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Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/test-your-page-without-javascript/?utm_source=rss

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Original Source: https://smashingmagazine.com/2025/09/designing-tv-principles-patterns-practical-guidance/

Having covered the developmental history and legacy of TV in Part 1, let’s now delve into more practical matters. As a quick reminder, the “10-foot experience” and its reliance on the six core buttons of any remote form the basis of our efforts, and as you’ll see, most principles outlined simply reinforce the unshakeable foundations.

In this article, we’ll sift through the systems, account for layout constraints, and distill the guidelines to understand the essence of TV interfaces. Once we’ve collected all the main ingredients, we’ll see what we can do to elevate these inherently simplistic experiences.

Let’s dig in, and let’s get practical!

The Systems

When it comes to hardware, TVs and set-top boxes are usually a few generations behind phones and computers. Their components are made to run lightweight systems optimised for viewing, energy efficiency, and longevity. Yet even within these constraints, different platforms offer varying performance profiles, conventions, and price points.

Some notable platforms/systems of today are:

Roku, the most affordable and popular, but severely bottlenecked by weak hardware.
WebOS, most common on LG devices, relies on web standards and runs well on modest hardware.
Android TV, considered very flexible and customisable, but relatively demanding hardware-wise.
Amazon Fire, based on Android but with a separate ecosystem. It offers great smooth performance, but is slightly more limited than stock Android.
tvOS, by Apple, offering a high-end experience followed by a high-end price with extremely low customizability.

Despite their differences, all of the platforms above share something in common, and by now you’ve probably guessed that it has to do with the remote. Let’s take a closer look:

If these remotes were stripped down to just the D-pad, OK, and BACK buttons, they would still be capable of successfully navigating any TV interface. It is this shared control scheme that allows for the agnostic approach of this article with broadly applicable guidelines, regardless of the manufacturer.

Having already discussed the TV remote in detail in Part 1, let’s turn to the second part of the equation: the TV screen, its layout, and the fundamental building blocks of TV-bound experiences.

TV Design Fundamentals
The Screen

With almost one hundred years of legacy, TV has accumulated quite some baggage. One recurring topic in modern articles on TV design is the concept of “overscan” — a legacy concept from the era of cathode ray tube (CRT) screens. Back then, the lack of standards in production meant that television sets would often crop the projected image at its edges. To address this inconsistency, broadcasters created guidelines to keep important content from being cut off.

While overscan gets mentioned occasionally, we should call it what it really is — a thing of the past. Modern panels display content with greater precision, making thinking in terms of title and action safe areas rather archaic. Today, we can simply consider the margins and get the same results.

Google calls for a 5% margin layout and Apple advises a 60-point margin top and bottom, and 80 points on the sides in their Layout guidelines. The standard is not exactly clear, but the takeaway is simple: leave some breathing room between screen edge and content, like you would in any thoughtful layout.

Having left some baggage behind, we can start considering what to put within and outside the defined bounds.

The Layout

Considering the device is made for content consumption, streaming apps such as Netflix naturally come to mind. Broadly speaking, all these interfaces share a common layout structure where a vast collection of content is laid out in a simple grid.

These horizontally scrolling groups (sometimes referred to as “shelves”) resemble rows of a bookcase. Typically, they’ll contain dozens of items that don’t fit into the initial “fold”, so we’ll make sure the last visible item “peeks” from the edge, subtly indicating to the viewer there’s more content available if they continue scrolling.

If we were to define a standard 12-column layout grid, with a 2-column-wide item, we’d end up with something like this:

As you can see, the last item falls outside the “safe” zone.

Tip: A useful trick I discovered when designing TV interfaces was to utilise an odd number of columns. This allows the last item to fall within the defined margins and be more prominent while having little effect on the entire layout. We’ve concluded that overscan is not a prominent issue these days, yet an additional column in the layout helps completely circumvent it. Food for thought!

