Four ways to get overbilled freight money back. Here is the honest comparison.
Most buyers weigh us against their own team, a retainer audit firm, or a billing software licence. Rather than make you assemble that yourself, this is the side-by-side — including the cases where we are the wrong answer.
Side by side
| Sellexio | In-house team | Retainer audit firm | AI-only software | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay before results | Nothing. Free audit, then 20% of what is actually recovered. | Salary and analyst hours, whether or not money comes back. | Monthly retainer plus service fees, paid regardless of outcome. | Annual licence and seats, paid up front. |
| Who files and argues the claim | We do — evidence pack, carrier AP desk, escalation and FMC route where it applies. | Your team, alongside its day job. | Usually advisory: they flag it, you still chase the carrier. | Nobody. Software flags a variance and stops there. |
| Technology | Document parsing, tariff and contract matching, carrier scoring and predictive error forecasting — plus a human reviewing every claim before it is filed. | Spreadsheets and the carrier portal in most freight teams. | Database checks with a consultant on top. | Model output with no accountability for the recovery. |
| Setup and integration | None. Upload invoices; no software to install, no ERP project. | None, but the workload is permanent. | Onboarding project plus platform access. | Integration project, data mapping, admin owner. |
| Scope | Demurrage, detention, bunker and BAF, terminal and accessorial charges, customs and duty overpayments — ocean, air, rail and drayage. | Whatever the team has time for. Usually the largest invoices only. | Contract scope, often ocean only. | Whatever the model was trained to see. |
| Where the risk sits | With us. No recovery, no fee. | With you. | With you — the retainer is spent either way. | With you — the licence is spent either way. |
| Evidence you can show finance | Settlement pack with the tariff clause, the port record and the credit note behind each recovered line. | Varies by analyst. | Report, sometimes without the carrier-side proof. | Variance flags, not settlement evidence. |
Competitor columns describe the common shape of each model, not any single named provider. Terms vary — ask any vendor to put theirs in writing, as we do.
When Sellexio is the wrong choice
We would rather lose the deal than take a fee we cannot earn.
- You already run a staffed freight audit desk that recovers demurrage inside free-time deadlines. You do not need us — buy Carrier Intelligence or the Tools Pass instead.
- Your ocean spend is under roughly $250K a year. The recoverable amounts rarely justify anyone’s time, ours included.
- You need a full TMS or freight procurement platform. We are a recovery and audit specialist, not a transport management system.
- You need money back on invoices older than the carrier’s time bar (commonly six to nine months). We will tell you before we start rather than after.
The three questions buyers ask us before signing
You owe nothing. There is no retainer, no licence and no minimum spend. The audit that decides whether there is anything to chase is free.
A mutual NDA is signed before any file moves. Data is processed under our published DPA, access is role-based and named, and files are deleted on written request.
The audit findings come back in days. Carrier settlement timing depends on the carrier and the charge type — we publish per-carrier response behaviour rather than promise an average.
What happens to your documents
Read the Trust centre →Uploads travel over HTTPS only and are encrypted in storage.
Data processing agreement available before you send a single file.
Sign ours in under a minute, or send yours and we sign your paper.
Files are removed after the audit unless you ask us to open a claim.
Nothing to install. We never connect to your TMS or ERP.
Talk to a person first
No bot gate and no call centre. Email reaches the desk directly and is answered 9am–6pm ET, Monday to Friday.
Who you are dealing with
Sellexio1401 28 St N
Lethbridge, AB T1H 6H9
Canada
A Canadian company, founder-led by Mike Paul Firth, who is also the named data protection and security contact.
Accountability & security controls →Paper before data
Nothing needs to be shared before the paperwork suits you. Sign our mutual NDA online, send us yours to sign, or start on a paid pilot against closed historical files only.