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Freight Billing

Post-audit: the bills you already paid, checked line by line against your contracts. Every overcharge becomes a written claim, and the carrier pays your company back.

What we can audit, and what we cannot

Electronic freight bills you already paid, with the date each was paid, read and audited by ZetaVolt’s own software:

EDI freight invoices. X12 210 (truck), 110 (air), 310 (ocean) and 410 (rail), from your carriers or your EDI provider — uploaded, sent to your own ZetaVolt address, or picked up from your EDI mailbox (SFTP or AS2).
Carrier billing data files. CSV or Excel files of invoices exported from a carrier’s billing portal, your TMS or your accounts payable system.
Bills sent by your own systems. JSON sent by your TMS or ERP to your own ZetaVolt address, as bills are made.
PDF invoices made by a carrier’s billing system. Electronic PDFs with the words in them (the kind a carrier emails), one bill per file.

Not audited: paper bills, scans, photos and faxes — ZetaVolt does not key bills in by hand.

Bringing in paid bills costs nothing: ZetaVolt is paid only its share of what carriers refund or credit you. A file or bill ZetaVolt cannot read is refused.

Each bill is checked line by line against the contracts, tariffs and fuel tables you bring in: the rate, the discount, the minimum, the fuel surcharge, every accessorial, the freight class and duplicates. You get what to approve, what to hold back and why, the written notice for the carrier, and the report your accounts payable pays from.

The carrier refunds or credits your company directly. ZetaVolt never receives, holds or moves carrier money. ZetaVolt’s share — 45% of what is recovered, the rate in your signed agreement — is due only when money comes back. A share under $1,000 is charged to your card on file when you have one with ZetaVolt; otherwise, and always from $1,000, it comes as an invoice from Paddle, our reseller, due in 15 days and paid by bank transfer (wire or ACH) or card.

The sample post-audit — nine paid bills, every overpayment found

Sample Shipper Inc.’s bills, each paid in full twelve days after it arrived, audited afterwards exactly as yours are: a liftgate billed above the contract, a discount short of it, a residential charge and a charge the contract never lists, one paid twice, one from a carrier with no contract on file — each a written claim with its clocks, one already refunded with ZetaVolt’s share taken out. Nothing is saved.

Paid bills audited

Paid

$3,412.00

Owed back

$595.00

Claims

Paid twice

In time to claim

6 of 6

Recovered

$35.00

Yours after the share

$19.25 (45% to ZetaVolt)

$595.00 owed back on 6 of 9 paid bills: 6 claims, the shipper as the payee; $35.00 already refunded on EXF-220174.

EXF-220118 · Example Freight Lines paid $360.00 · owed back $0.00
Every line matches the contract.
EXF-220131 · Example Freight Lines paid $391.00 · owed back $10.00In time
Accessorial not in the contract or above it: Liftgate billed $85.00; the contract says $75.00.
EXF-220118 · Example Freight Lines paid $360.00 · owed back $360.00In time
Paid twice — the second payment is owed back in full.
EXF-220140 · Example Freight Lines paid $645.00 · owed back $105.00In time
Discount not applied as agreed: Discount billed $975.00 on $1,500.00; the contract gives 72% ($1,080.00).
EXF-220152 · Example Freight Lines paid $371.00 · owed back $65.00In time
Accessorial not in the contract or above it: Residential billed $120.00; the contract says $90.00. Accessorial not in the contract or above it: notify charge ($35.00) is not in the contract's accessorial schedule.
EXF-220163 · Example Freight Lines paid $432.00 · owed back $0.00
Every line matches the contract.
EXF-220170 · Example Freight Lines paid $365.00 · owed back $20.00In time
Accessorial not in the contract or above it: Liftgate billed $95.00; the contract says $75.00.
EXF-220174 · Example Freight Lines paid $434.00 · owed back $35.00In time
Accessorial not in the contract or above it: Liftgate billed $110.00; the contract says $75.00.
SPC-77810 · Sample Parcel Co paid $54.00 · owed back $0.00
No contract on file for this carrier: only a double payment could be caught.

The claim letter the sample writes

Sample Shipper Inc.
Date: 2026-11-06

To: Example Freight Lines (EXFR) — freight claims
Re: Overcharge claim PA-SAMPLE-1 — PRO EXF-220131

Sample Shipper Inc. files this overcharge claim in writing under 49 CFR Part 378 for $10.00 on the freight bill named above (shipped 2026-10-08), invoiced 2026-10-13, paid 2026-10-25. Billed $391.00; paid $391.00; the agreed terms are in our contract “Sample LTL agreement” with you.