Typography

TV design requires us to practice restraint, and this becomes very apparent when working with type. All good typography practices apply to TV design too, but I’d like to point out two specific takeaways.

First, accounting for the distance, everything (including type) needs to scale up. Where 16–18px might suffice for web baseline text, 24px should be your starting point on TV, with the rest of the scale increasing proportionally.

“Typography can become especially tricky in 10-ft experiences. When in doubt, go larger.”

— Molly Lafferty (Marvel Blog)

With that in mind, the second piece of advice would be to start with a small 5–6 size scale and adjust if necessary. The simplicity of a TV experience can, and should, be reflected in the typography itself, and while small, such a scale will do all the “heavy lifting” if set correctly.

What you see in the example above is a scale I reduced from Google and Apple guidelines, with a few size adjustments. Simple as it is, this scale served me well for years, and I have no doubt it could do the same for you.

Freebie

If you’d like to use my basic reduced type scale Figma design file for kicking off your own TV project, feel free to do so!

Color

Imagine watching TV at night with the device being the only source of light in the room. You open up the app drawer and select a new streaming app; it loads into a pretty splash screen, and — bam! — a bright interface opens up, which, amplified by the dark surroundings, blinds you for a fraction of a second. That right there is our main consideration when using color on TV.

Built for cinematic experiences and often used in dimly lit environments, TVs lend themselves perfectly to darker and more subdued interfaces. Bright colours, especially pure white (#ffffff), will translate to maximum luminance and may be straining on the eyes. As a general principle, you should rely on a more muted color palette. Slightly tinting brighter elements with your brand color, or undertones of yellow to imitate natural light, will produce less visually unsettling results.

Finally, without a pointer or touch capabilities, it’s crucial to clearly highlight interactive elements. While using bright colors as backdrops may be overwhelming, using them sparingly to highlight element states in a highly contrasting way will work perfectly.

A focus state is the underlying principle of TV navigation. Most commonly, it relies on creating high contrast between the focused and unfocused elements. (Large preview)

This highlighting of UI elements is what TV leans on heavily — and it is what we’ll discuss next.

Focus

In Part 1, we have covered how interacting through a remote implies a certain detachment from the interface, mandating reliance on a focus state to carry the burden of TV interaction. This is done by visually accenting elements to anchor the user’s eyes and map any subsequent movement within the interface.

If you have ever written HTML/CSS, you might recall the use of the :focus CSS pseudo-class. While it’s primarily an accessibility feature on the web, it’s the core of interaction on TV, with more flexibility added in the form of two additional directions thanks to a dedicated D-pad.

Focus Styles

There are a few standard ways to style a focus state. Firstly, there’s scaling — enlarging the focused element, which creates the illusion of depth by moving it closer to the viewer.

Example of scaling elements on focus. This is especially common in cases where only images are used for focusable elements. (Large preview)

Another common approach is to invert background and text colors.

Color inversion on focus, common for highlighting cards. (Large preview)

Finally, a border may be added around the highlighted element.

Example of border highlights on focus. (Large preview)

These styles, used independently or in various combinations, appear in all TV interfaces. While execution may be constrained by the specific system, the purpose remains the same: clear and intuitive feedback, even from across the room.

The three basic styles can be combined to produce more focus state variants. (Large preview)

Having set the foundations of interaction, layout, and movement, we can start building on top of them. The next chapter will cover the most common elements of a TV interface, their variations, and a few tips and tricks for button-bound navigation.

Common TV UI Components

Nowadays, the core user journey on television revolves around browsing (or searching through) a content library, selecting an item, and opening a dedicated screen to watch or listen.

This translates into a few fundamental screens:

Library (or Home) for content browsing,
Search for specific queries, and
A player screen focused on content playback.

These screens are built with a handful of components optimized for the 10-foot experience, and while they are often found on other platforms too, it’s worth examining how they differ on TV.

Menus

Appearing as a horizontal bar along the top edge of the screen, or as a vertical sidebar, the menu helps move between the different screens of an app. While its orientation mostly depends on the specific system, it does seem TV favors the side menu a bit more.

