Overview
Vantage Point Logistics (VPL) pays FedEx invoices with a BearBuy purchase order (PO).
UCSF partnered with Vantage Point Logistics (VPL) to make it possible to pay FedEx invoices with a BearBuy purchase order (PO). When you enroll your FedEx Account in the Outbound Freight Program, the FedEx Account is switched to electronic invoicing through VPL. VPL will automatically process your FedEx invoices and submit electronic invoices through BearBuy to your VPL Outbound Freight PO.
*** Outbound Freight Program Retirement *** The Outbound Freight Program through Vantage Point Logistics (VPL) will be retired in 2024. Read more...
Benefits to your department:
- Electronic invoicing eliminates the need to receive and process paper FedEx invoices.
- Invoices are viewable in BearBuy.
- Reconciling shipping charges is easier with VPL's shipping activity reports.
- The BearBuy requisition approval process brings increased visibility to FedEx shipping.
Getting Started:
Open a FedEx Account
- Download the FedEx New Account Request Form in UCSF Box, and email the completed form to FedEx at [email protected].
- Note: The billing address should be your campus address.
Establish a PO using the Outbound Freight form in BearBuy
- The Outbound Freight form is located in BearBuy under Forms for Specific Purchases.
- Completing the Form:
- On the form, enter your FedEx Account in the product description.
- Enter a Price that will cover your expected FedEx charges.
- Select Yes from the dropdown to make this PO the "default" PO for the FedEx Account. You may create additional POs later if you need to be able to charge shipments to different funding sources (chartstrings), but you must first establish a default (primary) PO for the FedEx Account.
- When finished, select the Add And Go To Cart button located at the top of the form (or select "Add to new Cart" from the dropdown).
- Then, complete the BearBuy checkout process as you would for any other order—a Shipping Address and Accounting Codes are required on the requisition. Assign the cart to your department's Requester to submit.
- Note: Please enter only one FedEx Account on the form and submit only one Outbound Freight form per shopping cart; do not add any other items or forms to the cart.
- Example:
Enter your PO Number on your FedEx shipping labels
- Enter the PO Number in the Billing Reference on your shipping labels. Do not add extra characters or spaces—simply enter the PO Number, such as: B000012345
- When creating a shipping label on fedex.com, enter the PO Number in the "Your reference" field in the Billing Details.
- On a paper shipping label, write the PO Number in the "Your Internal Billing Reference" field.
Frequently Asked Questions
FedEx Accounts
Q: My department already has a FedEx Account. Do we need to open a new account?
A: No, you can enroll your existing FedEx Account in the Outbound Freight Program.
Q: Is my department required to enroll our FedEx Account in the Outbound Freight Program?
A: No, FedEx invoices can be paid with a credit card or Payment Request (if you don't have a PO).
Q: Does each person in my department need their own FedEx Account?
A: No, your department can determine who should use the FedEx Account and share the PO Number with whoever needs to ship packages.
Q: How do I access my fedex.com account?
A: For assistance with your fedex.com account, contact FedEx Technical Support at 1-877-339-2774.
Q: How do I contact FedEx customer service?
A: FedEx Customer Service (tracking, tracing, claims): 1-800-GO-FEDEX (1-800-463-3339)
- FedEx Government Billing Department: 1-800-645-9424
- FedEx Technical Support: 1-877-339-2774
- FedEx International Customer Service: 1-800-247-4747
- FedEx Government and Education: [email protected]
Purchase Orders
Q: Does my department need to create a new PO for each shipment?
A: No, you'll reference the same PO Number over-and-over again on your shipping labels.
Q: Do I need to create a new PO each year?
A: No, it's preferable to use the same PO year-after-year.
Q: Does the PO expire?
A: No; however, you may need to update the funding on the PO if the funding expired. Submit a Change Order to request to update the funding.
Q: How do I add more money to the PO?
A: Submit a Change Order in BearBuy.
- To prevent payment delays, please regularly monitor your PO balance and submit a Change Order to increase the PO Total before the PO is fully invoiced (out of money).
Q: Can my department create more than one PO for our FedEx Account?
A: Yes; however, the FedEx Account can have only one “default” PO.
- First, establish the “default” PO by submitting an Outbound Freight form and selecting Yes from the dropdown on the form to designate the PO as the “default” PO for the FedEx Account.
