

Tell HN: Interesting new startup - PackageFox - ramanujam
http://packagefox.com/

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rlpb
I wonder about the business model. This isn't win-win - the courier companies
lose. It would be better for them if you didn't exist. Presumably they remain
competitive by passing the savings from unclaimed losses on to their customers
in their pricing. So the more successful you are, the worse it is for their
margins and/or for general courier pricing; yet your income relies on their
existence and the current difficulty of getting a claim through.

Will this cause you problems? Will your success cause the pain that you are
solving to disappear, thus putting you out of business? Do you have
arrangements with them, and permission to scrape their site / use their API on
your customers' behalf?

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dh
The shipping audit industry has been around for years, we have just applied
modern day technology and automation to an industry that has been all manual.
The shipping industry is measured in billions of $ each year, so if we get
that big we will figure something out.

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tmccain
I am a grasshopper customer and met Hauser a few years ago. That guy is the
real deal. If he is involved in this, then sign me up. The grasshopper service
is great and Hauser is incredible. FedEx and UPS guaranty on-time delivery but
they make it nearly impossible to actually get a refund -- their guaranty is a
bit of an overstatement. If PackageFox can make this process easier and do the
work to recover $$, then I don't know why eeveryone wouldn't sign up.

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ecaroth
Sounds pretty cool... not sure about the 50% cut of refunds though! Sure, it
might not add up to a lot in the long run, especially if you don't have too
many late packages. But at first glance, seeing that they take 50% of the
money they claim they help you earn would be a INSTANT turn-off for me,
regardless of how the numbers actually add up.

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dh
Very fair point, we feel like the amount is fair for the work we do and it is
free money. What number would make you signup and feel good about it?

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ecaroth
If you believe that 50% of the cut is a fair cut, you should add a little more
detail about what exactly you are doing to justify this. Maybe mention how
complicated the process is to handle on your own, how with many shipments you
may never notice that some arrive late (and you get $0 back), and how much
time you free up for the customer...

~~~
dh
Great point, we will add more information and stats about the work. A good
number might be the % of packages that are late and then rejected by FedEx for
one reason or another and the work that goes into that. Thanks.

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ramanujam
David Hauser, Co-Founder of Chargify and Grasshopper is listed as one of the
two founders of PackageFox. This might be super beneficial for ecommerce
startups if the service works the way it is stated.

