If there’s one thing the Internet has spawned over the years it’s a growing demand for shopping from your home. Amazon of course has to take most of the credit for this, but even so, small companies are also reaping the benefit of being able to showcase their products online to people anywhere on the planet. Of course the massive e-commerce boom has also spawned a secondary need almost as large, namely shipping. If you buy it, someone needs to transport it to you. Which kind of makes you wonder why the official postal services of the world aren’t swimming in money, doesn’t it?

Well anyway, uShip is a company which looks like it could do very nicely thank you from the e-commerce boom. It’s a typical online play, basically an online marketplace of around 30,000 small shipping companies who bid to move our stuff from place to place, all done via a simple web interface designed for Joe User. Just log on, add your item, destinations, details including size and even a photo if you want and bingo, you’ll receive a set of competing quotes from the suppliers who want to move your stuff for you.

So far so normal. What sets the uShip service apart is the level of detail you get when you use the service. Not only is the supplier bidding bit of the system extremely professionally thought out, for instance there’s a full communications suite included for anonymous discussions with potential suitors, but the addition of full feedback, star ratings, insurance and listing upgrades (you can pay extra to get your transport request more visibility) mean that you have a significantly better chance of finding the right shipper at the best price. Oh and check out the shipping price estimator. Nice.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtA4B9hFzhw

The transporters (typically smaller one man freight firms) also get benefits from the system, since they can use features like the mobile Android and IOS apps to find backhaul gigs and keep their trucks or vans full as much as possible. Overall a nice service and well executed. Oh and the service is global too, which is icing on the cake, as overseas shipment can cost lots of money if you’re not careful. Well worth bookmarking.