Interview with Robert Matthams from Shiply
Aug-2010
We all know that picking up, or delivering larger items on eBay can be a pain. Â Shiply is a service which aims to make this process painless. Â I caught with with Robert Matthams the CEO.
Shiply has been likened to eBay but moving stuff. Â Everyday people list items they need to move on the site for free, and then get bids from over 16,000 transport companies who are already making similar journeys. Â The end result is fewer empty lorries and more happy customers saving up to 75% on their deliveries.
We’ve also found there is a lot of interest from eBay users, with around 40% of all deliveries being eBay items, typically “local collect†goods.
Yes, Shiply now attracts a new quote request every 40 seconds on the site.
We do now have some competition in the UK, as we had expected when we launched.  Yes, our core market is large, bulky and heavy items or the “big and ugly†as it’s known in the industry.  These types of “difficult†items have historically always been expensive to move, but with Shiply, we’ve made the possibility of moving these larger items easier, cheaper and greener.  People are moving everything from small pieces of furniture, to cars, house removals and even super yachts!  To date, over 250,000 items have been listed to move.
Obviously we will continue to expand on our success here in the UK, but we also have other territories which we are entering into. Â Shiply Germany for example launched last year and our Italian, French, Spanish & Dutch sites have now also gone live.
Wow that a new news to me! Even i too had many barriers in transporting the good, I shall give it a shot with Shiply. Thanks for sharing useful information with us.
Thanks for providing us a solution on reducing our shipping cost.
uShip and Shiply Announce Settlement of Their Legal Dispute
LONDON, February 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — uShip, Shiply and Robert Matthams today 24th February 2011 jointly announced a settlement regarding uShip's claims of trademark and copyright infringement brought in the High Court in London. As part of the settlement, Shiply has agreed to redesign its web site, and pay an amount in compensation to uShip.
“We have already redesigned our website, and have agreed to implement further changes to our logo and other element at issue. We hope that it will remove any chance of association between uShip and Shiply for customers, transporters and the community,” said Mr Matthams, who is Shiply's managing director.
Hidden fees and they retain a deposit that they state is for the courier. Unfortunately the courier never sees this money and neither does the customer.
NeedsToBeSaid post is part of a wider problem with the company.
such a rip-off, fee was 20% (TWENTYPERCENT) of the bid price hidden to the very end of the transaction when already charged on credit card! very clever indeed!
Shiply is now starting to rip people off. Not only do you have to pay percentage as a deposit which they claim goes to the courier, but in reality Shiply keep in the form of a fee for the courier using the site, they now want nearly another £10 for a “service fee”
Funny how Robert Matthams took all the credit for coming up with the idea, just search out some early press releases from him – pity uShip had already been doing it in the US long before Mr Matthams….
I think the idea of ebay for couriers and delivery companies is a great one however it seems from all these reports that they are also becoming like ebay and ripping their customers off, im sure there are suitable alternatives out there for people who want this service without hidden fees!!
LONDON, February 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — uShip, Shiply and Robert
Matthams today 24th February 2011 jointly announced a settlement
regarding uShip's claims of trademark and copyright infringement brought
in the High Court in London. As part of the settlement, Shiply has
agreed to redesign its web site, and pay an amount in compensation to
uShip.
“We have already redesigned our website, and have agreed
to implement further changes to our logo and other element at issue. We
hope that it will remove any chance of association between uShip and
Shiply for customers, transporters and the community,” said Mr Matthams,
who is Shiply's managing director.
shiply.Hidden fees for the customer .the customer paid deposit of £17.82 + fee of 19.99. this all go to shiply .unforunately the courier never sees this money so shilpy make all this money.
Firstly I would like to say I think the concept of shiply is a great idea.
However I do think its time the transport providers stopped cutting each others throats for work.
When will they get it into their heads that what they are doing is setting a precedence for the prices in this industry and people have to learn that if you want things moving from one place to another then it costs money. The industry has already taken a battering with the rising cost of fuel and now the general publig are expecting us to run round the country for little or no profit. I am sure this can’t go on