Industry Terminology
This glossary is not all-inclusive. However, it serves as a primer/reference for developers integrating with uShip's API.
This table provides a description of uShip terminology used throughout the documentation for both uShip's API and the uShip web application. The definiltion of a term is also be determined by the role that pertains to that term.
Contact us at api-support@uship.com if you'd like us to add a term or answer questions.
| Acronym/Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| 3PL | Third Party Logistics. Similar to a broker, a 3PL actually interacts with the transported goods through warehouse storage (supply chain management). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-party_logistics |
| Accept a Bid | This user-initiated action occurs when a Shipping Customer accepts a Service Provider's bid by paying the full amount or just the deposit. A match occurs when a listing and a corresponding bid are paired together as a booked shipment. |
| Accept Cancellation | This user-initiated action occurs when the party that did not initiate the cancellation accepts the cancellation. |
| Affiliate | The role for uShip's referral program, a network designed to provide member benefits including commission from referrals on a third party's website or application. https://about.uship.com/affiliates/ |
| Auction | A marketplace sale where Service Providers bid on shipping listings and a Shipping Customer choses a winning bid within a certain time frame. |
| Average Bid Price | The average bid price is the price shown to Shipping Customers if they received bids that are lower than the average price for similar shipments. |
| Bid | This user-initiated action occurs when a Service Provider places a bid on a listing (shipment). The Service Provider's bid is a "flat-fee, binding estimate" to provide the services described in this listing. If you have any questions about the nature of the services required or the expectations of the customer, post a question for the customer before bidding. |
| Bid Acceptance Rate (BAR) | The ratio of bids accepted over bids placed. |
| Bid Calculator | On the web bid form. Calculates the amount a Service Provider must place when bidding based on the amount they want to earn from the booked listing/shipment minus the booking fee. |
| Bid Conversation | The question and answer interaction between a Service Provider and a Shipping Customer about a bid before the shipment has been booked. A Shipper asks a Service Provider a question about the bid. |
| Bid Depth | The ratio of bids per listing. |
| Bid Options | Bid Options are optional services priced in addition to the Total Bid. Do not use Total Bid price as an option price. If a Bid Option is included in your Total Bid price, do not select it as an option. You may add this information in your Note to Customer. |
| Bid Valet | A Service Provider uses this tool to set a lowest bid amount as the overall minimum baseline. The uShip system automatically underbids on shipments their previous bid was underbid, but never lower than the baseline amount. |
| Booking Request | The request sent by the uShip system to a Service Provider via Published Rates when a Shipping Customer accepts a shown Published Rate. https://developer.uship.com/docs/read/apis/basic/Published_Rates |
| Broker | An intermediary between a Shipping Customer and a Service Provider. Types include: Broker, Broker Agent, Freight Forwarder, Broker and Carrier, 3PL. https://www.uship.com/freight-brokers/ |
| Brokered Listing/Load | A brokered listing is also known as a brokered load. This term refers to the load a broker places on uShip. |
| Broker Paythrough | A broker must directly assign a shipment obtained through uShip to a carrier. Even though the carrier does not need to be a uShip member, any new carrier must create a uShip account and set up a proper withdrawal method and will be paid via uShip Payments. |
| Cargo Insurance | Optional insurance offered to shippers for all-risk cargo through a third party insurance company. https://www.uship.com/learnmore/cargoinsurance.aspx |
| Carrier | The Service Provider who physically delivers the shipment. https://www.uship.com/carriers/ |
| Carrier Network | A group of Service Providers. |
| Cars & Light Trucks (CLT) | A commonly used subcategory in the Vehicles category. |
| Commodity | Also known as a category that shows up in both create listing and find shipments. |
| Decline Bid | This user-initiated action occurs when a Shipping customer rejects a Service Provider's bid. |
| Direct Assign | Both private network owners and broker pay-through enrollees may directly assign a shipment to a Service Provider via web. https://developer.uship.com/docs/read/apis/basic/brokered_listings/Direct_Assign |
| Dispute Cancellation | This user-initiated action occurs when the party that did not initiate the cancellation disputes the cancellation. |
| Department of Transportation Number (DOT Number) | This unique number identifies carriers with interstate authority. |
| Dutch Auction | A type of listing price model where the Shipping Customer elects to let uShip find the best price for their shipment. An alternative to naming a price or going through a traditional auction, the dutch auction listing starts with a low price and slowly raises until a Service provider accepts it. |
| Early Withdraw | When a Service Provider withdraws a port of the bid amount from uShip prior to completing the shipment they are charged an early withdrawal fee. The Service Provider can only withdraw funds if they qualify. |
