Many many many things, least of which is that it's not programmable. We can't set items that can go in flat rate boxes. We can't have "Free Shipping*" shipping, which is free shipping in the US and the equivalent discount in other countries, and other programmable shipping rates.

For that you don't even need their rate APIs. All your rates are flatrates which you can simply set?

APIs for building your own shipping system are actually coming some time next year but as you said, it's all about free shipping.

You're right in that I don't need a rate API, but Shopify needs a shipping API. Something where I can say "6 shirt or 4 shirts and a jacket is flat rate, but 2 shirts and a poster is not because of the tube"

Why does Shopify charge a % off each transaction... when they are not the payment proccessor or gateway or issuing bank or aggregator??

we don't. It's capped at $169 a month which is nothing given what Shopify does. There is a transaction charge on the lower plans but this may change.

Hi Xal, I'm on your site right now and it says you charge a transaction fee. http://imgur.com/eXbZp - So essentially I'm getting dinged ~2.9% from Stripe and another 2% + software fees from Shopify... effective transaction fee ~5%.

Cant wait till internet tax + state tax takes effect. :)

His point is that you make it seem like there is no choice but to pay a fee. As your own screenshot shows, this is not the case, the premium plan offered for $179/mo charges no transaction fee. The cheaper ones do because, duh, they have to pay their bills one way or the other. The exercise is left to the reader as to which plan makes the most sense economically for your company based on the amount of business you're doing. But you're guaranteed to never be paying more than $179/mo in transaction fees unless you suck at picking the right plan (and I assume they're easy to switch between).

That's what he said - there is a transaction fee on the lower plans, but when you reach $179 it'd be cheaper to upgrade to the unlimited plan which has no transaction fee.

I love it when a CEO participates in online discussions as it is the sign a company that cares. Just one thing about your post... It sounds really defensive. Maybe just me, but all the good will of participating in the conversation was lost. Maybe a "Hi, I'm CEO and love getting feedback. What's wrong with our USPS Calculator?". :)

FWIW, I didn't get any sense of defensiveness from the question - just a direct, succinct, and honest question.

Yes, I acknowledge it could be a cultural thing or just me that saw it that way.

Hehe, well I'm German. Terseness is somehow build in my firmware. Fair feedback though. Thank you!

Ha, I feel like I'm in a Reddit thread. Ask the man anything!

I'm a happy customer, a shopify partner, and a developer on your platform. Thank you for an excellent experience in every possible way.