Every quote shows an accuracy signal — green, amber, or red. It does not grade your item: it says where the packed size and weight came from. A product link or a previously verified item is green; a named model without a listing is amber; a bare category word is red. Carriers bill what they measure, so the difference matters.
Carriers re-measure and re-weigh parcels. If the box is bigger or heavier than quoted, they bill the difference to the account that bought the label.
When you see it: you pasted a product link and we read the listing; or the item is in SMKlog's verified record from a previous shipment; or you typed the box measurements yourself.
What it means: the size and weight trace back to published or measured numbers, not a guess. Buy the label — the quoted price is what the carrier should bill for that box.
When you see it: you described a specific product ("Fender Stratocaster with hard case", "DeWalt DCD777 drill") and the packed size was worked out for that model, without a listing to read.
What it means: right for a typical unit, but variants, bundles, and packaging differ. Ten seconds of checking pays for itself: paste the product link, or measure the packed box.
When you see it: the description named no particular item — "a box", "shoes", "laptop", or a container like "box 12x10x8" — so there was nothing specific to size.
What it means: what you see is a category average. Fine for a ballpark, not for buying a label. Paste the product link or enter your own measurements and the rates refresh against the real box.
Your quote, addresses, and anything you already typed stay exactly where they were.
Measure after the box is packed and taped: longest side as length, then width, then height, in inches. Round each up to the next inch and the weight up to the next pound — carriers round up too, and rounding down is what triggers a correction later.
Retail and manufacturer pages publish the shipping carton size and shipping weight — the same figures the carrier will measure. Pasting the link lets the quote use those published numbers instead of a category average.
The carrier bills the difference back to the label — that is a carrier adjustment, and it applies to every shipping service, not just SMKlog. Confirmed measurements are the only reliable way to avoid one; corrections are reported against the carrier record and refunded if they are wrong.
Yes. Carriers bill the greater of actual weight and dimensional weight (length x width x height divided by a carrier divisor). A large light box can cost more than a small heavy one, which is why an oversized guess is not the safe choice either.