How do I Set Up Shipping Methods in my Shift4Shop Store?

This guide will help you set up shipping methods for your store's orders.

Real-Time Shipping Calculation

If you have your Shift4Shop Store integrated with any of the available Shipping Carriers, you can provide Real-Time shipping calculation rates to your customers when they place their orders. This is done by connecting to your shipping carrier account's API and providing the order's point of origin (where your product is shipping from), its destination (where the order is going), and other details about the order (package weight and dimensions if applicable). Your shoppers will then see selectable rates for their orders which will be added to their sub-total.

To begin adding real-time shipping methods to your store, please use the following steps:

1. Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager.

2. Use the left navigation menu and go to Settings > Shipping.

3. Next, click on the Enter Settings button located in the "Shipping Settings" section.

At the very top of the page, you will see an area labeled "Real Time Shipping Information" with a +Icon to the left of it. Click on this icon to expand the setting.

3. Enter your Real Time Shipping Information.
4. Click Save to commit your changes.

This section determines where your products are shipping from for the real time shipping calculation. This could be your main warehouse address or wherever you do your shipping from.

Adding Real Time Shipping Methods

The following steps will outline how to add a real time shipping method

Real Time Shipping methods are available for the following carriers:

-USPS
-UPS
-FedEx
-DHL
-Canada Post
-Australia Post

1. Go to Settings > Shipping.

2. Next, click on the Select Methods button found within the "Shipping Methods" section.

3. Click the +Add Methods button listed for the carrier that you would like to set methods.

4. Select the country and state the shipping method will apply.

5. Then select the individual methods that you'd like to add.

6. Finally, click +Add to have the methods added.

This will add each selected method to the page. Next, you will configure each method as needed.

Each method will have its own individual "Settings" link. Clicking on this link, you will have options for the following:

• Caption
  This field is the label of the method as it will appear on your store front. You may edit it to suit your needs.

• Markup
  This field will allow you to add a markup to whatever shipping cost is returned by the shipping method. This can be either a monetary amount or a percentage (use the % checkbox to do so).

Within the base settings section, you will also see a link labeled "Advanced Settings"

Clicking on Advanced Settings will let you further refine the following settings:

• Min. Weight
  The minimum weight range that the order must meet for this shipping method to be available.

• Max. Weight
  The maximum weight range that the order must meet for this shipping method to be available.

• Customer Group
  The customer group that this shipping method will be available for.

• Country/State Exclude State
  This link allows you to add locations to the method's exclude list so that the shipping method will not apply when these areas are used for the order.

Custom Shipping Methods

Aside from the Real Time Shipping methods, you can also set up Custom or Offline Shipping methods on your store. These are methods that can be based on the Weight, Order Amount, Number of Items, or Zip Code.

In some cases you may need to create a custom shipping method in order to cover shipping costs for a particular set of circumstances. For example, perhaps your products need special shipping considerations not offered by Shift4Shop (freight shipping) or perhaps you'd like to set a free shipping type option where your customers come to your warehouse directly to pick up the merchandise. In these cases, you would use custom shipping methods to accommodate these circumstances.

With Shift4Shop, you are able to set up 4 different types of custom shipping methods. These are:

• Custom - By Quantity
  Based on how many items are being ordered/shipped

• Custom - By Value
  Based on how much the total order costs

• Custom - By Weight
  Based on how heavy the total order is

• Custom - By Zip
  Based on the zip code where the order is going to

The basic setup for each of these is the same as for the real time shipping methods described above. However, their execution is what sets them apart from each other.

For information on using Custom Shipping methods, please click here.

Additional Shipping Method Options

In this next section, we'll describe some of the other Shipping options available to you.

Shipping Countries

When you first set up your Shift4Shop store, ALL countries and ALL states are enabled. However, you may have specific needs which require you to limit the scope of your shipping area.

For example, you may sell Region 1 DVDs that are only available and viewable in North America and selling them to European countries would only increase the amount of returned merchandise you get. Perhaps there are legal, or even product licensing reasons for limiting the areas you ship to. Whatever the case may be, you can specify exactly which countries your cart is able to ship to.

To update the available shipping countries and states, do the following:

1. Go to Settings > Shipping.

2. Click on the Country List link located towards the right side of the page.

3. Check the checkbox next to the country you want to deliver to, and uncheck the countries you do not want to deliver to.

4. Click Save.

You may also want to limit or enable specific states (these can be states/territories/provinces/etc) within your selected countries. For example, in the case of the United States as the country, you may have products that cannot be shipped to specific states due to their individual state laws. Or perhaps you only want to ship to specific provinces in Canada. Whatever the case may be, you can also click on "Check States" to enable/disable or even add/remove specific "states" within these countries.