What was charged, against what was agreed:
1. Accessorial not in the contract or above it — Liftgate billed $85.00; the contract says $75.00. Billed: liftgate charge $85.00. Agreed: Liftgate $75.00. Owed back: $10.00.

Amount claimed: $10.00. A copy of the freight bill is attached.
If you believe a charge is right, please send the rate, classification or rule it is based on (49 U.S.C. § 13710(a)(1)).

Payment: Refunds go to Sample Shipper Inc. only — by check to Sample Shipper Inc. or as a credit memo on Sample Shipper Inc.’s account. ZetaVolt does not receive or handle any payment. Please reference claim PA-SAMPLE-1.

Sincerely,
Sample Shipper Inc.

The freight market today

Public figures from U.S. agencies, via FRED, each dated by its publisher and read again once a day.

Updated 1 hour ago · updates once a day for visitors and on the Free plan; the $10 and $20 plans update every 12 hours, plans from $99 every 6 hours, plans over $1,000 every hour.

All the analytics →

Diesel, U.S. average

$6.292/gal

week of Nov 2, 2026

−0.9% vs week of Oct 26, 2026

+67.7% vs week of Nov 3, 2025 (unfavourable for you)

U.S. Energy Information Administration · FRED GASDESW

Crude oil (WTI)

$99.64

Nov 3, 2026

−0.4% vs Nov 2, 2026

+61.3% vs Nov 3, 2025 (unfavourable for you)

U.S. Energy Information Administration · FRED DCOILWTICO

LTL freight prices

319.9

Sep 2026

+4.2% vs Aug 2026

+19.8% vs Sep 2025 (unfavourable for you)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · FRED PCU484122484122

Truckload freight prices

219.4

Sep 2026

+4.6% vs Aug 2026

+17.9% vs Sep 2025 (unfavourable for you)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · FRED PCU484121484121

Nothing is saved for visitors. Here is how the post-audit works, on the sample bills.

How the post-audit works

Bring in the bills you already paid — an EDI file, your accounts payable export, a carrier portal’s CSV, or a PDF — with the date each was paid.
Each one is checked against the contract that was in force on its ship date: rates, discount, minimum, fuel, every accessorial, and anything paid twice.
Every overcharge becomes a written claim with your company as the payee, with its clocks: 180 days to give written notice, 18 months to sue, or your contract’s shorter window. Older bills are goodwill — the carrier may decline.
Send it from your own mailbox in one tap, or let ZetaVolt send it for you. The carrier answers through the claim’s own link, refunds or credits your company, and you record it — or Zeta spots the credit on a later bill and asks you to confirm.

What a look back at paid bills can hold

Industry estimates, not a guarantee. Your results depend on your carriers, contracts and bills.

About 4.5% of LTL freight bills had a billing error — 11,881 errors in nearly 250,000 LTL invoices audited.
Source: AFS Logistics, “Stat’s Incredible: Common LTL Invoicing Errors” · published undated · read 2026-10-29
42.8% · 14.4% · 12.3% · 10.3% of those errors were accessorial charges, fuel surcharges, freight class, and the discount, minimum or rate.
Source: AFS Logistics, “Stat’s Incredible: Common LTL Invoicing Errors” · published undated · read 2026-10-29

What can still be claimed depends on the clocks: a bill contested in writing within 180 days of receipt (49 U.S.C. § 13710), an overcharge suit within 18 months (§ 14705), and your contract’s own window when it is shorter. Older bills are goodwill — the carrier may decline.

ZetaVolt will publish its own clients’ results here once there are case studies.

How it is paid

Pay as you go: 55¢ per bill audited, 50¢ from 10,000 bills a month, 45¢ from 100,000 bills a month. You pay only for the bills audited each month, charged to your card as it adds up (at least $10.00 a month, counted toward your bills). For example: 1,000 bills $550 · 10,000 bills $5,000 · 100,000 bills $45,000.

Post-audit: ZetaVolt’s share is 45% of what carriers refund or credit to you — the rate in your signed agreement — due only when money comes back; nothing recovered, nothing owed. A share under $1,000 is charged to your card on file when you have one with ZetaVolt; otherwise, and always from $1,000, it comes as an invoice from Paddle, our reseller, due in 15 days and paid by bank transfer (wire or ACH) or card.

Every price on Plans and usage

Every claim is ZetaVolt’s own reading of a paid bill against the contract on file — software, not legal advice. Your company decides what to claim; the carrier pays your company directly.