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Shift4Shop has several different options for controlling how shipping rates will apply to your customers. Shipping is configured in two separate sections that work closely together - Shipping Settings & Shipping Methods.
Shipping Settings
To access Shipping Settings from your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager, go to Settings >Shipping. Once there, you will see a section labeled "Shipping Settings" with a button that reads "Edit Settings" (second option from the top). Click on this button to review your available Shipping Settings.
The page will be split up into a series of horizontal rows starting with the "Shipping Origin" section at the very top of the page. Some of the sections will have a + icon to the far right that will expand the area to give you selectable options.
Shipping Origin
This section is where you will specify the location from which your packages will be sent. This location will be factored in as the Origin point for the calls the store will make to the shipping carrier when retrieving Real-Time Shipping calculation quotes.
Tip
If you're shipping from drop-shipping services instead of from your own warehouse location, we also give you the option of setting up Drop Shippers. Click here for more information on this process.
General Settings
The next section of the page will be labeled "General Settings" and may be expanded by clicking on the "+" icon located to the far right of it. Expanding this section will give you the following options:
- Allow "Shipping will be calculated later"
In some cases, your configured shipping methods may not be applicable to the customer's circumstances, whether it is due to their particular area of delivery or purchased items in general. For example, you may have shipping methods that only apply to a maximum weight range of 150lbs while your customer is ordering 200lbs. In a case like this, no shipping method would apply to the purchase and the cart would generate an error stating that no shipping method could be found, halting the order process. This setting would allow for a simple fail-over message stating that shipping will be calculated later in order to allow the checkout process to continue. Then, after the order is placed, you can contact and charge the customer separately for shipping as needed.
- Default to Residential Rates (UPS / FEDEX)
FedEx and UPS have different rates when shipping to residential and commercial addresses. In many cases, the commercial rates are less expensive than residential rates. However, you may find in some cases you won't be able to ship to your customer's addresses using the commercial rate (which they've already paid for) and you as the merchant have to absorb the difference. Enabling this setting will force the cart to err on the side of caution, and display ONLY residential rates for UPS and FedEx shipping methods.
- Disable shipping to PO Boxes
This checkbox will prevent the shopper from using a PO Box address to place their order.
- Exclude Gift Certificate from Shipping
Use this setting to prevent gift certificates (when purchased as a virtual product) from being considered for shipping calculation during the order.
- Show rates for all carriers at once
With this setting unchecked, the carriers rates will appear on your checkout pages, but the shopper must click each carrier to view their individual rates. Enabling this setting will display rates on the checkout pages for all of your carriers at the same time in the checkout page.
- Shipping By Value – Exclude Discounts
If you are using the Custom Shipping by Value Option - which allows you to set flat rates based on the order's overall total - enabling this checkbox will calculate the flat rate shipping based on the order's value after discounts have been applied.
- Allow Address Type Selection
As mentioned above, FedEx and UPS (as well as other carriers) have different shipping rates for residential and commercial addresses. In the previous example, the setting would force the cart to always display and use residential shipping rates for UPS and FedEx. This setting will enable your customer the choice of selecting which type of address the order is being shipped to. When toggled, the cart will display an additional drop down menu at the bottom of the Shipping Information screen where the customer can select their address type.
- Auto Select Shipping
This setting applies when you have only one shipping method enabled for your entire store. Rather than having the cart take your customer to the "Select Shipping" page of the checkout process to redundantly select the only available option; this setting will automatically select the available shipping option and skip that portion of the checkout process altogether.
- Exclude eProduct from Shipping
Use this setting to prevent eProducts from being considered for shipping calculation during the order.
- Display Time in Transit
This setting allows for customers to see estimated shipping transit times for real-time shipping. See here for more information.
Free Shipping Settings
This next section will allow you to configure how the handles free shipping on orders when applicable. As before you may click on the "+" icon to expand the section. This will give you the following options:
- Domestic Only
You may have a promotion that offers free shipping to the customer or perhaps an individual item that is specifically configured for free shipping. However, for economical reasons, you may not want to absorb the cost of shipping internationally when free shipping applies. Enabling this setting will limit the cart to only apply free shipping when the "ship to" country entered by the customer is domestic to whichever country you're shipping from
(as entered in the "Shipping Origin" section mentioned above.)