Both menu types share a common issue: the farther the user navigates away from the menu (vertically, toward the bottom for top-bars; and horizontally, toward the right for sidebars), the more button presses are required to get back to it. Fortunately, usually a Back button shortcut is added to allow for immediate menu focus, which greatly improves usability.

16:9 posters abide by the same principles but with a horizontal orientation. They are often paired with text labels, which effectively turn them into cards, commonly seen on platforms like YouTube. In the absence of dedicated poster art, they show stills or playback from the videos, matching the aspect ratio of the media itself.

1:1 posters are often found in music apps like Spotify, their shape reminiscent of album art and vinyl sleeves. These squares often get used in other instances, like representing channel links or profile tiles, giving more visual variety to the interface.

All of the above can co-exist within a single app, allowing for richer interfaces and breaking up otherwise uniform content libraries.

And speaking of breaking up content, let’s see what we can do with spotlights!

Spotlights

Typically taking up the entire width of the screen, these eye-catching components will highlight a new feature or a promoted piece of media. In a sea of uniform shelves, they can be placed strategically to introduce aesthetic diversity and disrupt the monotony.

A spotlight can be a focusable element by itself, or it could expose several actions thanks to its generous space. In my ventures into TV design, I relied on a few different spotlight sizes, which allowed me to place multiples into a single row, all with the purpose of highlighting different aspects of the app, without breaking the form to which viewers were used.

Posters, cards, and spotlights shape the bulk of the visual experience and content presentation, but viewers still need a way to find specific titles. Let’s see how search and input are handled on TV.

Search And Entering Text

Manually browsing through content libraries can yield results, but having the ability to search will speed things up — though not without some hiccups.

TVs allow for text input in the form of on-screen keyboards, similar to the ones found in modern smartphones. However, inputting text with a remote control is quite inefficient given the restrictiveness of its control scheme. For example, typing “hey there” on a mobile keyboard requires 9 keystrokes, but about 38 on a TV (!) due to the movement between characters and their selection.

Typing with a D-pad may be an arduous task, but at the same time, having the ability to search is unquestionably useful.

Luckily for us, keyboards are accounted for in all systems and usually come in two varieties. We’ve got the grid layouts used by most platforms and a horizontal layout in support of the touch-enabled and gesture-based controls on tvOS. Swiping between characters is significantly faster, but this is yet another pattern that can only be enhanced, not replaced.

Modernization has made things significantly easier, with search autocomplete suggestions, device pairing, voice controls, and remotes with physical keyboards, but on-screen keyboards will likely remain a necessary fallback for quite a while. And no matter how cumbersome this fallback may be, we as designers need to consider it when building for TV.

Players And Progress Bars

While all the different sections of a TV app serve a purpose, the Player takes center stage. It’s where all the roads eventually lead to, and where viewers will spend the most time. It’s also one of the rare instances where focus gets lost, allowing for the interface to get out of the way of enjoying a piece of content.

Arguably, players are the most complex features of TV apps, compacting all the different functionalities into a single screen. Take YouTube, for example, its player doesn’t just handle expected playback controls but also supports content browsing, searching, reading comments, reacting, and navigating to channels, all within a single screen.

Compared to YouTube, Netflix offers a very lightweight experience guided by the nature of the app.

Still, every player has a basic set of controls, the foundation of which is the progress bar.

The progress bar UI element serves as a visual indicator for content duration. During interaction, focus doesn’t get placed on the bar itself, but on a movable knob known as the “scrubber.” It is by moving the scrubber left and right, or stopping it in its tracks, that we can control playback.

Another indirect method of invoking the progress bar is with the good old Play and Pause buttons. Rooted in the mechanical era of tape players, the universally understood triangle and two vertical bars are as integral to the TV legacy as the D-pad. No matter how minimalist and sleek the modern player interface may be, these symbols remain a staple of the viewing experience.

