Shipping Services
Three types of shipping services exist:
•Ship to User Address: The shopper provides the delivery address in the shipping region you define.
•Ship to Fixed Address: You provide one or more pick-up points that the shopper can choose from.
•Ship to Address Specified in Separate File: The shopper provides a file containing shipping instructions for the order: multiple addresses, different packaging, grouping of items, delivery times, etc.
NOTE: A shipping service is only available for stores whose price list currency is the same as the currency of the shipping service.
Add a ‘Ship to User Address’ shipping service
You can allow a shopper to provide a delivery address which must be located in the selected shipping region.
1 On the menu bar, choose Advanced > Shipping > Shipping Services tab.
2 In the Shipping Service pane, click the Add button and choose Ship to User Address to add a new service to the list.
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3 In the General tab, complete the Name field.
4 In the Shipping Region list, select a region from the drop-down list.
The Shipping Region list contains one region, Worldwide, by default. You can add your own regions in the Shipping Regions dialog box: See “Create Shipping Regions”.
5 (US print service providers only) Select the Delivered by Printer check box if you are going to deliver orders yourself. This option affects the calculation of sales tax by the TaxCloud service.
6 Complete the following fields:
Tax Codes
Select one of the tax rates from the drop-down list.
NOTE: The tax code option is not available for print service providers in the US. When creating your stores you can choose to use the TaxCloud service to calculate US sales and shipping tax. See “TaxCloud Integration” for more information.
Tracking
Choose a standard service to be used for the actual shipping; this service will be used to track orders once they are shipped.
The following services are currently supported:
•Tracking Not Available
•Canada Post
•Chronopost (France)
•Custom
•DHL, DHL Germany
•DPD
•Federal Express
•Swiss Post
•UPS
•USPS
Choose ‘Custom’ if you are not sure who will provide this service or if the shipping service supports shipment tracking using a personalized URL. When an order is shipped, a pop-up window allows you to insert the tracking URL which will then be included in the shipment confirmation e-mail to the shopper.
Specify Tracking URL Template
In the Tracking drop-down, choose ‘Specify Tracking URL Template’ if you want to specify the syntax of the tracking URL template – for example, if the courier service does not use a predictable URL syntax.
The following is an example with AfterShip, a shipping aggregator, where a custom URL is entered with {0} acting as a placeholder for the delivery ID:
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In this example, if a new order with delivery ID code 695478 is shipped, this means the tracking URL will be https://fancyprints.aftership.com/695478. Other aggregation services may also support the use of a tracking URL template.
Time to ship
To indicate the estimated shipping date, select the check box and enter the Number of days that it takes to prepare an order for shipment. The shopper sees the estimated date during checkout by adding a message in the Shipping Info Tab. For example, set the Number of days to 2 days so a shopper who orders on Monday sees that his order ships on Wednesday. If the Order is placed BEFORE the Order Deadline (set in the Production Calendar), the current day is also taken into account: 2 days will then be "Tuesday" instead of "Wednesday".
NOTE: For this to work, you must define your production schedule. See Production Calendar. Keep in mind that the estimated shipping date does not take all production aspects into account (complex finishing, high quantities, workload, etc.) so you may want to include a disclaimer in the shipping info text.
Estimated shipping dates are shown in the Pending Orders tab: grayed out and in italics in the Shipped column. You can sort on this column to see which orders require priority. Once an order is shipped, the actual shipping date is shown in the regular font. For shipments that are overdue the estimated date is marked in red.
Shoppers see the estimated shipping date:
•in the first checkout step, Shipping, if Shipping Info is configured for the Shipping Service
•in the second checkout step, Review, and in the order confirmation e-mail
•on the order details page
7 In the Pricing pane, complete the following fields:
Calculation Method
This specifies how the shipping price is calculated:
•Fixed Fee per Shopping Cart Item: Enter a fixed amount to be charged for each item the shopper adds to the cart.
•Single Fixed Fee: A fixed amount will be charged for shipping the order.
•Percentage on Order Total: A percentage of the total order amount is added for shipping.
•Fixed Fee plus Percentage on Order Total: A fixed amount and a percentage will be added per order.
•Free Shipping: Nothing is added to the total amount of the order for shipping.
