It is things like large envelopes, letters, etc, that I use stamps.com or the integrated --------- + stamps.com interface.
I ship small parts and often in plain letter sized envelopes. Without being able to ship for cheap cheap cheap, these parts simply wouldn't sell. Watch repair people are SO cheap!
I also sell on Amazon and other places. PayPal isn't my only payment source.
I forgot the exact example case I sent to support, but I recall almost immediately running into problems. One thing I can easily do, for example, is switch between package and envelope. The USPS Click and ship won't allow it. There's a ton of extra work involved.
I'm sorta big on figuring out how much my time is worth versus the cost of the service. Saving even a couple of hours makes a $9 service a bargain.
I've also automated quite a bit to help situations where there are a lot of steps involved. I haven't written scripts for Auctiva yet as I'm still figuring out all the manual steps involved. I may not need any scripts as there are things like Master Templates that make things pretty easy.
I tried to figure out a script to go from Auctiva's sales page to the USPS click and ship application, but it was getting a bit difficult. Lots of fields to fill in, and once I do have it set up, I have the problem of what to print the postage on. My stamps.com account has really nice sheets I run through my laser printer to print letter postage
I take a "mosaic" tool approach. I piece together tools that are really good at what they do into a toolchain. Put together a PDF by scanning, running images through a powerful image processor, create searchable PDFs using high powered PDF creation tool with OCR, etc.
Auctiva is quickly becoming one of those tools for me. It's a nice wrench to add to the toolbox. I'm finding out what it's good at, and what the weeknesses are. If I can exploit the strong points and replace the week ones, then I consider that a success.
I really appreciate all of the info you guys are giving me! It's GREAT to hear.
Note that I am not promoting other services... honest! I am here at Auctiva to stay.