- Then, submit additional Outbound Freight forms (one form per cart) to open additional POs. On the Outbound Freight forms, select No from the default dropdown.
- Note: The people shipping packages must understand which PO Number to reference on their shipping labels. If the PO Number is missing from the shipping label or the PO Number is illegible, the shipment will be charged to the "default" PO for the FedEx Account.
- Example:
Q: Several labs in our department share a FedEx Account, but we need to charge each lab's shipments to their own funding source (chartstring). Can BearBuy accommodate this?
A:
- Yes, your department can create a separate PO for each lab. When you submit the Outbound Freight form in BearBuy, enter the FedEx Account in the product description field on the form, and enter the lab's funding source in the Accounting Codes section of the requisition. Submit one form per cart.
- Note: The people shipping packages must understand which PO Number to reference on their shipping labels. If the PO Number is missing from the shipping label or the PO Number is illegible, the shipment will be charged to the "default" PO for the FedEx Account. The FedEx Account can have only one "default" PO.
- Example:
Q: Do I need to create a "default" PO for each funding source?
A: No, you only need one "default" PO for the FedEx Account, regardless of funding source.
Q: Can I add more than one Outbound Freight form to my cart?
A: No, please submit only one form per cart.
Q: Can I list more than one FedEx Account on the Outbound Freight form?
A: No, please submit a separate form for each FedEx Account. Submit only one form per cart.
Shipping Labels
Q: Do I need to reference my PO Number on each shipment?
A: YES.
Q: What happens if I forget to enter the PO Number on the shipping label?
A: The charges will be applied to the "default" PO associated with the FedEx Account.
Q: Now that I have a PO for FedEx billing, should I change how I ship my packages?
A: No, the only change is you'll enter your PO Number in the Billing Reference on your shipping labels.
Viewing Invoices
Q: How do I view the charges in BearBuy?
A:
- Log into your UCSF MyAccess account, and click on the BearBuy link to open the application.
- Navigate to the PO in BearBuy.
- Click on the Invoices tab on the PO.
- Click on the Voucher Number to view the VPL invoice details.
- On the voucher, scroll down to the line items and hover your cursor over each line description to view the FedEx Account, FedEx Invoice Number, and Tracking Number.
Note: The voucher is being paid to VANTAGE POINT LOGISTICS INC (not FedEx). By enrolling in the Outbound Freight Program, your department has agreed to pay VPL and allow VPL to handle the payment to FedEx.
Q: How do I view the charges in MyReports?
A:
- Log into your UCSF MyAccess account, and click on the MyReports link to open the application.
- Select the Transaction Detail Report link under the Transactional Reports tab.
- Report Date Filters: Set your desired Date Range as needed.
- Chartstring Filters: Enter at least one chartstring value, such as your Dept ID or Project. To enter a value, start typing the number and wait for the value to appear. Then, click the Add button.
- Report Specific Filters: Set the following three filters.
- Transaction Type: Voucher
- Vendor: VANTAGE PONT LOGISTICS INC
- Display Columns: Check PO Number and Voucher ID
- After setting your report parameters, click Run Report.
- The report displays the VPL Invoice Number (Ref/Inv ID), PO Number, and the internal UCSF Voucher Number (Voucher ID). You may need to scroll to the right to view all columns.
Note: The Transaction Detail Report will include charges for outbound shipments and inbound shipments that match your search criteria. Outbound freight Voucher IDs start with 5, whereas Inbound freight Voucher IDs start with 03. Inbound freight charges are the cost of shipping goods that your department ordered through BearBuy from the supplier to your department. For more details, visit VPL Inbound Freight Program.
- To export the report, scroll to the right and click the Excel icon.
Note: Once you've enrolled in the Outbound Freight Program, the charges for your FedEx Account will appear in MyReports as payments to VANTAGE POINT LOGISTICS INC (not FedEx).
Q: I don't recognize this charge. How do I report this?
A: Contact VPL Customer Care at [email protected] to request a refund if you believe VPL charged the wrong PO for the shipment.
- Provide your FedEx Account, PO Number, VPL Invoice Number, and FedEx Invoice and/or Tracking Number.
- Contact FedEx Fraud Department at 1-800-584-2681 if you believe your FedEx Account was fraudulently used by another party. You can request FedEx refund the fraudulent charges.
- Provide your FedEx Account and FedEx Invoice and/or Tracking Number.