•Shipping costs will be added: At checkout, the shopper is notified that shipping costs will be added to the price of the order but an amount is not specified. The shipping cost is billed separately, outside the StoreFront system.
•Fixed Fee per Package: Enter a base price for the first package and a price for each additional package. StoreFront calculates the total number of packages based on the thickness and weight of the media. All the necessary packaging parameters must be defined for this calculation method to work.
•Fee per Weight Unit: Enter a fixed fee and a price per weight unit. StoreFront calculates the total weight based on the media weight and the weight of the required packaging units. All the necessary packaging parameters must be defined for this calculation method to work.
•Fee per Packaging Unit: Enter the Fixed Fee you want to charge or leave this field blank, save the Shipping Service and then, in the table, set the price that you want to charge per packaging unit. See “Set packaging unit prices” to do this. All the necessary packaging parameters must be defined for this calculation method to work. See “About Shipping Costs Based on Packaging” for more information.
If an order requires different packaging units, select the Use the highest price of first unit once for orders with different units check box if you only want to apply the higher Price of first Packaging Unit once (the highest of all first units will be applied). Otherwise the higher price for each first unit will be applied.
NOTE: The packaging unit table is empty if no units have been defined or if you have not yet saved the shipping service you are creating. See “Create packaging units” to specify these units.
•UPS Quote: This method requires an account with UPS which may not be available in all countries. At checkout, StoreFront submits the address and order data to a UPS service that immediately quotes the shipping cost based on the weight and number of packages. See “Set up a real-time UPS Quote shipping service” for more information.
•Weight based fee: Here you can specify a fixed cost and a price per kilo or pound for multiple weight categories. The weight is the combined weight of all of the items in the order. All the necessary packaging units must be defined for this calculation method to work.
Packing Optimization
Controls how order items are packed together when Fee per Packaging Units is selected:
•By Number of Packaging Units: the system uses as few boxes or rolls as possible, even if this leads to higher shipping costs;
•By Shipping Costs: the system picks the combination of boxes or rolls with the lowest shipping cost, based on the shipping cost for first units, even if this leads to the use of additional packaging units.
Currency
Select the appropriate currency for the calculation method.
NOTE: Once the shipping service has been selected for a store, you cannot edit the currency.
Free for orders above
Enter an amount to offer free shipping for orders above this amount. Shipping is never free if you leave this field empty; if you enter 0, shipping is always free (the same as Free Shipping calculation method).
8 Click Save to confirm your changes.
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The new Shipping Service is displayed in the list.
Max. Shipping Cost
Specify a value that cannot be exceeded when the shipping cost is calculated.
Shipping Info Tab
In this tab you can create a text blurb that appears under the shipping service during checkout.
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If you enabled the Time to ship option, you can insert the following three variables in your text:
•{estimatedshippingdate} inserts the date when the order is expected to be shipped, e.g. '10/10/2017'. The date formatting depends on the regional settings of the store.
•{orderdeadline} inserts the cut-off time, e.g. '11:30 AM'; if you order before this time, the day counts as a production day.
•{shippingdays} inserts the number of days before orders will be shipped, e.g. 4
About Shipping Costs Based on Packaging
You can choose from several methods for calculating the shipping fee of an order. If you choose a shipping service whose cost is based on the packaging (Fixed Fee per Package, Fee per Weight Unit, Fee per Packaging Unit, UPS Quote calculation methods) when setting up a store, the shipping fee depends on the number and type of packaging units required to ship an order. StoreFront chooses the most appropriate packaging units and calculates the number of units by comparing the product specifications with the available packaging units. The number of packaging units is subsequently multiplied by the specified price of the unit.
The following steps are required to set up a store with a shipping service whose cost is based on the packaging.
1 Go to Advanced > Shipping > Packaging Units tab, and create packaging units for the packaging types that you want to make available: different boxes, tubes, wrapping, etc. See “Create packaging units” for more information. You must set the weight, thickness and measurements for the media used for these packaging units in Advanced > Media. See “Media” for more information.
2 Go to Advanced > Shipping > Shipping Services tab and create a service with a fee based on packaging (Fixed Fee per Package, Fee per Weight Unit, Fee per Packaging Unit as calculation method). This is where you set the shipping fee for the different units. See “Shipping” for more information.