The presence of a scrubber may also indicate the type of content. Video on demand allows for the full set of playback controls, while live streams (unless DVR is involved) will do away with the scrubber since viewers won’t be able to rewind or fast-forward.

Earlier iterations of progress bars often came bundled with a set of playback control buttons, but as viewers got used to the tools available, these controls often got consolidated into the progress bar and scrubber themselves.

Bringing It All Together

With the building blocks out of the box, we’ve got everything necessary for a basic but functional TV app. Just as the six core buttons make remote navigation possible, the components and principles outlined above help guide purposeful TV design. The more context you bring, the more you’ll be able to expand and combine these basic principles, creating an experience unique to your needs.

Before we wrap things up, I’d like to share a few tips and tricks I discovered along the way — tips and tricks which I wish I had known from the start. Regardless of how simple or complex your idea may be, these may serve you as useful tools to help add depth, polish, and finesse to any TV experience.

Thinking Beyond The Basics

Like any platform, TV has a set of constraints that we abide by when designing. But sometimes these norms are applied without question, making the already limited capabilities feel even more restraining. Below are a handful of less obvious ideas that can help you design more thoughtfully and flexibly for the big screen.

Long Press

Most modern remotes support press-and-hold gestures as a subtle way to enhance the functionality, especially on remotes with fewer buttons available.

For example, holding directional buttons when browsing content speeds up scrolling, while holding Left/Right during playback speeds up timeline seeking. In many apps, a single press of the OK button opens a video, but holding it for longer opens a contextual menu with additional actions.

With limited input, context becomes a powerful tool. It not only declutters the interface to allow for more focus on specific tasks, but also enables the same set of buttons to trigger different actions based on the viewer’s location within an app.

Another great example is YouTube’s scrubber interaction. Once the scrubber is moved, every other UI element fades. This cleans up the viewer’s working area, so to speak, narrowing the interface to a single task. In this state — and only in this state — pressing Up one more time moves away from scrubbing and into browsing by chapter.

This is such an elegant example of expanding restraint, and adding more only when necessary. I hope it inspires similar interactions in your TV app designs.

Efficient Movement On TV

At its best, every action on TV “costs” at least one click. There’s no such thing as aimless cursor movement — if you want to move, you must press a button. We’ve seen how cumbersome it can be inside a keyboard, but there’s also something we can learn about efficient movement in these restrained circumstances.

Going back to the Homescreen, we can note that vertical and horizontal movement serve two distinct roles. Vertical movement switches between groups, while horizontal movement switches items within these groups. No matter how far you’ve gone inside a group, a single vertical click will move you into another.

Every step on TV “costs” an action, so we might as well optimize movement. (Large preview)

This subtle difference — two axes with separate roles — is the most efficient way of moving in a TV interface. Reversing the pattern: horizontal to switch groups, and vertical to drill down, will work like a charm as long as you keep the role of each axis well defined.

Properly applied in a vertical layout, the principles of optimal movement remain the same. (Large preview)

Quietly brilliant and easy to overlook, this pattern powers almost every step of the TV experience. Remember it, and use it well.

Thinking Beyond JPGs

After covering in detail many of the technicalities, let’s finish with some visual polish.

Most TV interfaces are driven by tightly packed rows of cover and poster art. While often beautifully designed, this type of content and layouts leave little room for visual flair. For years, the flat JPG, with its small file size, has been a go-to format, though contemporary alternatives like WebP are slowly taking its place.

Meanwhile, we can rely on the tried and tested PNG to give a bit more shine to our TV interfaces. The simple fact that it supports transparency can help the often-rigid UIs feel more sophisticated. Used strategically and paired with simple focus effects such as background color changes, PNGs can bring subtle moments of delight to the interface.

Having a transparent background blends well with surface color changes common in TV interfaces. (Large preview)

And don’t forget, transparency doesn’t have to mean that there shouldn’t be any background at all. (Large preview)

Moreover, if transformations like scaling and rotating are supported, you can really make those rectangular shapes come alive with layering multiple assets.