| eBay Shipping Tab | A uShip API powered integration with eBay. For example, when purchasing a car or motorcycle, click on the "Shipping and payments" tab on the eBay item page to get bookable shipping rates with active Service Providers. |
| Excessive Cancellations | A Service Provider cancels over 10% of matched listings. Each cancellation about this threshold is displayed on the member's profile and given a variable surcharge. Surcharges are determined based on the Service Provider's number of cancellations over the year and the lifetime of their membership. See http://www.uship.com/user_agreement.aspx for detailed information. |
| Find Shipments (Search Listings) | The webpage or feature where Service Providers use filters to search for listings/shipments. https://developer.uship.com/docs/read/apis/Search (API) | www.uship.com/find (Web) |
| FMCSA | Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The government agency that regulates the transportation industry. Issues DOT and MC numbers. |
| Full Truckload (FTL) | A full truckload is one that has a total weight of 30,000 lbs or more and takes up 30' or more of the trailer's deck. https://www.uship.com/truckload-shipping/ |
| Gross Match Revenue (GMR) | The total revenue uShip earned from match fees prior to cancellations. |
| Gross Match Volume (GMV) | The total bid amount that the Shipping Customer and Service Provider agreed on to complete the shipment prior to any cancellations. This metric includes the amount the Service Provider earns plus the match fee. |
| Group Bidding | Group bidding is a uShip tool for a Service Provider to bid on many shipments all at once without the risk of overbooking and cancellations. Service Providers create bid groups, assign bids to bid groups, and set limits on how many shipments from the bid group they can service. When a bid group is created, all active bids in a bid group will be cancelled once a Service Provider reaches their match limit for the bid group. Service Providers may: 1) Cancel their open bids if the bid has not been accepted 2) have multiple bid groups. https://www.uship.com/learnmore/groupbiddinglearn.aspx |
| Gross Service Charge Revenue (GSCR) | The total revenue earned from service charge fees prior to cancellations. |
| Heavy Equipment (HE) | The marketplace category for shipping heavy equipment such as a bulldozer or any equipment that is up to 48,000 lbs. There are several special considerations when shipping heavy equipment due to the size and weight including transportation and roadway licenses. See https://www.uship.com/heavyequipment/ and https://guides.uship.com/heavy-equipment/how-to-ship-heavy-equipment/. |
| Hybrid | This role is not an official or technical user type. However, it is a colloquial way to discuss one user with multiple user types. |
| Initiate Cancellation | This user-initiated action occurs when either a Service Provider or Shipping Customer starts a cancellation for a previously matched shipment. |
| Leave Feedback | After a shipment has been delivered and is completed, a Service Provider or Shipping Customer leaves feedback on the other party's profile. Either party can post a response to the feedback. https://developer.uship.com/docs/read/apis/listings/Listings_Feedback |
| Listing | A listing is the object that a Shipper, Carrier, or Broker creates for a load or shipment indicating the need for shipping services. |
| Listing Conversation | The question and answer interaction between a Service Provider and a Shipping Customer about an active listing. https://developer.uship.com/docs/read/apis/listings/Listing_Conversations |
| Listing Question | The Service Provider asks the Shipping Customer a question about the listing to get more specific information which helps the SP to bid effectively. |
| Larger-Than-Parcel (LTP) Delivery | LTP refers to all items too large for traditional packaged parcel services. Includes items such as household goods, vehicles, small machinery, and other items not suitable for a commercial pallet (LTL) or full truckload (FTL). |
| Less Than Truckload (LTL) | An industry term describing the transportation of relatively small freight. A shipment that does not require a full 48' or 53' trailer. https://www.uship.com/ltl-freight/ |
| Match | A match occurs when a listing and a corresponding bid are paired together as a booked shipment. |
| Match Fee | A Service Provider's fee on a booked shipment collected directly from the Shipping Customer and credited to the Service Provider's account offsetting the Service Provider's fee due to uShip. https://www.uship.com/serviceproviders/learnmore/matchfees.aspx |
| Motor Carrier Number (MC Number) | Identifies brokers or carriers with intrastate authority transporting regulated commodities. |
| MyRates | MyRates is a self-service tool that Service Providers can set up on their dashboards to provide Published Rates on eligible listings. The rates pre-fill a Service Provider's bids to save them time and accelerate calculation of bids to save time and win more jobs. |
| Named Price | The Lister sets a fixed listing price. |
| Name Your Price (NYP) | A NYP creates an offer price listing. A Shipping Customer sets a price that a Service Provider can accept. A Shipper has 24 hours or less to confirm. |
| Offer Price | Fixed price that the Shipping Customer sets. When the Service Provider accepts this price, it puts the listing on hold for 24 hours or less (which the TSP sets). The Shipping Customer can let the offer price expire or they can accept or decline the bid. |
