MyKickback – Fedex and UPS automated refunds | Hacker News Reader

MyKickback – Fedex and UPS automated refunds

mykickback.com

23 pointsmlrtime20 comments

About 10 years ago, I dated a woman who worked at a distillery, and they were looking for some software to automate the labeling and shipping process for their bottle and label samples. FedEx just released their API, so, I wrote them a little web based program that generated the label, and then automatically identified which packages were delivered outside of the delivery window so that they could be submitted for refund.

While FedEx had no problem refunding the shipping for the packages that were delivered outside of the window, they raised the distillery's rates dramatically (over 100%) over the next few months. At the time, UPS nor USPS would accept packages from a distillery (regardless of if they were shipping spirits or not), so, I turned off the functionality that sent the 'out of window' reports, and a few months later, the distillery's rates went back down to normal.

Would I use this today? Not at all -- FedEx is really on top of areas where they're going to be delivering late and if you have a package or packages going to that area, they're preemptively sending you "Service Alerts" letting you know that they're using the weather or other clauses from their terms of service to not honor the guarantee. I haven't shipped UPS in years due to them not wanting to pay on a warranty claim, but my guess is that UPS is probably also doing the similar type of things to their customers as well.

> but my guess is that UPS is probably also doing the similar type of things to their customers as well.

This isn't possible with UPS. They publish their regular rates. If you're a large enough shipper, you'll have a contract that explicitly defines your rates and discount.

This kind of thing is mostly useless for UPS. First, they notify you when they screw up. Second, they screw up maybe 1 out of a 1000 packages in my experience. That's a small enough number that it's absolutely worthless for a business to pursue. You're better off aggressively negotiating your rates.

Second, they screw up maybe 1 out of a 1000 packages in my experience.

I have years of data at my disposal. It's more like 2-5 packages out of 100. :-)

Refund Retriever, the company I work for, has been doing this since 2006. I haven't seen the situation you describe, but that's not to say it doesn't happen; they don't always play by their own rules.

100% is an extraordinarily misleading claim for you to make (and isn't in the title, so the title here should be edited, probably.)

From the FAQ: > Q. How much does it cost? A. It's FREE! The service has no cost to join or monthly fees. We don't get paid unless you do! The percentage we take is agreed upon at the time of registration and will never exceed 50%.

"We take 50% of your refund" =/= "It's FREE!" either. Sorry, the current messaging leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. There's nothing wrong with saying "We just take some of the found money".

Noted and corrected (also not my site but I did sign up).

Really helpful time-saver. Not sure if the company name fits. I saw the same idea for plane tickets and trains.

Have to agree - the name isn't great. When I hear 'kickback', I think corruption, not a legit business revenue stream.

I wonder how they compare to existing services, like Veriship, which has pretty much the same messaging, and payment model? That is, how does MyKickback differentiate its self from existing audit services?

Do customer need to hand over their UPS/FedEx authentication and account details to the audit service, i.e. is the audit service acting as an agent? Why don't the shipping companies block such services from their API, e.g. eBay blocked many 3rd-party companies when the auction industry was starting.

Do customer need to hand over their UPS/FedEx authentication and account details to the audit service..?

Yes. It's not cost effective if you can't scale with automation.

Why don't the shipping companies block such services from their API

UPS and Fedex depend on the guarantees. I believe the negative backlash to block companies enforcing those guarantees would cost more than the money they'd save.

My dad has used https://www.71lbs.com/ and it's worked out great. Literally free money for his wholesale shipping business.

That looks like a brilliant business.

The text on these two sites are eerily similar. Same company or lazy copy writing?

71lbs has received a lot of press, and have some real experience in their leadership. However, they're relatively new, and their reporting is lacking. (Full disclosure: I'm the Director of Technology with Refund Retriever)

That fonttype is a pain to read, esp. with those background colours.

Keep in mind that there are much older companies in this space. I'm the Director of Technology at Refund Retriever: we've been doing this since 2006.

this is a billion dollar industry

I'm doubtful that it's a billion dollar industry. As a prior commenter noted, shippers will likely raise rates to compensate (particularly when you're a large shipper, rates tend to be negotiated anyway), or adjust policies to make refunds scarcer.

It may be a clever hack for a few early adopters, but is likely to be somewhat self-defeating if/as it grows. (Though in fairness, "shipment auditing" is a much bigger and more interesting play than refund harvesting specifically).

It may be a clever hack for a few early adopters

There's a number of companies like Refund Retriever (disclosure: I'm the Director of Technology) that have been doing this since 2006.

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