Shipping
Shipping methods are the ways through which products are delivered to customers.
The customer chooses a shipping method from the cart to calculate shipping costs and during checkout to select the method by which they will receive the products they are ordering.
There are two types of shipping methods based on the shipping destination:
- Domestic: shipments take place within national borders (the reference country can be changed in the admin). Costs can be varied by province or by postal code if you want to differentiate costs for remote locations.
- International: shipments also or only take place outside national borders. Costs can be varied by country.
Edit the reference country for domestic shipping
- Go to the Settings section.
- Go to the Shipping subsection.
- Click Change next to Reference country.
- Select from the menu the country you want to use as the reference for domestic shipping.
- Click Save.
After changing the reference country for domestic shipping, the provinces associated with existing domestic shipping methods will need to be reselected.
Shipping by weight, number of products, or total amount
Another criterion for dividing shipping methods is the system used to calculate shipping costs: total weight, number of products, or total amount.
Each method has an associated table used to calculate shipping costs. If the shipping method is insured, you can also specify insurance costs in the appropriate table, to be added to the shipping cost.
The shipping costs table is composed of consecutive ranges of weight, number of products, and total amount, depending on whether the method is based on weight, number of products ordered, or the total order amount.
Each range is associated with a fixed cost and a per-unit cost of weight, number of products, or total amount, which must be entered excluding VAT.
Cost calculation is done automatically based on the products in the cart and according to the cost table associated with the shipping method chosen by the customer.
Example of setting up a shipping method
This example shows how, starting from a real-life carrier scenario, you can define one or more shipping methods.
Case
For this example, we assume the carrier divides the national territory into regions, excluding minor islands, and for each region costs vary based on product weight according to a fixed fee plus a variable fee based on weight. Minor islands have costs that vary based on both weight and volume with higher costs.
The case is deliberately complex and we will show how to simplify it. Simplifying more complex real-world cases is necessary for technical reasons, for example it is not possible to know whether a customer lives on one of the islands planned by the carrier, and for practical reasons, for example you want to simplify the customer's choice to a few clear shipping methods to choose from.
Solution 1
The first proposed solution is to create one shipping method for each region. In fact each region needs its own cost table. Islands are included in their respective regions and shipping costs for these regions are increased to average out the higher costs due to minor islands.
The names of the shipping methods include the region name so the customer can select in the cart the shipping method associated with their region. The region name appears at the beginning of the shipping method name because it is the factor that most discriminates the customer's choice.
During checkout, methods that do not apply to the customer's region will not be offered because Open2b, once the shipping province is known, will offer the customer only the list of methods that apply to their province.
Solution 2
The second solution aims to simplify the customer's choice.
To apply this solution, the costs of the various regions and minor islands are averaged to obtain a single application area corresponding to the entire country.
With a single cost table, you get a single shipping method.
Example of setting up shipping costs
This example shows how to enter shipping costs.
Case
For this example we assume a carrier uses weight-based costs (the example is the same if costs are based on number of products or total amount). The following table illustrates a real case.
| From 0 to 10 kg | € 3,00 |
| From 10 Kg | € 10 + € 0,50 for each additional kg |
| From 30 to 60 Kg | € 1 each Kg |
First, identify the ranges, in this case weight. In this case there are three ranges: 0-10, 10-30, and 30-60.
For each range, determine the fixed cost and the cost per additional unit, in this case weight.
For the first range, 0-10, the fixed cost is € 3 and there is no per-unit cost.
For the second range, 10-30, the fixed cost is € 10 and the per-unit cost is € 0,50.
For the third range, 30-60, there is no fixed cost and the per-unit cost is € 1.
The cost table is filled in as follows:
| From | To | Fixed cost | Cost per kg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 10 | 3 | 0 | |
| 30 | 10 | 0,5 | ||
| 60 | 0 | 1 | ||
Example of setting up insurance costs
This example shows how to enter insurance costs.
Case
For this example we assume a carrier has three cost ranges based on the total cost, VAT included, of the shipped goods. The following table illustrates a real case.
| From 0 to € 1000 | € 5,00 |
| From € 1000 to € 3000 | € 9,50 |
| From € 3000 and above | € 12,00 + 0,4% of the total cost |
The insurance cost table is filled in as follows:
| From | To | Fixed cost | Cost % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1000 | 5 | 0 | |
| 3000 | 9,5 | 0 | ||
| 10000 | 12 | 0,4 | ||
The case from € 3000 and above was obtained by indicating a very high upper limit that will never be exceeded in reality.
Add a shipping method
- Go to the Settings section.
- Go to the Shipping subsection.
- Click New Method.
- Choose whether shipping costs are based on weight, number of products, or total amount.
- Choose whether shipping is domestic (by province or postal code) or international.
- Click Proceed.
- Enter the name of the shipping method, as it will be shown to the customer, in the managed languages.
- Fill in the shipping costs table.
- If the shipping method is insured, select Insurance and fill in the related costs table.
- Select the VAT class to apply to shipping costs.
- If cash on delivery payment is enabled for this shipping, enable the relevant option and select the cash on delivery payment method among those available (see the Payments section).
- Select the provinces or countries to which the shipping method applies. You can enable them all at once by clicking Select/deselect all.
- Click Add.
Edit a shipping method
- Go to the Settings section.
- Go to the Shipping subsection.
- Select the shipping method you want to edit.
- Edit the fields as desired.
- Click Save.
Delete a shipping method
- Go to the Settings section.
- Go to the Shipping subsection.
- Select the checkbox to the right of the shipping methods you want to delete.
- Click Delete. A new confirmation window will open.
- Verify you selected the correct methods and click OK.
The following table lists all editable fields for the shipping method:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Code | Shipping method identifier code |
| Name | Shipping method name |
| Visible in store | Indicates that the shipping method is visible in the store and therefore selectable by customers |
| Allow cash on delivery payment with method: | Indicates whether this shipping method includes cash on delivery payment and, if so, which payment method to use for calculating the cash on delivery cost |
| Shipping | Shipping cost table. |
| Insurance | Indicates that the shipping method is insured and therefore the related costs in the appropriate table will be applied in addition. If you want the customer to choose between insured and uninsured shipping, create two distinct shipping methods. |
| VAT class | VAT class to use for calculating VAT on shipping and insurance costs. |
| Provinces or countries | Provinces (if the method is domestic) or countries (if the method is international) to which the shipping method applies. |
| Postal codes | Postal codes to which the shipping method applies. |
| Never apply shipping for these postal codes: | Alternate domestic shipping to postal-code shipping. If the customer, during checkout, enters one of the postal codes present in that shipping method, the standard shipping method related to the same province will be disabled throughout the order process. If the customer had selected domestic shipping at a previous step, it will automatically be replaced by the corresponding postal-code shipping. |
Set the primary shipping method
Note
The selected method, if available or compatible with the products in the customer's cart, will be the first one displayed as preselected.
- Go to the Settings section.
- Go to the Shipping subsection.
- Click the checkbox to the left of the shipping method you want to set as primary. A new confirmation window will open.
- Click OK.