The expense and reliability of shipping is one of the great headaches of owning a small Internet business. Especially in these days of rising gasoline prices merchants are always looking for ways to reduce the expense of getting merchandise to customers. It has historically been the case that either the United States Postal Service or United Parcel Service has met most small businesses’ shipping needs. These two both provide good service and reasonable rates for shipping limited quantities of lightweight products but aren’t nearly as satisfactory for larger quantities and won’t except items that weigh more than seventy pounds.Until recently trucking companies haven’t been a very good choice for small retailers since they have taken little interest in shipping orders less than a whole pallet in size. Advances in technology combined with the growing market for auction site and mail order shipping to create new shipping alternatives.For example, a company called Uship has brought an auction site approach to shipping. Instead of contacting a shipper and taking what shipping rate they offer a business goes to their website and list at no charge the details of what they want to ship and where. There are eight categories to choose from including general goods, furniture and a personal favorite livestock. The merchant can even list a target price similar to the way many travel sites work. Selecting a target price can be a bit of a trick, Uship suggests that the shipper determine the rate that would be normally charged for the delivery and deducting 30 to 80% depending on how long the merchant is willing to wait before a trucking company will accept the offer. Obviously the deeper the discount sought the longer the shipper will have to wait. The merchant will then be contacted by shipping companies with an offer. Once a deal has been struck the two businesses, merchant and shipping company, get into direct contact to arrange the final details of pick up, delivery and payment.Normally these trucking companies are looking to fill up space on a truck headed out that otherwise would be making its trip without a full load. Since they will be making the run regardless they are willing to make deals on the additional cargo. The shippers also pick up all the fees associated with the listings saving the merchant even more money.To ensure security and customer satisfaction Uship has several features that protect the shipper, the trucking company, and the customer awaiting their goods. All trucking companies identities are checked to make sure they are what they say they are. A shipper protection program offers a loss protection of up $200 minus a $25 fee to cover merchandise that is picked up but never delivered. The site also has feedback rating system that insures the trucking company that a shipper will pay and insures the merchant that the trucking company has a history or reliability and care.Uship is not the only company involved in this type of small order discount shipping. The venerable Small Business Transportation Company is preparing a system similar to Uship’s that will augment their existing discount shipping service. Rumor had promised this service a few months ago but it is coming. SBT has been providing quality shipping for many years and merchants familiar with the company should be excited about the new services.Freightquote.com, an Ebay preferred provider, is a web site that offers a comparison-shopping format for shipping. A potential shippers fills out a form with the details of the shipment they wish to make and the site provides the prices of a large number of competing shippers. The merchant selects the one that best serves their purposes and a collection of simple tools take care of lading bills, shipping labels, and dispatch. There is an auction system available to volume customers and shipment tracking.Although fuel prices are driving up the already high costs of shipping increased competition between shipping companies and improvements in Internet technologies are providing merchants willing to shop around with creative alternatives to UPS. If a small business can get their deliveries out faster, cheaper, and with greater reliability both ends of the transaction benefit from better margins, lower prices, and overall satisfaction.Art Mickelwraith is the author of the Wholesale Buyer’s Guide at TopTenWholesale.com. He can be reached at artmicklewraith@gmail.com.