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Shipping Settings
Watch a movie on getting started with Shipping 1
Watch a movie on getting started with Shipping 2
Shipping is by far the most complex issue of any shopping cart, it is advisable to read this section at least once all the way through.
General Settings
Shipping Settings > General Settings
General Settings
Shipping / Bill to fields can be set to show by selecting the check box in the corresponding field, likewise a field can be made mandatory by selecting the “Req’d” field ( Screenshot 2.2).
Additional Shipping Settings
Further fields can be added as needed by using the custom fields, these can be labelled to suit your needs and an array of other parameters governing the custom box can also be selected. This feature could be used to incorporate a custom drop down box / text field / radio button, an example of this would be if you wanted feed back from your customers to how they found your site, to set this up you could do the following:
(Screen shot 2.2 )
In the Field Label text input area you would type a description that the customers would see “Please tell us how you found our site.
The Field type that would best suit this example would be a Dropdown, so you would select this from the Field Type dropdown box.
You would make sure that the Active checkbox was selected and if required a size could also be set, 25 to 40 is about normal.
In the Values field you would enter the text that is going to be pasted in the code, each value must be separated with the pipe character ( | ), so your input may look like this :
tv add | search engine | friend | newspaper
In the Values label field you would list the text that you wish to be seen by the customer in the text field, again you would use the pipe character to separate each entry :
TV Add | Search Engine | Friend | Newspaper
2.2 Screenshot of the General Shipping settings displaying which fields are required and which fields are to be shown, notice that a custom field as been added to allow the customer to give the store owner feedback, each value is separated with a pipe character.
Shipping Settings > Country Settings
In country settings a list of all the common countries and states are listed. You also have the option of adding a country or state that is not in the default listing via the “Add New” State / Country box at the top of the page.
Any country can be deleted from the selection by selecting the delete checkbox and then pressing the “Save Changes” button located at the bottom of the page. Each entry has a Display order field this allows you to alter the position in the drop down box of that region, this value also forms the parent / child relationship between country and state, I shall expand on this issue to make sure that this point is clear.
If in the “Display Order” field the USA had a value of 1 then any of the states of the USA (Texas, Washington, Utah etc) should have the value of 1 in the Dependency field, the state is a child of the parent which in this case is the USA, there will be a 0 (zero )in the “Dependency” field for a country, since this is not dependent on any other value. (Screenshot 2.3 ).
2.3 Screenshot of Country setting for shipping, notice how the states of the USA are associated with the parent Country (USA) by having the same number in there Dependency field as the parent Country as in the Display order field, this is how the cart knows which states are to be associated with which Country.
Shipping Settings > Add/Edit Shipping Methods
Shipping is the most difficult part of setting up your cart. Once you have this mastered, everything else will be simple to do. There are many different ways you can use the default shipping model to setup your shipping. We are going to go through the single price method, multi-price method and percentage price methods. Lets start with the single price method.
The simplest form of shipping is single price shipping. One price is charged no matter how many items are purchased. Any extra cost incurred by the merchant is compensated by the fact the customer has purchased more items, this model is often used for smaller more expensive items such as CDs, DVDs etc.
A quick example would be a store that sells DVDs, the store owner sets the standard shipping to $8.00 for next day shipping to anywhere in the USA, if a customer adds one CD to their shopping basket a shipping charge of $8.00 would be applied, if additional products where added the shipping charge would not increase.
This simple model can be taken one step further by setting up different regions (states and/or countries) with different single shipment rates, to explain this we can use a simple example:
The Virginia DVD company as the name suggests is in the state of Virginia, Harry decides that he would like to purchase the latest release of the widget man movie, he visits the site, adds the movie to his cart and checks out. Upon filling out his shipping details he selects Maryland as his state, because Maryland is next to Virginia the next day shipping is $8.00 (this has been configured by the store owner in the region settings). At the same time Peter in Alaska also decides to purchase the same DVD, upon arriving at the checkout page he selects his state and a shipping price of $12.00 is applied for the next day shipping. Since Alaska is a lot further away then Maryland the cart has been configured to charge more for next day shipping.
Now that you have a general idea of the single shipping method, let’s go through the steps of setting this up.
Setting up Single Shipping Model
Watch a movie on setting up a single shipping model
First we shall set up a single shipping price for all regions. We select the “Edit / Add Regions” under the Shipping Settings menu, we are presented with a row of text fields. We select the checkbox marked “on/off”. In the Region Label field we enter “Std Shipping” and set the base rate to 8.00, make sure that the Per Unit field is set to 0.00. For the time being we shall leave the other fields blank and click the Add button.
2.4 Screenshot showing regions that have been added, your cart can have as many different shipping regions as needed.
Once the new region has been added it will appear on the page ready to have additional regions added to it. To add the states / counties that we wish this rate to be applicable for we click on the “manage” link and the Region Member management page is displayed. Here we can apply states and or countries to the “Std Shipping Region” that we set up. We add the countries USA, Canada, and UK as region members and any time that a customer selects any of those 3 countries when checking out, a shipping value of 8.00 would be added. To make this a little clearer we will work through a brief example:
The Widget store in Virginia is setting up the shipping in their cart and since the shipping costs of widgets differ depending on where they are sent, various regions and costs will have to be set up. The widget store offers 2 types of shipping, Std 3 day and Express next day, however the cost for shipping to the neighbouring states is a lot cheaper than shipping to the other side of the country, so to accommodate this the webmaster first sets up a region for all the states that he considers to be local. He opens up the Region Settings page “Shipping Settings > Edit / Add Regions” and enters Std Shipping in the Region Label. He enters a Base Rate of 8.00 and clicks Add, he then needs to populate this with the correct states, so he clicks on the manage hyperlink which displays the Region Member Management. Since he has a few states to enter he uses the Mass Add Region text field (he could have added the states 5 at a time using the drop-down boxes), he enters his local states using a new line for each state. His list looks like this:
West Virginia
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Pennsylvania
Kentucky
Maryland
Now he needs to create the same set up but this time for next day shipping to the local states. Instead of having to do it all over again he just selects the clone link which makes a duplicate and then he selects edit and changes the base rate to 12.00 and the Region Label to Express Next Day. So now whenever a customer fills in the shipping form and selects any of the above states they would be presented with two options:
Std Shipping @ 8.00
Express Next Day @ 12.00
Other states that are further away can be grouped and a shipping rate set. You have most likely realised by now that you are not just limited to states and that countries can also be added.
