It is very important to all of us at uShip that our rules and policies are as fair and transparent as possible. We have established this policy to explain how uShip works for the Brokered Loads feature, and to ensure that you have all the tools and knowledge you need to be successful on the site. This document is supplementary to our User Agreement. It is important to keep in mind that you are still responsible for abiding by the rules and policies set forth by the general User Agreement.
1. Entity Types. Both carriers and brokers make up the uShip customer base of Transportation Service Providers (TSPs). While uShip Brokered Loads streamlines the booking and listing processes for these types of shipments, uShip will continue to make reference to TSPs to identify both brokers and carriers. For the purpose of Brokered Loads, the party that interacts directly with the shipping customer on uShip is the Broker. Brokers can list customer shipments they book on and off the site for carriers to place bids. The entity that ultimately ships the item is considered the carrier, as we do not allow re-brokering of any kind.
2. Fees: Shipping Customer/Broker Matches. There are currently no fees to join uShip as a Broker or Carrier. The billing policy and fee structure for the match between customer and Broker are identical to the current fee structure. Shipping customers will pay a deposit upon accepting a Broker’s bid. This deposit is credited to the Broker’s uShip account and offsets the booking fees due to uShip. Learn more about the
uShip fees for customer loads.
All Brokers and Carriers who are SaferWatch certified and/or have booked 10 shipments and have at least 90% positive feedback will be enrolled into uShip’s online payments program, uShip Payments. Shipping customers will have the option to book using uShip Payments or book by paying the uShip booking deposit.
If the customer chooses to book using uShip Payments, then they will pay the total shipping amount upon bid acceptance. The customer will then receive a payment code, which they can only release once the shipment has been delivered. The payment code can be entered by the customer or TSP on uShip.com or the uShip mobile website (touch.uship.com on your touchscreen mobile device). The appropriate fees will be applied, and the remaining balance will be available for the TSP to withdraw from uShip.
3. Fees: Broker/Carrier Matches. It is completely free for a Broker to list or relist a shipment on uShip. The Book it Now feature will be required on all Brokered Loads. The Broker will be responsible for naming the Offer Price in order to list or relist a Brokered Load. Carriers are charged a base transaction fee (base fee may be discounted for “Power Provider” or other special programs) based on origin, destination, category and/or bid price.
The transaction fee is charged to the Carrier’s primary payment method at the time of booking, instantly if it’s a Book it Now or when the Broker accepts a bid. Learn more about the
uShip fees for Brokered Loads.
4. Feedback. For each uShip transaction, both parties are allowed to rate each other by leaving Feedback for one another. This means Feedback can be left between shipping customer/broker matches and on broker/carrier matches. In the case of Brokered Loads, the shipping customer and the carrier do not interact via uShip and cannot leave feedback for each other. Sections 31 and 32* of the uShip User Agreement refer to Feedback and Resolving Feedback Disputes. The rules and policies outlined in these sections are to be abided by for all Feedback left for customer/broker transactions and Broker/Carrier completed shipments.
5. Match Cancellations and Account Credits. A “Cancellation” occurs when either party has to cancel AFTER a quote was accepted on uShip but BEFORE any services are performed. After a quote is accepted and the two parties communicate directly, occasionally, one or both of the parties determine that they cannot complete the transaction. Cancellations should only be requested after reasonable attempts have been made to reach an agreeable solution and it is certain that the services that were booked on uShip will not be performed. When you request a cancellation, the other party will be notified and will have the opportunity to respond by either:
a) accepting the cancellation and your reason;
b) accepting the cancellation but providing their own reason and/or comments; or
c) disputing the reason for cancellation and requesting review by uShip staff.
If your Request for Cancellation is accepted by the other party, the match will be canceled and the shipment can either be relisted or deleted. If your Request is disputed by the other member, then the Request will be sent to uShip and a determination will be made on allowing or not allowing the Cancellation. If the other party does not respond, the cancellation and reason will be automatically accepted (Case a). Once a cancellation is accepted, the uShip transaction fees will be applied as a credit to the uShip carrier’s account.
If the original shipment posted by the shipping customer is canceled, uShip will automatically delete the Brokered Load from the marketplace if it has not yet matched. If the Brokered Load has matched, uShip will automatically cancel it. A Brokered Load that is automatically canceled because of the customer load cancellation will not be posted on the member’s profile or count as an excessive cancellation. All other Brokered Load cancellations will count towards a broker’s and carrier’s excessive cancellation count and will be posted on both members’ profiles.
6. Participation Restrictions. All carriers operating on uShip's Canada site with a primary payment method on file can place bids on Brokered Loads. However, there are certain qualifications that must be met by carriers to become eligible to instantly book Brokered Loads. To instantly book a Brokered Load, carriers must be
SaferWatch Monitored, have a primary payment method on file, have a feedback score of 5 or more and at least 90% positive feedback with no excessive cancellations.
Effective date: April 6, 2011