Combining multiple images along with a background color change can liven up certain sections. (Large preview)

As you probably understand by now, these little touches of finesse don’t go out of bounds of possibility. They simply find more room to breathe within it. But with such limited capabilities, it’s best to learn all the different tricks that can help make your TV experiences stand out.

Closing Thoughts

Rooted in legacy, with a limited control scheme and a rather “shallow” interface, TV design reminds us to do the best with what we have at our disposal. The restraints I outlined are not meant to induce claustrophobia and make you feel limited in your design choices, but rather to serve you as guides. It is by accepting that fact that we can find freedom and new avenues to explore.

This two-part series of articles, just like my experience designing for TV, was not about reinventing the wheel with radical ideas. It was about understanding its nuances and contributing to what’s already there with my personal touch.

If you find yourself working in this design field, I hope my guide will serve as a warm welcome and will help you do your finest work. And if you have any questions, do leave a comment, and I will do my best to reply and help.

Good luck!

Further Reading

“Design for TV,” by Android Developers
Great TV design is all about putting content front and center. It’s about creating an interface that’s easier to use and navigate, even from a distance. It’s about making it easier to find the content you love, and to enjoy it in the best possible quality.
“TV Guidelines: A quick kick-off on designing for Television Experiences,” by Andrea Pacheco
Just like designing a mobile app, designing a TV application can be a fun and complex thing to do, due to the numerous guidelines and best practices to follow. Below, I have listed the main best practices to keep in mind when designing an app for a 10-foot screen.
“Designing for Television – TV Ui design,” by Molly Lafferty
We’re no longer limited to a remote and cable box to control our TVs; we’re using Smart TVs, or streaming from set-top boxes like Roku and Apple TV, or using video game consoles like Xbox and PlayStation. And each of these devices allows a user interface that’s much more powerful than your old-fashioned on-screen guide.
“Rethinking User Interface Design for the TV Platform,” by Pascal Potvin
Designing for television has become part of the continuum of devices that require a rethink of how we approach user interfaces and user experiences.
“Typography for TV,” by Android Developers
As television screens are typically viewed from a distance, interfaces that use larger typography are more legible and comfortable for users. TV Design’s default type scale includes contrasting and flexible type styles to support a wide range of use cases.
“Typography,” by Apple Developer docs
Your typographic choices can help you display legible text, convey an information hierarchy, communicate important content, and express your brand or style.
“Color on TV,” by Android Developers
Color on TV design can inspire, set the mood, and even drive users to make decisions. It’s a powerful and tangible element that users notice first. As a rich way to connect with a wide audience, it’s no wonder color is an important step in crafting a high-quality TV interface.
“Designing for Television — TV UI Design,” by Molly Lafferty (Marvel Blog)
Today, we’re no longer limited to a remote and cable box to control our TVs; we’re using Smart TVs, or streaming from set-top boxes like Roku and Apple TV, or using video game consoles like Xbox and PlayStation. And each of these devices allows a user interface that’s much more powerful than your old-fashioned on-screen guide.

Original Source: https://ecommerce-platforms.com/articles/easyship-vs-shipstation

When it comes to eCommerce fulfillment, shipping software isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a core part of your operational engine.

Whether you’re fulfilling international orders or automating domestic shipments, the platform you choose can affect customer experience, costs, and scalability.

Easyship and ShipStation are two of the top-rated tools in this space, but which one is the better fit for your store?

I’ve tested both platforms extensively across pricing, international capabilities, automation, integrations, and ease of use. Here’s what I found.

Easyship vs ShipStation: Quick Verdict

ShipStation – Best for high-volume domestic shipping, warehouse automation, and advanced workflows
Easyship – Best for international shipping, tax and duty calculations, and global courier access

In this review, I’ll take a closer look at how Easyship and ShipStation stack up across key areas like automation, pricing, carrier support, and returns.

