Details the requirements for Checkout Rates Options and with a common use case, demonstrates how to use the feature's basic functions.
ShipStation's Checkout Rates Option allows you to configure rates for your customers to select during their checkout process. Enabling this feature will give you the ability to control which rates display to your customers while also allowing them to select their preferred service and carrier.
To send the rates you see in ShipStation for your customer to select during checkout, you will configure the carrier and service for each option and set the type of rate the options will use (live rate or flat rate). ShipStation will then send this information to your store for your customers to choose in their shopping cart.
Checkout Rates Options can be set up to use a flat rate, which allows you to apply the same price to all shipments regardless of shipping cost, or live rates, which pulls a rate from your carrier accounts for the services you define when configuring the delivery options. For example, you could create a standard delivery option using a live rate for a carrier and service that ships within 3-5 days.
When using the live rate pricing method, ShipStation takes the package weight sent from the store, ship-to zip code from the order, and ship-from address in ShipStation and requests rates for all the carrier services you specified. ShipStation compares those responses and passes back the least expensive result and its transit time to display in the store checkout screen.
Currently, the Checkout Rates Options feature must make the following assumptions about the shipments:
Shipments are shipped from your default Ship From location.
Shipments use package type: Package. There is currently no way to designate other package types or receive rates for other package types.
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Product weights from your ecommerce platform are the same as the shipping weight. For the most accurate rates, you may need to adjust the product weights to represent the shipping weights.
If this is not possible with your workflow, an alternate option would be to use the Rate Adjustment option provided in the Checkout Rates Options setup. This allows you to add a percentage or set amount to any rate returned by the carrier's API to compensate for any rate increase the package weight will incur.
ShipStation's new layout (This feature is not available with ShipStation Legacy.)
U.S.-Based account
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An active account with Magento, Shopify, Wix, or BigCommerce.
Please see these store-specific requirements in the Additional Features sections of the Magento and Shopify help articles.
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Store connected to ShipStation and any ShipStation app or plug-in installed on your marketplace account (if required by integration)
If you have not connected your store to ShipStation, follow the instructions from the appropriate article:
Before you can start configuring your options, you must first connect the feature to your store in ShipStation.
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Select your store and click Edit.
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Select the Checkout tab.
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Click the Connect to Store button.
You are now ready for the next step: Configure Checkout Rates Options in ShipStation!
If you receive an error when on an eligible Shopify plan...
If you are prompted to update your Shopify plan in ShipStation when setting up Checkout Rates, but you are already on an eligible plan, this means the Carrier Services endpoint has not been enabled for your Shopify account.
You must contact Shopify and request that the Carrier Services endpoint be enabled on your Shopify account. Once enabled, you can then continue setting up Checkout Rates for your Shopify store in ShipStation.
Once you've connected Checkout Rates Options to your store, you can then start to configure the rates you'd like your customers to see in the store checkout.
Keep in mind, you must create rate options for each store you wish to display these options at the checkout. To edit a store's settings in ShipStation, go to Settings > Selling Channels > Store Setup and click Edit next to the store you wish to edit.
Regular UPS Accounts vs UPS from ShipStation Rates
If you have both a regular UPS account and UPS from ShipStation set up in your account and you wish to offer your customers the lowest UPS rates, please be careful to select the UPS from ShipStation services in the Checkout Rates live rate setup.
To create a Checkout Rates option:
Open your store settings and go to the Checkout tab.
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Click the Add Checkout Rate button.
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Enter a Checkout Rate Name and Description.
Your customer will see both the name and description you enter here on their checkout screen. For example, name the option Standard Shipping with a description, "Usually arrives in 3-5 days."
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Select a pricing method.
Live Rate: Requires additional setup that includes selecting a service, a rate adjustment, and what to do if live rates are not available. See the Configure Live Rates section below for details.
Free: No additional setup is needed.
Flat Rate: This requires you to set the flat rate for this delivery option.
Click Save when done.
Repeat the above steps for each rate option you'd like your customers to see during checkout from this store.
Once you've created all the options you'd like your customers to choose from when they check out from your store, you'll also need to enable the feature on the store side for certain stores. Review the following articles for details on enabling the feature in your store:
When you choose the Live Rates pricing method, ShipStation will query the carrier APIs for the services you've selected. Then, ShipStation will choose the cheapest rate to return to the checkout page.
If you opt to include a rate adjustment, ShipStation will adjust the rate we receive from the carrier API and display the adjusted rate on the checkout page.
To configure the Live Rate Pricing Method:
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Choose Live Rate from the Select a Pricing Method drop-down.
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Select at least one service from the Select Shipping Services drop-down.
If you select multiple services, ShipStation will query the rates for each service from the carrier APIs, compare them, and then return only the cheapest option to display to your customer in the store checkout.
For example, your Standard Shipping option includes FedEx Ground, UPS Ground, and USPS Parcel Select Ground as possible services. If ShipStation sees UPS Ground offers the cheapest rate for the shipment, your customer will see the UPS Ground rate for the Standard Shipping option at checkout.
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Apply any rate adjustment you'd like ShipStation to make before displaying the rate to your customer (the default is set to None).
You can choose to add the cost to the cart, deduct a percentage from the rate returned by the carrier API.
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Tell ShipStation what to do if live rates are unavailable.
Do not display: ShipStation will not display this rate option on the checkout screen at all.
Charge a flat rate: ShipStation will show the amount you enter as the rate for this shipping option during checkout.
Charge a % of Cart: ShipStation will multiply the pre-tax cart total by the percentage entered and display that number as the rate for this shipping option during checkout.
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Check the box to make the option Active and Visible In Your Marketplace.
Click Save.
Once you have configured the options you'd like your customers to see at checkout, use the Preview option to see what rates and details ShipStation will send for an example shipment.
To preview your Checkout Rates options:
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Click the Preview button in the Checkout tab of your store setup.
Select a Country, then enter a Zip Code and a package Weight.
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Click the Preview Rates button.
For this example, the preview shows the customer will see three shipping options in the Shopify checkout screen: Standard Delivery, Expedited, and Fastest. Options that do not apply or do not give a lower rate will be greyed out.
ShipStation sends the name and description you configured in ShipStation, as well as the transit time and rate received from the carrier API.
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Check the Show Advanced Preview box then click Preview Rates for a more accurate preview. This level of detail requires residential or commercial addresses and street addresses.
International Shipping Available
Checkout Rates Options will also appear for those shipments with an address outside the country.
Selling Channels may have requirements for Checkout Rates Options to work.
To calculate rates for your delivery options, ShipStation uses product weights from the ecommerce platform. Please make sure those product weights represent the shipping weights.
The Checkout Rates Options feature assumes all shipments are shipping from your default Ship From Location and using a package type of Package. There is currently no way to choose other package types or enter package dimensions.
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Troubleshooting tip: If a rate is not appearing as an option in checkout:
It may not be the cheapest rate option. (The default is to show the cheapest rate.)
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The active checkbox for the rate is unchecked. This box must be checked for ShipStation to send the rate option to your store checkout.
Troubleshooting tip: If you see a blank page under Checkout after ShipStation enables Checkout Rates Options on your account, you will need to enter a Ship From Location.