2.5 Screenshot of Shipping region admin, this admin section allows you to define which countries belong to which shipping region.
Multi-Pricing Shipping
Watch a movie on Shipping by weight and region
While the single price shipping model above lends itself to one fixed shipping charge per order, a company that ships products that can differ in size, weight and cost the single price shipping may not be the best choice. For example with an Auto Parts store that sells online, it would be realistic to assume that the shipping cost incurred for a replacement headlight to a local customer would be a lot less than sending a replacement engine block to a customer at the other side of the country.
To clarify this we will use the example of our Auto Parts Store and we will set up a region for local, and a region for customers further away. We will also set different parameters for each product which will enable the correct shipping amounts to be calculated. To set the formula for the cost of the large engine block, we first locate the product in the Product Manager (Product Manager -> V/E/D Products), we then amend the value in the Product Weight field to 20, and this means that what ever the base shipping is, a value of 20.00 will be added to it (Screenshot 2.5.1). We then locate the headlight in the Product Manager and enter a lesser value of 3 into the Product Weight field this ensures a value of 3.00 is added to the base price of the normal shipping cost.
2.5.1 Screenshot showing a product that is being set up for shipping, notice the value in the product weight field, this value will be added to the base shipping cost that is applicable to which ever region the customer selects as there shipping destination
We now need to define our shipping regions, and for the purpose of this exercise we will set up 4 regions in total, 2 regions will be for local deliveries (one for Next day and the other for second day) and the same for deliveries in states further away (Screenshot 2.5.2).
We open the Shipping Settings and navigate to “Edit / Add Regions”, in the fields across the top of the page we add “ Std Local Shipping” into the Region Label, we add a value of 8.00 into the Base Rate. This means that there will be a minimum of $8.00 charged no matter how many products are purchased and we set the Per Unit value to 1.00. After entering these values we click Add. We now need to add the local regions, we select manage and add the following states for the “Local Std Shipping”:
Washington
Delaware
Virginia
West Virginia
District of Columbia
We now need to add the same regions, but this time for the “Local Next Day Shipping”, instead of having to go through the same steps to create a new region from scratch, we can just select “clone” and then edit the values to suit our needs, we only need to change the label to Local Next Day Shipping” and enter a base value of 12.00.
We repeat this process for the distance shipping, adding two new regions one for 2nd day the other for Express next day, we enter a base value of 20.00 for the 2nd day and 30.00 for the Express, and for the purpose of this example we add the following states:
Alaska
California
Colorado
Nevada
Texas
Before we go any further with this example, let’s review what we have done so far.
1. Set up a local next day shipping region with a base price of 8.00 and a local express with a base price of 12.00
2. Set up a region for states that we consider not to be local. With a 2nd day shipping at a base of 20.00 and express at 30.00
3. Entered two products into the cart for test purposes (a Headlight and an Engine Block) we set the weight factor on the Headlight to 3 and to 20 on the Engine Block.
So any customer ordering an Engine Block from our store that required Std shipping to any of the local states that we set up would pay a total of 28.00 in shipping, this figure is arrived at as follows:
Local Std Shipping Base Price = 8.00
Weight Factor on the Engine = 20.00
Total Shipping amount = 28.00
If that customer added a Headlight to their order in addition to the Engine Block the Shipping total would increase to 31.00
Local Std Shipping Base Price = 8.00
Weight Factor on the Engine = 20.00
Weight Factor on the Headlight = 3.00
Total Shipping amount = 31.00
You can also increase the multiplying factor on shipping by changing the “Per Unit Rate” value which is located in the Shipping Settings -> Edit Region, to highlight how that would work with the example above after changing the “Per Unit” to a value of 2
Local Base Rate= 8.00
Weight Factor on Engine = 20.00
Weight Factor on Headlight = 3.00
Product Weight Factor x by Per unit value + Base Rate= Shipping Total of 54.00
2.5.2 Screenshot showing the 4 regions described above, notice that this comprises of two regions for local states containing one option for std shipping and the other for express shipping, and two regions for states that we consider to be further away, again one for std shipping and the other for express shipping
Using Percentage as Shipping Value
Instead of using the above formula to calculate your shipping, you can set the value of your shipping to be a percentage of your order, to ensure that it gets calculated correctly make sure that the Per Unit Rate is set to 0 and that no value exists in the Base Rate. If you did enter a value into the Base Rate when using a Percentage method the Base Rate is also added to the shipping charge, so an order with a value of $100.00 and a shipping charge of 10% plus a Base Rate of 8.00 would end up costing 18.00 for shipping.
Setting a Free Shipping Threshold
If you would like to configure your cart to allow free shipping after a certain order value is met, check the Free Ship checkbox and enter the amount that an order would have to reach before free shipping was allowed.
Adding Tax to Shipping Fees
Tax can also be added to the value of your shipping by checking either or both of the Tax checkboxes.
In addition to the comprehensive shipping model that we offer as standard, custom shipping models can be developed upon request.