How hard is the switch — and how long until you're live?
The two questions every forwarder asks before changing software, answered honestly: the path from free trial to live operation, what actually imports, how legacy history migrates, and who helps — while your current system keeps running.
The short answer: The Linbis trial is immediate, free, and asks for no credit card — a small team with clean data can be quoting the same week. Your data comes in through guided spreadsheet imports for shipments, accounts, orders, and warehouse receipts: column mapping suggested, duplicates flagged, and a dry-run preview before anything commits. You keep your email (Gmail, Microsoft 365, or any IMAP host) and your books (QuickBooks Online syncs across 13 entity types, payments both ways). Customers moving off the old Linbis Logistics platform have their database brought across by our team in a phased, resumable migration; history from any other system comes in through those same guided imports. And nothing forces a cutover on day one — teams run Linbis alongside the old system until it has earned the keys.
The path, step by step
Freight software implementations have a reputation measured in quarters — earned by systems that need workshops before anyone sees a screen. Linbis is different because the product does the configuring: the day your workspace is created, a 91-account freight chart of accounts is set up automatically, and more than 90 document templates — over 75 of them rendering live from the record on your letterhead — are ready from the first login.
- Open the trial — free, no credit card, and the full product rather than a sandbox lookalike. Sign up, name your workspace, and you are looking at the same screens our product videos show.
- Load your world — guided spreadsheet imports for shipments, accounts, orders, and warehouse receipts. The importer suggests the column mapping, flags duplicates, and shows a dry-run preview before anything commits; on shipments and shipping orders it also resolves parties and ports, and the shipping-order and receipt importers remember your mapping for next time.
- Connect the pipes — your email (Gmail, Microsoft 365 including shared mailboxes, or any IMAP host) so the AI can start reading what arrives; QuickBooks Online if you keep books there — a sync across 13 entity types, with payments both ways, not an export.
- Decide where the books live — the built-in freight general ledger, QuickBooks only, or both during the transition. It is a setting, not a project, and you can change your mind later.
- Train the team and go live gradually — documentation, narrated training videos, and the in-app Help Center; admins reshape screens per record type to match how each desk works. Run your first live shipment in Linbis while the rest stay where they are.
The shape of every Linbis go-live: the product arrives configured, data comes in guarded, and the old system is retired on your schedule — not the vendor's.
What the bulk importers actually load
"We can import your data" is the emptiest sentence in software sales, so here is the concrete version. Linbis ships four bulk importers (shipments and accounts from CSV files; shipping orders and warehouse receipts from CSV or Excel), and each runs a guarded sequence: suggest the column mapping from your headers, flag duplicates, and show a dry-run preview of exactly what will be created — before anything commits; the shipment and shipping-order importers also resolve parties and ports. Large files import in the background, and the shipping-order and receipt wizards remember your mapping for the next file.
| Importer | What you bring | What lands in Linbis |
|---|---|---|
| Shipments | A spreadsheet of your operating history or open files | Shipment files with parties, ports, and references resolved |
| Accounts | Your customer and vendor lists | Accounts with contacts — duplicates flagged before commit |
| Orders | Open shipping orders | Orders ready to work — and to convert into shipments |
| Warehouse receipts | On-hand cargo and inventory positions | Warehouse receipts your releases and billing can run on |
The same importer family the homepage promises: your operating history comes across in files, not by re-keying.
Coming off a legacy system? History is the real risk
The documented fear in every software switch is not the new system — it is losing the old one's history: the shipment files, the references, the years of records that prove how your business ran. A pile of CSV exports loaded blind does not answer that fear. A path that checks your records does.
If you are moving off the old Linbis Logistics (.NET) platform, your SQL Server database comes across in a phased, resumable migration. It extracts your records, transforms free-text fields into structured ones, maps your ports to UN/LOCODE reference data, and then proves the data landed — record counts and port and catalog references checked. If a phase fails, the run stops there and resumes from that phase once it is fixed. This is work our team performs with you, not a do-it-yourself export — data migration assistance is listed with the Enterprise plan. Data from any other system comes in through the guarded importers above, each with a dry-run preview that writes nothing until you confirm — and so do day-to-day loads afterwards.
What you're onboarding onto
Everything in the path above lands you on one platform, not one module. Here is what is waiting inside — each live in the product today:
- Ocean shipmentsMaster and house files, consolidations, and container events pulled on request from Maersk and CMA CGM with your own carrier credentials.
