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How to setup shipping methods as vendor?
How to setup shipping methods as vendor?

How to manually configure shipping for a vendor selling on a Vendo-powered marketplace.

Grzegorz Zielinski avatar
Written by Grzegorz Zielinski
Updated this week

Vendo lets sellers manually set up a very flexible and accurate system to calculate shipping costs. Sellers may have some constraints defined by the marketplace operator, be it the zones they can ship their orders to, or the currencies accepted by the marketplace. However, the principles and methods of creating shipping methods remain the same. Let's look at an example of a seller who sets up manual shipping rates for his business in the United States.

Name

Starting from the top, a name must be given for the new shipping method. This is the exact wording that the customer will see at the checkout. This should include both the carrier (USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.) as well as the service type (First Class Mail, Overnight, Ground, etc.) Commonly, several shipping methods are needed for a store, for example, USPS First Class International or FedEx Overnight.

Zones

Zones serve as a way to define shipping rules for a particular geographic area. A zone is made up of a set of either countries or states. One shipping method may serve several zones at a time.

Shipping rates calculator

A calculator is the component of the Vendo shipping system responsible for calculating the shipping price for each shipping method. There are several types of calculators to choose from.

Select one and click "Create". You will be able to input details for the calculations after the method gets created.

Choose one of the calculators, input a rate or percent the calculations should be based on, and save. In this simple example, this shipping method charges $8 for each shipment.

Vendo uses several calculators, each of which suits different needs. Below is a description of each one in detail (click on one to be redirected).

Digital Delivery

Used only with the "Digital" shipping category. It allows digital products to be "shipped" for free on the checkout, as this type of product does not require physical delivery. Digital products skip the delivery step as a standard. A calculator is only used if the customer mixes physical and digital products in one cart.

Flat Percent

The Flat Percent calculator calculates shipping costs as a percent of the total amount charged for the order. The amount is calculated as follows:

[item total] x [flat percentage]

For example, if an order had an item total of $31 and the calculator was configured to have a flat percent amount of 10, the shipping cost would be $3.10, because $31 x 10% = $3.10.

Flat Rate

The Flat Rate calculator charges the same shipping price per order regardless of the number of items in the order. The marketplace operator defines the flat rate charged per order at the shipping method level.

For example, if there are two shipping methods defined for a store (“UPS 1-Day” and “UPS 2-Day”), each with calculator type “Flat rate”, a customer could be charged a $15 flat rate shipping cost for UPS 1-Day orders or a $10 flat rate shipping cost for UPS 2-Day orders.

Flexible Rate per package item

The Flexible Rate calculator is typically used for promotional discounts, for example, giving a specific price for the first product, and then subsequent prices for additional products, up to a certain amount. It's great when shipping products in bulk.

The Flexible Rate calculator takes four inputs:

  • First Item Cost: the shipping amount charged for the first item in the order.

  • Additional Item Cost: the shipping amount charged for items beyond the first item.

  • Max Items: the maximum number of items on which shipping will be calculated.

  • Currency: defaults to the default currency configured for the store.

For example, if the First Item Cost is $10, Additional Item Cost is $5, and Max Items is 4, a customer would be charged $10 for the first item, $5 for the next 3 items, and $0 for items beyond the first 4. Thus, an order with 1 item would have a shipping cost of $10, an order with two items would cost $15 to ship, and an order with 7 items would cost $25 to ship.

Flat Rate per package item

Similar to the Flat Rate calculator, but calculated per item, not the whole order. It determines the shipping cost based on the number of items in the order.

For example, if there are 4 items in an order and the flat rate per item amount is set to $10, then the total shipping costs for the order would be $40.

Price Sack

The Price Sack calculator is a way to offer discounted shipping to orders over a certain order amount. The Price Sack calculator takes four inputs:

  • Minimal Amount

  • Normal Amount

  • Discount Amount

  • Currency (defaults to the default currency configured for the store)

Any order whose subtotal is less than what is set for the Minimal Amount would be charged a shipping cost of the Normal Amount. Orders whose subtotals are equal to or greater than the Minimal Amount would be charged at the Discount Amount.

For example, suppose a shipping calculator is created with the following settings:

  • Minimal Amount - $50

  • Normal Amount - $15

  • Discount Amount - $5

A customer whose order subtotal equals $35 would be offered a shipping cost of $15 using this shipping method. A different customer whose order subtotal equals $55 would be offered a shipping cost of only $5.

It may also be used to offer free shipping over a certain subtotal if the discount amount is set to 0. In this case, the configuration for free shipping over $25 or $8 if the total is less than $25, would be as follows:

Estimated Transit Busines Days

In those fields you can add the estimated delivery time per each Shipping Method.

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