- Do Not Show Additional Methods
By default, in a case where free shipping is applicable to the order, the cart will also display all of the available (paid for) shipping methods that apply to the order. Some merchants use this functionality as a way of showing their customers what they're saving in shipping costs by allowing the customer to compare "Free Shipping" with the alternate rates. However, other merchants may want to minimize the potential for confusion and not display the alternate rates. By checking this option's box the cart will ONLY show free shipping and none of the other options.
- Exclude Free Shipping Items from Real-Time Rates
When enabled, items that are marked for Free Shipping will not have their rates calculated for real-time shipping calculation.
- Minimum Order Amount for Free Shipping
Use this field to specify a conditional order amount that woul honor individual free shipping on items. if the order contains an item that is marked for free shipping, but the order total does not meet this number, free shipping will not apply to the order.
- Retail price orders only
Normally, free shipping (when applicable via promotion or settings) is given to all orders regardless of pricing group.
Marking this checkbox will make free shipping applicable only to your retail customers
- Exclude States
If there are specific US states that you would like to disable free shipping to (i.e. Alaska and/or Hawaii), you may use this grid to select them for exclusion.
- Exclude Manufacturers
Here you can select manufacturers whose products you want to exclude from Free Shipping.
- Exclude Categories
Use this option to select categories that you would like to exclude from Free Shipping
Package Settings
This section will let you control how the shipments will be packaged for real-time shipping quotes. As with the other sections on this page, you can expand the selection with the "+" icon located to the far right. You will see these options:
- Max Box Weight (Lbs)
When calculating shipping, carriers will charge for the total weight of the order as well as the total number of containers used to send the order. This setting allows you to specify the maximum amount (in lbs) that a shipping container can potentially hold before the cart splits the order into two or more containers. As an example, let's say you specify 75lbs as the maximum weight per box. If an order comes in and the total weight is 100lbs, the shipping calculation will calculate for two containers. In this example, the order will be shipped in one large box to its capacity and the remaining 25lbs will be shipped in a separate container.
Tip
Even though the label says "(lbs)" in its title, be aware that the actual denomination of maximum box weight is dicated by your shipping carrier. Click here for more informaiton.
- Use Predefined Boxes - Configure Boxes
As opposed to using the maximum box weight setting mentioned above, this setting allows you to specify a series of boxes with their own pre-defined dimensions. The store will then select the applicable box(es) based on the volume of the items being ordered. Click here for more information on using this method.
Additional Information
If your store is integrated with USPS for real time shipping calculation, you will see a section labeled "Shipping Carrier Box Type" where you can select pre-defined box sizes compatible to USPS' flat rate options.
Selecting one from the drop down will automatically populate the length, width and height fields. You may also select to use your own packaging to make your own dimensions as needed.
View Cart Shipping Preview
The settings shown in this section will let you control if and how the cart's Shipping Preview functionality (in the View Cart Page) is shown. Your choices here are the following:
- Hide Shipping Preview
When a customer places an item in their cart, they are usually taken to a view cart page where they may review the contents of their cart, apply any applicable coupons or simply continue shopping your store. One of the options also available in the view cart page is a shipping preview where your customers can input their zip code to get a quick view of the shipping methods. While this feature only works for US based zip codes, it allows your customers a chance to preview shipping costs. Uncheck this box in the Shipping Settings to hide this option if you so choose.
- Preview All Shipping Methods
If you choose to use the shipping preview function mentioned above, this setting will enable the cart to show ALL of the available shipping methods rather than your first available one.
- Enable International Shipping Preview
If checked, this setting will expand the Shipping Preview function to also allow the preview of international addresses by adding a selectable country and state field to the shipping preview section.
Real-time Shipping Settings
The next section of Shipping Settings page is for your shipping carrier credentials. Your Shift4Shop store can also be integrated with the five major shipping carriers in order to allow your customers to receive their shipping calculations in real-time. When these are set up correctly, the shipping rates will be taken directly from the carrier's individual API interface and return an up-to-date cost for the shipping on the order.
Note
In order to successfully and correctly use the real-time shipping calculation functionality and print labels from the Shift4Shop Online Store Manager, you MUST have your own specific credentials listed for each carrier you plan to offer on your store.
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