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Set manual shipping rates for ShopBase stores

The manual shipping rates can be set by you if you use regular mail or fulfillment service to take care of your order delivery. The manual shipping rates are based on either total weight or total price of the order at checkout.

In this article, we will guide you how to set shipping rates for orders in your ShopBase store.

In this page



A. How to charge for shipping
B. When to use manual shipping rates
C. Add weight-based manual rates
D. Weight ranges
E. Add price-based manual rates
F. Adjust or delete manual shipping rates
G. Add a handling charge
H. Add a regional surcharge
I. Add item-based rates
J. Select preferred rules

A. How to charge for shipping



If you don't know how much you should charge for shipping, you might want to contact some postal services and asking for their advice. They usually have information of delivery costs for various sizes and weights.

Make sure that you also add a surcharge such as handling charge or packaging costs to your shipping fee.

A manual shipping rate applies to a single shipping zone. You can't assign a shipping rate to an individual product.

B. When to use manual shipping rates



Shipping methods that require manual rates include:

free delivery
customer pickup
various regular postage rates
deliveries managed by a fulfillment service.

There are 3 types of manual shipping rates:

Weight-based rates – set shipping rates based on the total weight of the orders.
Price-based rates – set shipping rates based on the price of the order.
Item-based rates - set shipping rates based on each item on the cart.

C. Add weight-based manual rates



You define how a rate applies by setting a condition based on either the weight or total value of an order. The rates that your customers see at checkout reflect the price or weight limits that you've set for each shipping rate.

Weight-based rates are usually more accurate than price-based rates because they reflect the actual costs of shipping a customer's order. If you fill in accurate weights for your products in your ShopBase admin, then it's less likely you will be charged extra for shipping costs by your provider.

Weight-based rates are calculated based on the weight of a customer's order. You can set the weight of your product at Products page in your ShopBase admin.

From your ShopBase admin site, go to Settings > Shipping.

In Shipping rates at checkout section, select Edit beside the shipping zone that you want to add the rate to:


If you want to add the rate to a new zone, you'll need to create a shipping zone first.

Click Add rate in the Weight based rates section:


In the dialog, enter a name for the shipping or delivery option in the Name field. The name that you enter shows up on the checkout page.


In the Range section, enter the minimum and maximum order weight values for the rate. This means your customers are eligible for this shipping rate only if the weight of their order is within the range:


Note that if you add multiple weight-based rates for a shipping zone, make sure that there are no gaps between your weight ranges.

In the Rate section, enter the price of the shipping rate in the Rate amount. This amount is added to your customer's order when they select this rate at checkout. Select the Free shipping rate checkbox if you want to offer your customers free shipping for this weight category.

Click Done.


Click Save at the bottom of the shipping zone page, or Save changes at the top of the page:



D. Weight ranges



To avoid gaps in your applicable rates, it's necessary to set up correct weight ranges. After you entered a weight range, start with the next range whose value has two numbers after the decimal point. For example, the two ranges below have no gap:
0 kg - 0.99 kg: $2
1 kg - 9.99 kg: $20

There is a gap when you made two weight ranges without required decimals. In that case, your customers will see no shipping method available when checking out, and cannot place their order successfully.

If you use apps that affect shipping rates and an order's weight is in the gap between two ranges, chances that the customer might not be shown any shipping methods.

E. Add price-based manual rates



Unlike Weight-based rates, price-based rates are quick and easy to set up because you don't need to enter individual item weights when adding products to your store. However, basing your shipping costs on the total value of an order can be inaccurate, and you might be charged additional costs if the items are heavy.

All price-based shipping rates are calculated according to discounted totals. If a customer uses a discount code, shipping for the order is calculated based on the amount after discounted.

From your ShopBase admin site, go to Settings > Shipping.

In Shipping rates at checkout section, select Edit beside the shipping zone that you want to add the rate to:


If you want to add the rate to a new zone, you'll need to create a shipping zone first.

Click Add rate in the Price based rates section:



In the dialog, enter a name for the shipping or delivery option in the Name field. The name that you enter shows up on the checkout page.

In the Range section, enter the minimum and maximum order prices for the rate. This means your customers are eligible for this shipping rate only if the value of their order is within the range:


If you wish to have no maximum order price, enter No limit in the blank.

In the Rate section, enter the price of the shipping rate in the Rate amount. This amount is added to your customer's order when they select this rate at checkout. Select the** Free shipping rate** checkbox if you want to offer your customers free shipping for this class.

Click Done


Click Save at the bottom of the shipping zone page, or Save changes at the top of the page

F. Adjust or delete manual shipping rates



From your ShopBase admin site, go to Settings > Shipping.

In Shipping rates at checkout section, select Edit beside the shipping zone that you want to make change


Click Edit to edit the shipping rates. After you finish, click Done.

If you want to delete the shipping rate, click the x icon beside it.

Click Save at the bottom of the shipping zone page, or Save changes at the top of the page.

G. Add a handling charge



When calculating the shipping costs, you should take into account the packaging cost and time amount needed to prepare the order for fulfillment. These extra costs are known as handling charges, and you can incorporate them by adding a fixed amount to your product prices from the Products page)

H. Add a regional surcharge



Some particular or long-distance delivery regions will incur higher shipping costs. To avoid such potential losses, you may want to add a surcharge to these destinations, while keeping rates of the other destination country unchanged.

Create a new shipping zone for the region you are adding a surcharge.

Create a new shipping rate for the zone. Make sure the pricing information for the rate includes the necessary surcharge amount.

I. Add item-based rates



If you can estimate the base cost for the first item's delivery, and additional cost for each added item, you can add the item-based rate on your store.

From your ShopBase admin site, go to Settings > Shipping.

In Shipping rates at checkout section, select Edit beside the shipping zone you want to add or Add new zone first.


Click Add rate in the Item-based rates section to open the dialog.

Enter a name for the shipping or delivery option in the Name field. It will show up on the checkout page.


Enter a group name (optional) if you want to add multiple rates.

Only one rate with the highest price in the group will be displayed on the checkout page. The rates in the different groups will be all displayed on the checkout page.


Add condition (optional) to filter by product SKU if you want to add item based rate for specific products. If there are no filters, all products will be applied to this rate.


Fill in the fees for first item and additional items. The shipping fee will be calculated as:

Total shipping fee = First item shipping fee + additional item shipping fee x number of additional items.


Click Save at the bottom of the shipping zone page.

This is how it works on the checkout page:



J. Select preferred rules



When you have several rates on your store, you should set a rule about which rate should be applied to each order. On ShopBase, there're two rules you can select:
Lowest returned rule: by default the system automatically selects the lowest rate on checkout page among shipping methods.
Highest returned rule: by default the system automatically selects the highest rate on checkout page among shipping methods.
To set your preferred rule, please go to Settings > Shipping > Edit > Preferred rules. Click Save when you finish.

Updated on: 23/08/2022

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