5. Repeat steps 1 & 2 above.
6. Click Check States next to the country you want to deliver to.

Additional Information

States are pre-populated for you in regards to the United States and Canada. States for all other countries will need to be manually added.

From here, you can do one of the following:

• Check the checkbox next to a state to make that state available and click Save.

• Uncheck the checkbox next to a state to make that state unavailable and click Save.

• To remove a state, check the Remove checkbox next to a state to sand click Save.

• To add a new state, in the Add New State section, enter the name and two letter abbreviation for the state and click Save. (Check your shipping carrier for the appropriate abbreviations)

Multiple Shipping Distributors/Drop Ship

If any or all of your products are shipped directly from the distributor to your customers, then you can use your Shift4Shop store as a "drop shipping" cart. This allows you to have the orders come into your store while automatic email notifications are sent to your distributors containing the specifics of the order (distributor items, quantities, address, etc). Your distributor then sends the product out to the customer as needed.

Shift4Shop's drop shipper features also allows you to use the distributor's address as the origin address for the shipping calculations. Therefore, at checkout the items will be grouped by distributor in order to correctly calculate the shipping rates for the total weight of the order from the distributor's address to the customer's address.

Setting up the Distributors

To add the distributors list:

1. Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager.

2. Select Settings > General > Distributors.

3. Click on the +Add button at the top right of the page.

4. Specify a name for the distributor and click on its +Add button to create it.

5. Next, enter the distributor's contact information including their shipping point of origin and contact email addresses.

6. Check the Is Dropshipper checkbox to have shipping calculated based on the distributor's address.
7. Check the Notify on New Order checkbox to send the automated email to the distributor when a new order is received.
8. Check the Notify on Cancelled Order checkbox to send cancellation notices to the distributor when an order is canceled.

The order emails will be sent to the distributor only when the order includes products that belong to this specific distributor.

The next step in the process is to assign the individual products that are shipped by your distributor.

Assigning Products to the Distributor

After setting up the distributor's list you need to assign the products that belong to each distributor.

1. Login to your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager.

2. Using the left navigation, go to Products and view (or search for) the product that you'd like to edit.

3. Look to the far right of the product listing and click on its Action > Edit button.

4. Select a distributor from the "Distributor" drop-down list.

5. Click Save.

Your product will now be tied to the distributor and drop shipping will correspond accordingly.

Shipping Will be Calculated Later

The "Shipping will be Calculated Later" setting allows for a simple fail-over message stating that shipping will be calculated later in order to allow the checkout process to continue in the event that none of your current Shipping Methods will be applicable. Then, after the order is placed, you can charge the customer separately for shipping as needed.

This control can be accessed from the Shift4Shop shipping settings. To access shipping settings from your Shift4Shop control panel, go to Settings > Shipping and then click on the Enter Settings button under the "Carrier Settings" section.

Once there, click on the + Icon next to "Shipping Settings to reveal a series of checkboxes. Within this area you will see a checkbox titled "Shipping will be Calculated later."

Selecting this option will then apply the following Shipping Message to your customer's cart during checkout. For more information, please see our dedicated guide here.

Specifying Shipping Container Parameters

You can use the store's shipping container settings to determine how shipping calculation will be handled based on how many boxes will be used on the order.

You may set a maximum weight of items each box will hold per shipment.  For example, you may want each box to weigh no more than 50 pounds per order.  Therefore, if a customer makes an order that is a total of 100 pounds, your store can calculate shipping for two 50 pound boxes.

Alternatively, you may want to use predefined shipping boxes instead. Both options may be configured in your shipping settings section.

In your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager, go to Settings > Shipping and click on the Enter Settings button found within the "Shipping Settings" area. Within this page look towards the top left and click on the + icon next to Shipping Settings.

You will see a series of additional shipping settings that can be toggled and set for use on the store.

Max Box Weight

In Shipping settings, you'll see a radio button and an open number field titled "Max Box Weight (Lbs)."

By default, this setting will be set to the number 75. However, your specific carrier may allow for larger shipment weights, so you should check with your carrier's limits and set this field accordingly.

Predefined Shipping Boxes

An alternative to setting a maximum box weight is to use the "Use predefined boxes" radio button instead. This button ( and the "Configure boxes" link) will allow you to specify dimensional box sizes to be used on orders.

With multiple box dimensions set up, the store will select the appropriate box to use for the shipping calculation request that will be made to the carrier. This box selection will be based on the total weight and dimensions of the products being ordered - in comparison to the available weights and measures specified for your boxes.

If a particular order is heavier or larger than the largest box, the store will then add the next appropriate box size to the order for proper factoring of the shipping costs.

For more information on using pre-defined boxes, click here.