JadeShip Blog

Version 1.1 brings a great quality of life feature, presets. But this isn't just a boring list of patch notes. It's about how we came up with the numbers, how we sample data and you get some expert insights on the newest agents.

Presets

The most common support question we got regarding the shipping calculator was

"I don't know the size, what dimensions should I choose? What's the height, width, length and weight of my parcel?

With this update, you get a handy selection of presets. With a simple click the dimensions for a small, medium or large parcel are filled out.

I think it doesn't take too much imagination to figure out what small, medium and large are.

• Small is 2kg and usually represents the minimum you should ship. Otherwise you are just paying extra.
• Large is 8kg. It's the upper limit of what you can ship safely, if you go higher you're taking a unnecessary risk, under basically any circumstances
• Medium is set at 4kg because that's roughly the logarithmic mean.

Because these numbers can still be abstract, if you have no idea what anything weighs and how the agents calculate weight, the info button shows you samples of what could be included in one of these parcels.

Data (or: how I came up with the numbers)

For these numbers I used my own parcels and measurements.

b_y the way, we have proven that the agent measurements are really accurate, at least for wegobuy that's confirmed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTGXc7MoLdM_

I asked on reddit, if anyone wants to submit their measurements, so that we have more sample data. That would have been nice, but I wasn't surprised that I didn't get any response, because no average customer measures their parcel, and no one has unopened parcels laying around that they could measure. So that's okay.

I also developed a algorithm to get the dimension of any imaginable parcel, based on the dimensions of the sample data. I want to make that open source, so you can see that everything is legit, add your own data and use it for your own calculations. But for that, it needs some polishing, and it makes little sense with the sample data I have. So I guess what we have is a chicken and egg problem.

Other changes

The only other noteworthy changes are the additions of Transitbuy and Basetao. They are fully featured in the same capacity as any other agent. These are two new agents, and we're proud that we have added them so quickly after their launch.

Future updates and features

One thing I have publicly hinted at is the correction of exchange rates. That's a feature that only more advanced users would say they care about, but it affects everyone and every transaction. That's why it's number one on our priority list.

Regarding new agents, it's quite a bit of work for RepNinja and I, and at least I'm getting a bit tired of all these spin-off agents that add nothing new. It's just existing agents throwing more hats in the ring, in order to hopefully add more market share. However, for the customer and tool developers like me there are almost no benefits. With that being said, I don't think TransitBuy is a spin-off, and with the way Superbuy and Wegobuy have developed into different branches, the same can't be said for those.

There's a list of other planned features, but due to how many times we've been copied, I don't want to make announcements that are too far away, the next feature will most likely be exchange rate corrections.