Quick Comparison: Easyship vs ShipStation

Here’s a quick side-by-side overview of the two platforms:

FeatureEasyshipShipStationBest ForInternational sellersHigh-volume US-based operationsStarting PriceFree plan available$9.99/monthCarrier Support250+ global couriers50+ couriers (mostly US-based)Own Carrier AccountsNot supportedFully supportedTax & Duty EstimatesYes (automated at checkout)No (manual entry required)Customs DocumentationAuto-generatedManual or 3rd-partyLabel PrintingYesYes (batch & automated)Automation RulesBasicAdvancedReturns PortalCustomizableBuilt-inIntegrations100+ (Shopify, Woo, etc.)300+ (incl. ERPs, marketplaces)SupportEmail, chatPhone, chat, email

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Pricing: It’s a Close Match, But It Depends on Your Use Case

Both platforms are priced competitively, but how you pay (and what you get) differs quite a bit.

Easyship Pricing

Easyship offers a freemium model, making it easy to get started.

Free – $0/month
For up to 50 shipments/month and one store integration

Plus – $29/month
Up to 500 shipments, branded tracking, and automation

Premier – $69/month
For stores shipping 2,500+ packages monthly

Enterprise – Custom pricing

What I liked about Easyship is that it includes full access to its courier discounts, even on the free plan. You don’t need to bring your own carrier accounts, and you won’t pay extra fees per shipment outside of the courier charges.

ShipStation Pricing

ShipStation charges based on shipment volume and user count.

Starter – $9.99/month
50 shipments/month, 1 user

Bronze – $29.99/month
500 shipments, 1 user

Silver – $59.99/month
1,500 shipments, 2 users

Gold – $99.99/month
3,000 shipments, 3 users

Enterprise – $159.99+/month
6,000+ shipments, up to 10 users

You also get access to discounted rates through ShipStation or can use your own accounts with UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS.

The Verdict:
If you’re shipping internationally and want built-in rates, Easyship gives you more value out of the box.

If you’ve already negotiated rates and ship high volumes domestically, ShipStation could save you more in the long run.

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Courier Support and Carrier Flexibility: Easyship wins for international shipping

This is where the two platforms start to diverge.

Easyship Courier Support

Over 250 global couriers

Rates from major providers like DHL, UPS, Aramex, SF Express, Australia Post, and regional carriers

Rates are pre-negotiated by Easyship

You cannot use your own rates

In practice, this setup works best for sellers who want a plug-and-play approach to fulfillment. You don’t need to negotiate your own deals, which is a major plus if you’re just getting started or you’re expanding into new countries.

The downside is that if you already have better rates with a courier, there’s no way to plug them into Easyship. You’re locked into using Easyship’s marketplace pricing, which might not be ideal for more experienced merchants.

ShipStation Courier Support

50+ couriers (primarily US-focused)

Supports all major US carriers: USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL

You can use your own carrier accounts

Multi-warehouse support for logistics teams

ShipStation gives you the flexibility to choose between using your own accounts or leveraging their discounted rates. That freedom can lead to significant savings for high-volume shippers with good negotiated deals.

It also makes the platform a better fit for fulfillment networks, 3PLs, or businesses with multiple operational hubs that need to control their logistics stack down to the courier level.

The Verdict:
Easyship wins for international shipping, but if you already have great rates and want to stick with your own providers, ShipStation gives you that flexibility.

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Automation and Workflow Rules: ShipStation wins (for scale)

Shipping automation saves hours—especially when dealing with thousands of orders. Let’s break down what each platform offers.

Easyship Automation

Basic automation rules (e.g., choose courier based on delivery zone or weight)

Default shipping options at checkout

Auto-generates customs forms

Auto-selects lowest cost or fastest courier

While helpful for small teams, automation is relatively limited compared to ShipStation. It’s designed to simplify the basics—ideal if your operations aren’t very complex or if you’re a solo founder.

