How to Setup Shipping rates of your Online Store

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Having the correct shipping configuration can be a very important factor when it comes to the success or failure of your online business. In this article, we will take you through the steps of how you can correctly configure shipping and shipping rates.

To start configuring the shipping methods of your store, in your Admin Panel, go to Checkout > Shipping from the left side menu.

Methods to Calculate Shipping Rates

In this section, you can select the shipping options you wish to have for your customers at checkout. You can have one or several at the same time.

Free Shipping

This method adds $0 to the order value for shipping. You must take into account that if you want to limit this type of shipping to certain places you must follow the following steps:

Create a shipping zone
Add the countries, cities, regions and communes where you offer free shipping.
Associate the method to the new zone.
Activate the shipping zone and the option to use it in the purchase process.

For more information about shipping zones, click here: How to configure shipping zones in your online store.

Flat Rate

It is the simplest method because there are no calculations or variations. For example, all products shipped to the US They have the same rate: USD $ 50.

You can set up two different types of rates: a fixed amount per product (for example, USD $ 50) or a defined percentage of the price of the product (for example, 2%). This type of shipping method is often used in stores that ship only to a specific region or country where shipping costs are almost the same on all shipments.

You can also include a Free Shipping option based on either; a Minimum Purchase Amount or Minimum Number of Products.

Pay on delivery

This method adds $0 to the order value for shipping, because it is assumed that the customer will pay the shipping cost at the time of delivery. It works like free shipping method, however it will not show a $0 cost in the checkout process, it will show a message instead.

External Shipping

You can add shipping methods from shipping rates aggregators by creating an External shipping method. Submit a callback url to retrieve shipping rates from your shipping rates aggregator and an url to retrieve a list of available services to use on your Jumpseller store.

You can click on the Fetch Services button to get the list of services available so that you can activate the ones you want in your store.

Table Rates (Shipping Table)

By using this method, you can set different prices per country (and regions within that country, for example, Texas, in the US).

The prices of subtables can be based on one of the following four parameters:

Weight: total weight of the order. It depends on the weight of the product set on the product detail page.
Price: the sum of all the products added to your order.
Number of items: total number of items in the order.
Radius: the radius of the distance to the delivery address.

This rate table, in turn, can be divided into subtables, with different parameters and prices for regions and / or countries.

You can also include a Free Shipping option based on either; a Minimum Purchase Amount or Minimum Number of Products.

Using this method, you can have different shipping scenarios. Let’s imagine:

Scenario 1: Same price ranges for all selected locations

In this case, all selected locations handle the same price ranges. For example:

For weights between 0-2kg the shipping is free EUR 0.
For weights between 2-5kg the price is EUR 10.
For 5kg and up, the price is EUR 25.

Scenario 2: Different prices for different locations

You can have specific subtables for different countries or locations. First, click on Add New Shipping Table.

You can then add Countries, which include all regions, or direct these shipping rules to specific Regions in each country.

Important: Any regions not specified, the rates will be taken from the “Other Locations”. You must take this into account, if any country or region is not previously considered and this table also has no values other than 0, then you run the risk of not charging for shipping to those locations.

Selection of Shipping Countries and Locations

It is now possible to assign shipping methods to a set of countries, cities or locations. For example, if you have 2 shipping methods and 1 is only used in the capital city and the other is used for the rest of the country, then it is possible to assign respectively the shipping for more efficiency in the checkout process. To learn how to configure a shipping zone please read the documentation: Shipping zones

Store Pick Up (Locations)

Another way to fulfill your orders is by enabling Locations.

If you are selling locally, you also have the option to enable local pickup for your store. A store can have multiple pickup locations.

You can set specific pickup instructions like how long will the Pickup Place have the order available.

To offer the in-store pickup option to your customers, you must use our V2 checkout.

Add a physical location inside the Checkout > Locations menu following the instructions in our support guide.

This way, the system will add the in-store pickup option automatically in your checkout page, as shown in this image:

Advanced Shipping Options: Product Shipping Profiles

Product Shipping Profiles allow you to configure shipping methods that are displayed only for specific product categories. This feature provides greater flexibility in managing shipping rates and methods tailored to your product types.

How to Configure Product Shipping Profiles

Navigate to the Shipping Settings:
- In your Admin Panel, go to Checkout > Shipping Rates.
Create or Edit a Shipping Method:
- Select an existing shipping method or create a new one.
Select the Product Shipping Profile:
- In the Product Selection section, choose whether the shipping method applies to:
  - All Items: The method will apply to all products in the store.
  - Selected Categories: The method will only apply to products from selected categories.
- If selecting specific categories, use the dropdown or list to pick one or more categories. For example, choose “Category 1” and save the configuration.
Behavior When Products from Multiple Categories Are in the Cart:
- The shipping method will only appear when all products in the cart belong to the same selected category.
- If the cart contains products from multiple categories, the method will follow the merchant-defined rules to display applicable methods.
Save Your Changes:
- Once you’ve configured the shipping profile, save your changes to activate the method.

Common Use Cases

Use Case 1: General Shipping and Category-Specific Shipping (Most Common)

Scenario:
The merchant sells two types of products:
- Type 1: Big products (e.g., furniture)
- Type 2: Small products (e.g., accessories)
  The merchant wants to charge more expensive shipping for larger products because of higher costs such as special wrapping and handling. For smaller products, a cheaper shipping option is sufficient.
The merchant has two shipping methods:
- Shipping Method 1: For all products (no restrictions).
- Shipping Method 2: For small products only.
Behavior:
1. If the cart contains only big products, the checkout will show Shipping Method 1 but not Shipping Method 2. This ensures the higher shipping cost is applied.
2. If the cart contains only small products, the checkout will show both Shipping Method 1 and Shipping Method 2, giving the customer the choice (likely Shipping Method 2 will be cheaper).
3. If the cart contains both big and small products, the checkout will show Shipping Method 1 only, as it applies universally and ensures the correct (higher) charge for the big product.

Use Case 2: Exclusive Shipping Methods by Product Type

Scenario:
You sell two types of products:
- Type 1: Big products (e.g., appliances).
- Type 2: Small products (e.g., decor).
  You have two shipping methods:
- Shipping Method 1: For big products only.
- Shipping Method 2: For small products only.
Behavior:
1. If the cart contains only big products, the checkout will show Shipping Method 1 but not Shipping Method 2.
2. If the cart contains only small products, the checkout will show Shipping Method 2 but not Shipping Method 1.
3. If the cart contains both big and small products, no shipping methods will be displayed because the conditions for each method are not fully met.

Testing Your Setup

To ensure your Product Shipping Profiles work as expected:

Add products from a selected category to your cart and proceed to checkout.
Confirm that the configured shipping method appears based on the conditions.
Add products from a different category and verify that the shipping method behaves as described in the use cases above.

If you have further questions, reach out to our Support Team.

If you need more help, write to our support.