| Payment Code | The unique code generated when a Shipping Customer choses uShip Payments (uPay). A Shipping Customer should never release the payment code to the Service Provider until the shipment has been delivered and completed. https://www.uship.com/learnmore/upaylearn.aspx |
| Power Broker | A broker that meets "Power" qualifications. The Power Broker program rewards uShip’s elite brokers based on the quality and volume of business they conduct in the uShip marketplace. https://www.uship.com/learnmore/powerbrokerlearnmore.aspx |
| Power Carrier | A carrier that meets "Power" qualifications. The Power Carrier program rewards uShip’s elite carriers based on the quality and volume of business they conduct in the uShip marketplace. https://www.uship.com/learnmore/powercarrierlearnmore.aspx |
| Power Provider | A provider that meets "Power" qualifiecations. https://www.uship.com/tips/showtip.aspx?tipid=19 |
| Private Network | A Service Provider can join a private network by invitation only from the network owner. Examples of network owners are brokers, manufacturers, business or commercial shippers. |
| Private Network Load | The listing that is only published to a Shipping Customer's private network of carriers. |
| PRO Customer | A Shipping Customer with a subscription to a wide range of service offerings including building and optimizing an approved carrier network. https://www.uship.com/pro/ |
| Published Rate | If a rate engine is more complex than what can be handled via the My Rates interface on a Service Provider's dashboard...If a rate engine needs to respond more quickly in an automated fashion...There is a need for enterprise-level integration with load balancing...Service Providers and TMS integrations will create rates via the this API integration. Service Providers send prices to the uShip marketplace for Shipping Customers to accept. Service Providers must first receive a rate request and then respond with their rate or rates. Once the Shipping Customer chooses one of the rates that the Service Provider sent, the Service Provider receives a booking request. The Service Provider has the final option of either confirming or denying the booking. Once confirmed, the listing is marked as booked. https://developer.uship.com/docs/read/apis/basic/Published_Rates |
| Published Rates Provider | A Service Provider responding to rate requests via the API. |
| Repost Loads | A broker is required to repost a listing/load won on the uShip marketplace. https://developer.uship.com/docs/read/apis/basic/brokered_listings/Repost_Brokered_Listing |
| Safer Watch Verified | A Service Provider with FMCSA records is monitored by a third-party service. The authority, insurance, and business information from the uShip account must match FMCSA records. See https://www.uship.com/learnmore/saferwatchlearn.aspx and https://www.saferwatch.com/. |
| Saved Search | The saved searches resource allows a Service Provider to take two locations, filter criteria, and email notification settings and save each active listings search in a list. Only one saved search can be designated as the default search at a time. On uShip.com, from the Find Shipments page, this is the dialog box where you would create a saved listings search. Please note that uShip web products do not currently use the API. https://developer.uship.com/docs/read/apis/oauth/Saved_Searches |
| Service Provider (TSP) | Transportation Service Provider. The general term for Brokers, Carriers, and those parties carrying out the shipping services booked in the uShip marketplace. |
| Service Provider Tools | The online tools uShip created for Service Providers to increase visibility, productivity, and productivity. https://www.uship.com/provider_tools.aspx |
| Shipper or Shipping Customer | The customer seeking shipping services from the uShip marketplace. |
| Shipping Tools | The online tools uShip created for Shipping Customers to increase visibility for ther listings and have an optimal experience with Service Providers. https://www.uship.com/shipper_tools.aspx |
| Shipping Price Estimate (SPE) | A uShip API-driven integration where a Service Provider role can create shipping estimates via POST https://api.uship.com/marketplace/Estimate. See https://developer.uship.com/docs/read/apis/basic/Shipping_Price_Estimates and http://blog.uship.com/news/uships-shipping-price-estimator/. |
| Transportation Management System (TMS) | A software system usually a part of logistics or supply chain management for the management of transportation operations. |
| uPay / uShip Payments | A proprietary payment system for Shipping Customers to pay the entire bid amount online. The bid is released to the Service Provider when the delivery is completed by providing a payment code. https://www.uship.com/learnmore/upaylearn.aspx |
| uShip Directory | An aggregate list of shipping and moving Service Providers in the uShip marketplace. Service Provider profiles include reviews and ratings based on the shipments they've delivered. http://reviews.uship.com/ |
| Upgrade Fee / Listing Upgrades | A Shipping Customer can choose two types of upgrade fees--either a "featured" or "urgent" flag attracts higher traffic / visibility to bid on or book his or her listing. On average, featured listings get 49% more bids. |
| YMM | The manufacture year, make, and model. Generally referring to vehicles such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, and motor sports. |