Blind Shipping with UPS for WooCommerce

Blind shipping, a common practice in wholesale and eCommerce, involves sending products directly from a supplier to the end customer while keeping the supplier’s identity hidden. To efficiently manage blind shipping workflows and automate the process, businesses often turn to eCommerce plugins. This knowledge-based article explores how you can streamline blind shipping operations using the WooCommerce UPS Shipping Plugin.

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What is Blind Shipping

Blind shipping is a crucial aspect of the supply chain, particularly for wholesalers, suppliers, and middlemen. It allows businesses to maintain discretion and confidentiality by concealing the true source of the products from the end customers.

In a typical case of blind shipping, businesses sell white-label products that are manufactured by one company but sold under the branding of another company. This allows businesses to sell products without investing in their own manufacturing and inventory.

Advantages of Blind Shipping

  • Improved customer satisfaction: Blind shipping can help to improve customer satisfaction by providing a seamless customer experience. The customer assumes that the order came directly from the seller, which can help to build brand loyalty.
  • Reduced costs: Blind shipping can help to reduce costs by eliminating the need for the seller to maintain their own inventory. The seller also does not need to invest in their own shipping infrastructure.
  • Increased flexibility: Blind shipping can help businesses increase their flexibility by allowing them to offer a wider range of products without having to invest in their own inventory. This can be especially beneficial for small businesses that do not have a lot of capital to invest upfront.
  • Reduced risk: Blind shipping can help to reduce risk for businesses by eliminating the need for them to store inventory. This can help to reduce the risk of product obsolescence and inventory shrinkage.

Overall, blind shipping can be a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes. It can help businesses to reduce costs, increase flexibility, reduce risk, and improve customer satisfaction.

Challenges of Blind Shipping in WooCommerce

To arrange a blind shipment, the seller needs to provide the manufacturer with the customer’s shipping information and the name and address of the seller’s business. The manufacturer will then ship the order directly to the customer, using the seller’s branding on the shipping label and packing slip.

In WooCommerce, achieving this would be very complicated and would require a lot of manual effort. Additionally, a single human error can potentially lead to unhappy customers and unwanted returns.

WooCommerce Blind Shipping with UPS

One of the easiest ways to set up blind shipping in WooCommerce is through a plugin that handles the supplier’s address and allows the supplier to print shipping labels by hiding their details. WooCommerce UPS Shipping Plugin is one such plugin that is designed to integrate seamlessly with WooCommerce and provides robust shipping management features, including blind shipping.

In order to set up blind shipping on your WooCommerce store, make sure to follow the steps below:

  • Plugin Configuration: Install the WooCommerce UPS Shipping Plugin on the supplier’s store and set the supplier’s company address as the store address in the plugin’s general settings.
shipper_address
  • Set up Shipper’s Address: Enable the option “Billing Address as Shipper Address on Label“. This option allows you to print the seller’s address on the shipping label, while the supplier will ship the product.
shipper_address_swap
  • Order Processing: The orders placed on the supplier’s store will have the seller’s address as the billing address and the address of his customer as the shipping address. Both these addresses would appear as the shipper address and shipping address on the UPS labels.
ups_seller_label

By configuring these settings, you will be able to print UPS labels directly from your WooCommerce store, effectively concealing the supplier’s identity as the shipper. The plugin will use the supplier’s UPS account settings for shipping cost calculations and pickup location while allowing for customization of return addresses.

Conclusion

Blind shipping can be a complex process, but with the right tools and configurations, it can be automated and made more efficient. The WooCommerce UPS Shipping Plugin, allows you to set up blind shipping requirements while maintaining control over shipping labels, addresses, and shipping costs. Whether you’re in a wholesale business or operate in a different eCommerce sector, it’s essential to explore and leverage the capabilities of plugins to optimize your operations.

If you’re considering implementing blind shipping in your eCommerce business, the WooCommerce UPS Shipping Plugin offers a viable solution worth exploring.