That said, as your fulfillment needs grow, you may find Easyship’s automation lacking the nuance required for more granular workflows like splitting orders, tagging customers, or prioritizing certain couriers under specific conditions.

ShipStation Automation

Deep automation engine

Auto-select carriers based on SKU, customer location, or shipping service

Set label printing triggers

Automate warehouse routing

Integrates with inventory tools for syncing stock levels

ShipStation is built for scale. The automation features allow you to create conditional workflows that can take actions based on dozens of data points—like weight, value, order age, or tag.

This level of customization is especially helpful when managing multiple sales channels, warehouses, or international shipments with specific handling needs.

The Verdict:
For serious volume and hands-off workflows, ShipStation’s automation is in a different league. You’ll get full control over how orders are handled.

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Tax, Duties, and Customs: Easyship Wins Big

If you sell internationally, this section matters—a lot.

Easyship

Automatically calculates taxes and duties at checkout

Displays landed costs to customers before payment

Generates all required customs paperwork

Reduces chargebacks and failed deliveries due to unpaid taxes

These features make Easyship ideal for cross-border selling. Customers get full visibility on what they’ll pay—no surprises when their package arrives.

This reduces failed deliveries and increases trust, especially in markets like Canada, the UK, and the EU, where VAT and import taxes can get expensive fast.

ShipStation

Limited support for international tax

Requires manual customs setup or third-party tools

No checkout tax estimation

With ShipStation, international sellers have to handle much of the customs and tax management outside the platform.

That could mean using third-party tax calculators, entering customs values manually, or risking under-declared shipments that get delayed or returned. For high-volume global sellers, this setup becomes inefficient fast.

The Verdict:
If you sell outside the US, Easyship is the clear winner here.

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Returns and Customer Experience: ShipStation wins

A streamlined returns process is essential for customer satisfaction.

Easyship Returns

Customers can initiate returns via a branded portal

Store owners approve or reject returns before label generation

Return labels use Easyship’s carrier rates

Tracking included on all shipments

The returns portal is one of Easyship’s most underrated features. It’s clean, customizable, and simple for customers to use. You can even localize the experience based on where your customers are located.

However, if you’re handling high return volumes or need deep reporting on return reasons and resolutions, you may still find yourself limited without third-party tools.

ShipStation Returns

Built-in return labels

Rules-based automation for accepting or rejecting returns

Return status tracking within your dashboard

Easy to handle in bulk across multiple warehouses

ShipStation is designed for operational teams. The return management tools help your staff process returns quickly and at scale, especially when handling multiple SKUs, fulfillment centers, or customer support requests.

You can build return workflows that are as automated as your outbound shipping rules.

The Verdict:
Both are solid, but ShipStation offers better control for large-scale returns, especially if you’re using multiple warehouses.

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Integration and Platform Support: ShipStation wins again

Whether you’re on Shopify or WooCommerce, both tools offer good support—but ShipStation goes further.

Easyship Integrations

100+ platforms including:

Shopify

BigCommerce

WooCommerce

Magento

Kickstarter

Integrates with marketplaces like eBay, Etsy, and Amazon

Basic CRM integrations

Easyship’s integration catalog covers most common eCommerce platforms and marketplaces. It’s more than enough for small to mid-size sellers.

But when it comes to advanced use cases—like syncing with inventory software, ERPs, or accounting platforms—you’re likely to hit some roadblocks unless you’re willing to work with third-party middleware like Zapier or API connectors.

ShipStation Integrations

Over 300+ integrations:

All major shopping carts and marketplaces

Amazon, eBay, Walmart

ERPs like NetSuite and Brightpearl

Accounting platforms like QuickBooks

ShipStation is built for sellers who operate across multiple systems.

Its extensive catalog makes it a go-to for businesses that rely on custom tech stacks, multi-channel operations, or 3PLs.

Whether you’re syncing with accounting tools, connecting inventory software, or managing suppliers, ShipStation has the depth to support it.

