over the phone or email. I also really like the reporting (both for orders/fulfillment as well as costs to us) and simple pricing model, which has been exactly in line with what they showed me during the sales pitch. Couldn't be happier thus far!

June 16, 2021

We used another 3PL that had confusing pricing - with Shipmonk they are upfront and easy to understand. After a six month trial, we just added another brand to their platform ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!

June 16, 2021

The best 3pl for Shopify brands. ShipMonk has it all -- easy integration with Shopify, a robust feature set, an amazing support team, and warehouses that can get 99%+ of orders out the door same or next business day, even during spikes in demand. They also have the flexibility to offer custom services like kitting. Since they own and operate their own warehouses, your support representative can walk onto the warehouse floor anytime to take pictures or assess product quality. They're as close as you'll get to physically owning and operating your own warehouses.

June 15, 2021

ShipMonk has an extremely easy integration system that allowed for quick and seamless inventory and shipping integration. They have been extremely responsive when contacting them, I am very pleased with the app and services provided.

May 11, 2023

I've worked with Shipmonk for over 3 years now . We switched over during peak season which could have been a total mess. Integration was smooth and painless. Ever since then, we love how responsive they are with any issues that rise up. We identify, locate the root cause, fix and move on. We have dedicated happiness engineer who is assisting us in all aspect and giving best top notch customer experience. we love the services of shipmonk.

June 14, 2021

We came to ShipMonk after pretty terrible experiences with other 3PLs and they were a very welcome relief. We came to them because of their pricing but stayed because of their great customer service (just renewed our contract!). Their back-end software is also very intuitive and easy to use. Since we started working with them we have grown more than 4x and they have been able to keep up with this growth seamlessly.

June 14, 2021

An amazing user friendly platform! The service is excellent and I can always trust Shipmonk to get the job done.

June 12, 2021

Love Shipmonk! Fulfilling orders is seamless; my customers are super satisfied, and the interface is a breeze. I can see my entire shipping ecosystem at once. :)

June 12, 2021

Realm <3's Shipmonk so much!! Our previous fulfillment partner was a nightmare — orders misplaced, inventory lost and hidden fees. Shipmonk is honest, efficient, reliable and super easy to use!! Happy customers for several years and more to come as we grow.

June 10, 2021

Love Shipmonk! Previously it was a nightmare doing fulfillment in-house. Shipmonk made it possible to scale our sales effortlessly.