3 Go to Stores > Shipping tab and select a shipping service based on packaging. See “Shipping Tab” for more information.
CAUTION: You must assign packaging units to a product template if your store uses a shipping service based on packaging as calculation method. If you do not do this, the shopper will not be able to complete the order process.
4 Go to Product Templates > Packaging Units tab and add packaging units (either boxes or rolls, not both) to the product templates that will be used to create products for the store. See “Packaging Units Tab” for more information.
5 Go to Product Templates > Product Template tab to set packing measurements for the product templates. See “Packing Measurements button” for more information.
6 Go to Product > Pricing and Scheduling tab in the Shipping section and specify Combined Packaging options. See “Shipping”.
Set up a real-time UPS Quote shipping service
This is a packaging-based, Ship to User Address services so read the information “About Shipping Costs Based on Packaging”. This method requires that you, as printer administrator, have an account with UPS which may not be available in all countries. When a shopper checks out, StoreFront submits the address and order data to UPS that immediately quotes the shipping cost based on the weight and number of packages.
Prerequisites
You need to create an account with UPS before performing this procedure.
1 On the menu bar, choose Advanced > Shipping > Shipping Services tab.
2 In the Shipping Service pane, click the Add button and choose Ship to User Address to add a new service to the list.
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3 Complete the fields as explained in “Add a ‘Ship to User Address’ shipping service” and choose UPS Quote as the Calculation Method.
A dedicated dialog is displayed for the UPS Quote method.
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4 Enter the following UPS information:
•User name/Password
•Access Key
•UPS Account Number
•Delivery Method: Select one or more Delivery Methods that UPS supports when shipping from the address in your Production Center to the region that you selected in your shipping service.
NOTE: You may want to create several shipping services – each with a dedicated UPS delivery method.
•Mark-up: You can enter a mark-up to be added on top of the UPS quote.
•Fixed Fee: You can enter a fixed fee to be added on top of the UPS quote.
•Free for orders above: Enter an order amount that entitles the shopper to free shipping.
•Account Type: Make sure you select Production once you’ve finished testing the account; Production guarantees best performance.
5 Click Save to confirm your changes.
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The new UPS Quote Shipping Service is displayed in the list.
Add a ‘Ship to Fixed Addresses’ shipping service
You can specify shipping services with one or more fixed pick-up points. Shoppers can only have their orders delivered to the specified address or addresses.
1 On the menu bar, choose Advanced > Shipping > Shipping Services tab.
2 In the Shipping Service pane, click the Add button and choose Ship to Fixed Addresses to add a new fixed delivery addresses service to the list.
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3 Complete the general and pricing sections as explained in “Add a ‘Ship to User Address’ shipping service”.
4 Enter the Delivery Address details and complete all the required fields.
5 In the Info pane you can use the HTML Editor to enter additional information to help a shopper.
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NOTE: The Delivery Address and Info panes may appear at the bottom of the window and you may need to scroll down.
6 Click Save to confirm your changes.
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The new Shipping Service is displayed in the list with the delivery addresses indented.
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You can add multiple delivery addresses to the same shipping service by selecting a Fixed Delivery Addresses service in the list and choosing Add New Delivery Address in the Add button context menu. You can enter the additional delivery address details; all the other settings are inherited from the service.
TIP: You can customize the Fixed Delivery Address label when setting up the store: see “Shipping Tab”.
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Add a ‘Ship to Addresses Specified in Separate File’ shipping service
The shopper is requested to attach a file containing shipping instructions for his order. The document can be a TXT, Word, Excel, PDF or any other file and it is expected to specify how the order should be shipped. However, this is an off-line method for providing shipping instructions so none of the automation features (calculation of shipping cost based on destination, order data in Excel summary, communication with an MIS system, etc.) apply.
1 On the menu bar, choose Advanced > Shipping > Shipping Services tab.
2 In the Shipping Service pane, click the Add button and choose Ship to Addresses Specified in Separate File.
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3 Complete the general and pricing sections as explained in “Add a ‘Ship to User Address’ shipping service”.
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Orders that come in with this shipping service are indicated in the Pending tab of the Orders page with a diskette icon. You can download this file and read the instructions.
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