The Verdict:
If you’re working in a complex tech stack, ShipStation offers deeper integration options.

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Onboarding and Ease of Use: Easyship is quicker to launch

Easyship Onboarding

Signup takes less than 10 minutes

Plug-and-play setup with Shopify or WooCommerce

Dashboard is clean and beginner-friendly

Ideal for small teams or solo operators

The UI feels modern and well-organized. You can connect a store, set up shipping preferences, and start printing labels in under an hour.

Most users won’t need much onboarding help unless they’re configuring international tax or automating complex return workflows.

For small teams, that makes Easyship a strong entry-level choice.

ShipStation Onboarding

More setup steps required

Takes 1–2 hours to configure rules, integrations, and carriers

Best suited to sellers who understand logistics

Steeper learning curve, but more powerful long term

Expect a steeper learning curve if you’re new to shipping software.

The interface is functional, but not overly intuitive. That said, the platform’s power becomes clear once everything is configured.

For teams with operational experience or technical support, the payoff is worth it.

The Verdict:
For ease of use, Easyship is quicker to launch. For flexibility and scale, ShipStation pays off after setup.

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Case Studies and Real-World Examples

Here’s how real businesses are using these tools:

Easyship Case Study: Lexdray

Kickstarter project with international backers

Reduced delivery errors by 90%

Enabled upfront tax/duty visibility

Boosted on-time delivery by 30%

This case highlights Easyship’s strength in cross-border logistics. Lexdray had to fulfill thousands of orders in over 40 countries, and they needed a reliable way to reduce customs-related delays.

Easyship handled everything from duty estimates to customs forms, making international fulfillment seamless for a one-time campaign.

ShipStation Case Study: Fast-Growing Shopify Brand

3,000 orders/month

Cut fulfillment time by 40% using automation rules

Integrated with multiple warehouses

Saved 18 hours/week on manual tasks

This brand needed a platform that could keep up with rapid growth. They used ShipStation to route orders based on geography, set rules for shipping services, and automatically print labels across locations.

The efficiency gains weren’t just about time—they reduced errors and improved delivery times without adding headcount.

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Customer Support and Documentation: ShipStation wins

Easyship Support

Email and live chat support

Onboarding specialists for paid plans

Knowledge base and video guides

Support response times vary based on time zone

Easyship’s help center covers most common questions, and the live chat is responsive during business hours. That said, support quality can vary depending on plan level and timezone.

US-based users may occasionally encounter slower replies, especially during peak hours or holidays.

ShipStation Support

Phone, chat, and email support

Live agent access during US business hours

Priority support for enterprise clients

Help center with tutorials and user forums

ShipStation offers reliable and fast support for users in the US.

The knowledge base is extensive, and the support team is trained to help with both tech setup and shipping strategy. If your operations are time-sensitive, that responsiveness can make a big difference when you’re troubleshooting an issue.

The Verdict:
ShipStation offers more accessible and faster support, especially for US sellers.

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Final Thoughts: Which Should You Choose?

Both Easyship and ShipStation are excellent tools, but they suit very different business models.

Choose Easyship if you:

Sell internationally and need built-in support for tax, duties, and customs

Don’t have your own negotiated carrier rates

Want to offer transparent checkout costs to global customers

Run a crowdfunded or subscription-based store

Easyship is ideal for brands looking to grow across borders without dealing with the complexities of international logistics.

From customs documents to tax estimation, it takes care of the messy details so you can focus on building your brand. It’s especially useful if you’re operating lean, with minimal technical support or logistics infrastructure.

Choose ShipStation if you:

Ship high volumes domestically

Already have carrier accounts and negotiated rates

Need complex automation across multiple locations

Operate multiple warehouses or sales channels

ShipStation is designed for scale and control. If your fulfillment process involves high order volume, custom workflows, and multiple warehouses or suppliers, it’s one of the most capable tools available.

The automation engine alone can save your team hours every week, and the flexibility around carrier accounts is unmatched.

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