Shipwire Expands into Europe

Shipwire, a warehouse and shipping service geared for e-tailers, has expanded into Europe with a new fulfillment center in East Sussex, U.K.

The new facility, which joins Shipwire’s other warehouses in Los Angeles, Nevada, Chicago, Toronto and Vancouver, will enable small business owners to establish a local presence overseas.

Shipwire lets small merchants manage receiving, inventory, pick pack, packaging, shipping, insurance, returns, and the logistics of freight, customs and VAT from the Shipwire Website. The system integrates with order fulfillment/payment systems from eBay, Yahoo! Stores, PayPal, Google Checkout, Zen Cart, NetSuite, Intuit Quickbooks as well as other shopping cart and inventory management systems.

Plans start at $29 per month for 16 cubic ft. of storage, which can be split up between all Shipwire locations.

Shipwire says with its new UK warehouse, which is located close to London, most European ground shipments can be delivered in two to three days. The service includes the handling of VAT taxes and other regulatory paperwork. Customer returns are sent back to the Shipwire facility.

To kickoff the opening of the new warehouse, and help merchants schedule container shipments for the 2008 holiday season, Shipwire is offering new customers a free month of storage space, valued at up to $250 per month, up until Sept. 1. Existing Shipwire customers can receive credits on future container or parcel deliveries.

The U.K. facility is part of Shipwire’s plan for a network of international warehouses. It first expanded outside of the U.S. this past November when it opened its Toronto DC.