Frequently Asked Question
SUBJECT: Spring Systems Billing Overview
I understand that you have some billing questions? We are glad to hear you are looking at this closely! We feel that it is very important that you understand our billing. We try very hard to match our billing to our effort and as a result the initial invoices can be a little confusing.
Please find a summary of our invoice line items below and work with your account manager or our billing team if you need to discuss further.
TRADING PARTNER - Set-Up & Testing -- This is a one time setup fee to connect and test with your retailer. This is listed on your Sales Order Form contract as "Set Up Fee".
TRANSACTIONS - System Transmission & Processing -- This is the billing for the monthly count of transactions. Does not include any additional processing or data entry that you request us to do. For example, per month we sent/received XX transactions which would include PO’s, invoice, and ASN’s. The per transaction rate can be on a sliding scale based on your monthly volume. The specific tiered pricing and an example calculation is detailed in the order form you signed during your account setup. This is listed on your Sales Order Form contract as "Direct To Consumer (D2C) Txn’s" or "Wholesale Txn’s".
PRINTING - Shipping Documents (Labels, Packing Slips) -- This is the billing for anything shipping related that we physically print for you. We printed XX labels and packing lists this month. Once again, the pricing is based on a tiered scale based on total monthly volume (detailed in the attachment). Please note that each separate request or job could trigger a minimum fee per job. This is listed on your Sales Order Form contract as "Printing Services" / "Labels & Packing Slips".
Printing – PDF -- Spring application automatically generates the PDF file and it appears on-line. Flat fee per month. Unlimited labels, unlimited retailers. This assumes that there is no interaction with the support team. All automated. (see Appendix for more detail on different printing options). This is listed on your Sales Order Form contract as Printing / Monthly Flat Rate for Ship Document Access (GS1-128 label & Logo Packing Slips)".
Printing - Price Tickets & Stickers -- This is the billing for any hang tags or price tickets that we physically print for you. We printed XX tags for you this month. Once again, the pricing is based on a tiered scale based on total monthly volume (detailed in the attachment). Please note that each separate request or job could trigger a minimum fee per job. This is listed on your Sales Order Form contract as "Printing Services" / "Price Tickets Stickers & Hang Tags".
UPC Transmission - Catalog Data Load -- This is the billing for any UPC codes that we transmit to the catalogue on your behalf (GXS, Intertrade or direct to your retailer). As you know, many retailers mandate that you put the UPC data into a catalogue for them to access. Most major retailers will not write you an order without a UPC and will only load UPC data that is provided automatically through your online catalogue. For example, it would say that this month we loaded XX UPC codes for you. Once again, the pricing is based on a tiered scale based on total monthly volume (detailed in the attachment). Please note that each separate request or job could trigger a minimum fee per job. This is listed on your Sales Order Form contract as UPC Catalog Data Upload".
SERVICE BUREAU - Manual Processing by Spring Personnel -- This is the billing for anything extra that you ask us to do for you. In essence this is for any data entry or data preparation that you could perform yourself, but have instead asked us to do it for you. For example, if you do not want to enter your invoice data online, then we can do it for you. If you don’t want to prep your labels, then just ask and we will do it for you. Same for entering ASN data, etc. The system was built to be 100% self-service, but if you’d like us to help with the data entry, analysis, processing, just ask. As detailed in the attached, we bill per ‘change’ with a minimum charge per ‘event’. The more complex your request, the more ‘changes’ we will bill for. Using a very recent ASN example… your CA whse asked us to send an ASN. If this was a simple, accurate, “shipped complete” type request, we would count one change but would also apply the minimum per job charge. However, if there were 4 cartons short shipped, and then 8 other cartons that were changed from your original loadplan, we would count that as 12 total changes so the minimum per job charge would not be applicable. This is listed on your Sales Order Form contract as "Full Service Manual Processing".
Shipping Pass Thru -- if we print labels and send them to you or your warehouse, we prefer to put the shipment on your UPS or FedEx acct. If not, we bill it back to you.