- Air shipmentsMAWB and HAWB files, with flights on 50 major airlines followed by live aircraft position every five minutes once OpenSky Tracking is on.
- GroundTrucking and drayage moves on the same quote-to-invoice record.
- Warehousing (WMS)Receipts, releases, zones and bin locations, floor scanning, and storage billing.
- AccountingA double-entry freight ledger, QuickBooks Online synced across 13 entity types, or both at once.
- CRM for forwardersAccounts, a weighted opportunity pipeline, and leads captured from the inbox.
- QuotationsPriced from your contract rates, sent as a threaded email reply, accepted online.
- Pickup & DeliveryPickup and delivery orders that ride the same shipment file.
- Documentation & FormsBills of lading, waybills, certificates — more than 90 templates, over 75 of them rendered live on your letterhead.
- TrackingCarrier milestones, per-container demurrage clocks, and no-login tracking links for customers.
- Rate IntelligenceDrop in a carrier rate sheet — spreadsheet, PDF, or scanned page — and quote from it.
Training happens on the real product
Nobody learns freight software from a slide deck. The training path is the product itself: searchable documentation, a library of narrated training videos recorded from real screens, and the Help Center built into the app. Two of the clips your team will actually watch:
The work queue (8s)
The first screen a new team learns: everything the AI processed, triaged by confidence — high-confidence items approve in bulk, the rest wait for a human.
Video transcript
The work queue triages everything the AI processed — high-confidence items approve in bulk, the rest wait for a human.
The AI freight inbox (14s)
What connecting your email buys on day one: every message classified and structured as it arrives.
Video transcript
Every email is read and sorted the moment it lands — bookings, arrival notices, customs holds. Open one, and the shipment it describes is already structured — one approval turns it into the booking.
When you need a human
Self-serve first, humans close behind. The documentation and video library are searchable and free; inside the app, the Help Center and the AI copilot answer questions where you are working. When that is not enough, the site chat and the contact page reach people who know the product — or request a demo and we will walk your own scenarios in the real product. The Enterprise plan adds priority support and custom training and documentation built around your operation.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get live on Linbis?
The trial is immediate. A small team with clean data can be quoting the same week. An operation bringing years of history should plan a staged path: connections first, then the history — through the guided importers, or through a phased migration run by our team if you are moving off the old Linbis Logistics platform — then go live one desk at a time. Nothing forces a cutover date.
Can you import our existing data?
Yes — bulk importers for shipments, accounts, orders, and warehouse receipts. Each one suggests the column mapping, flags duplicates, and shows a dry-run preview before anything commits; the shipment and shipping-order importers also resolve parties and ports, large files import in the background, and the shipping-order and receipt importers remember your mapping.
What happens to our shipment history from the old system?
It comes with you. If you are moving off the old Linbis Logistics (.NET) platform, our team brings your SQL Server database across in a phased, resumable migration that maps your ports to UN/LOCODE reference data and then proves the data landed, checking record counts and port and catalog references; if a phase fails, the run stops there and resumes from that phase once it is fixed. From any other system, your history comes in through the import wizards for shipments, accounts, shipping orders, and warehouse receipts, each with a dry-run preview that writes nothing until you confirm.
Do we have to switch email or accounting?
No. Connect Gmail, Microsoft 365 (including shared mailboxes), or any IMAP host. Keep QuickBooks Online with a sync across 13 entity types (payments both ways), use the built-in freight general ledger, or run both during the transition — it is a setting, not a project.
Do we have to cut over on day one?
No. Run Linbis alongside your current system — one live shipment first, then a desk, then the operation. You retire the old system when the new one has earned it.
What training and support are included?
Searchable documentation, narrated training videos recorded from the real product, the in-app Help Center, and an AI copilot that answers questions inside the app. Site chat and the contact page reach humans; the Enterprise plan adds priority support and custom training and documentation.
What does getting started cost?
Plans are published on the pricing page — no sales call needed to see a number. The trial is free with no credit card, and the guided importers are part of the product. Legacy-migration assistance and custom training are listed with the Enterprise plan.
Is the trial the real product?
Yes — the full product, not a demo sandbox. The screens in the trial are the same screens in our videos: the work queue, the shipment file, the freight inbox, the accounting.
Start where the path starts
Free, no credit card, and your current system keeps running while you look around.
Start Free TrialThe screens and clips on this page are the real Linbis product recorded on a demonstration company; workflows shown are production features.