Setting up Shipping Countries/Regions & Shipping Rates

Shipping Countries & Regions are a very important component of your online delivery service. Your Implementations Team will work with you to set up your Shipping Countries/Regions and Shipping Rates.

Step 1: Select the countries and or regions you wish to deliver to from the list below

You can select "special countries / regions" from the following:

• Ireland (26 counties) OR Ireland (32 counties)
• Northern Ireland (6 counties)
• Great Britain OR UK
• EU - and you can specify which countries in the EU you will deliver to
• Europe (non EU) - and you can specify which countries you will deliver to
• USA
• Canada
• Australia
• New Zealand

AND/OR you can select continents such as:

• North America - and you can specify which countries you will deliver to
• South America - and you can specify which countries you will deliver to
• Asia - and you can specify which countries you will deliver to
• Africa - and you can specify which countries you will deliver to
• Oceania - and you can specify which countries you will deliver to
• Antarctica - and you can specify which countries you will deliver to

AND/OR you can select from any of the 250 countries available on AB Commerce.

Step 2. Decide the Shipping Rates needed for each selected Country/Region. Please consider the shipping configuration options below: 

Shipping Rate Calculated before Checkout

The shipping rates are set up so that the shipping rate is calculated before the user gets to the checkout.  Their default country is shown and they can change this to another country at the VIEW BASKET page.  The reason for this is so that we can add options in the future so that mobile phone users can bypass the checkout to pay with just one-click (e.g. one-click checkout through PayPal Express).

Shipping settings for Products

You may want to alter the shopping settings for individual products to facilitate free delivery or additional delivery charges if the item is difficult to deliver. To do this

1. Log in as Website Admin

2. Navigate to the product that you wish update

3. Select Edit Product Content link in the Information Box above the product details 

4. Scroll down to Shipping Rates. You can select:

• FREE DELIVERY – If the product has no shipping rates (e.g. gift vouchers). If your basket only has products set for FREE DELIVERY, the customer will not be charged shipping at checkout.
  • You can elect that this is only available for certain regions above
• IS BULKY – If the product is heavy/bulky/difficult to deliver, you may need to charge a higher shipping rate. If your basket has one or more bulky products, the customer will be charged the bulky shipping rates instead (more details below).

 5. To process your changes select Save Changes or select CANCEL if you change your mind

Standard Shipping Rates & Bulk Shipping Rates

The types of shipping rates that can be set up are as follows:

• Fixed Shipping Rate per Country/Region – you can set a fixed shipping rate for a specific country (e.g. all orders to EU countries are charged €9.50 for shipping).
  • And you can also set a BULKY shipping rate per country – e.g. for orders that contain bulky items to the EU, they are charged €19.50 for shipping.
• Free Shipping above a certain order value – on top of the Fixed Shipping Rate per country above, you can also have tiered shipping rates – e.g. free shipping to Ireland for all orders above €50. Offering free shipping above a certain order value is recommended as most shoppers who leave websites at checkout generally leave due to higher than expected shipping rates.  Also, it encourages shoppers to increase the value of their basket to get the free shipping rate.
  • Free shipping will not apply if there is one or more bulky items in the order.

ADVANCED OPTION: Calculate Shipping by Band

If you want a more custom shipping algorithm with the ability to charge different shipping fees depending on the items in the order, you can calculate shipping by band. This requires you to enter a band number for each product that will not be using the first shipping band rate.

Note that you can still set FREE SHIPPING for specific products to override these shipping bands (if your order only has free shipping products).

However, Bulky products will not get their own rate and you will need to set up a band for them and assign these products to it.

And also note that you can still set a free shipping rate for orders up to a certain value for each Shipping Band.

To set this option up:

• Log in as web admin and select SETTINGS - SHIPPING
• Click on Edit Locations and select your locations - if you are selecting a continent (or EU), you must select the countries that you want to deliver to within this region.  Also, you can select all countries instead - or a mixture of regions, continents and countries.  Then click Save Changes.
• The locations will then appear and you can then set your rates as follows:
  • Active - when you are ready with your shipping rates, you can check this box to make this location active
  • TYPE - select BY BAND from the dropdown if you want to go with the Advanced Option above - if you select this , you will then be able to enter rates for each band - in the example below, the rate for the first band is €10, the rate for the second band is €5, and the third is €3
  • Alt Title - In the example below, the user will see "Option 1" instead of "Republic of Ireland" (this is optional)
  • Restrictions - Here you can enter a list of Eircode prefixes separated by commas, eg V94,V95,V15 - This will limit only orders from these Eircode areas to be able to use this shipping option (this is optional)
  • Rate - Here you can set the rate changed for each band - Note that the rate the customer sees is the rate of the highest band number product in their basket eg A basket with five band 1 items and one band 2 item will be charged the band 2 rate - Also note that you do not need to set a rate for every band, only the ones that you are using
  • Free Shipping Threshold - In the example below, this is free shipping on orders above €150
  • Enable Band - If this option isn't ticked then any order that contains a product in this band will not be able to use this shipping option
  • Sort Order - The regions/countries will be sorted in ascending order so you can use this field to move regions/countries up or down
    • NOTE that if you set the SORT ORDER below 1,000 for a country/region (as 1,000 is the default), it will display the country at the top of the list under the title "Popular Destinations"

ADVANCED OPTION: Calculate Shipping based on Weight

If you would like a more comprehensive shipping algorithm, you can calculate shipping based on the total weight of the order.  This requires more maintenance as you need to enter a weight (in kg) for each product but it allows you to charge different rates based on total order weight being between bands (in kg).

If you would like to use an alternative to kg, let us know what you would like to change this to.

Note that you can still set FREE SHIPPING and BULKY SHIPPING RATES for specific products to override these weight bands (if your order only has free shipping products or there is at least one bulky item in the order).

And also note that you can still set a free shipping rate for orders up to a certain value before the weight bands are used.

Step 3. Log in as web admin and select your locations and enter your shipping rates:

• Log in as web admin and select SETTINGS - SHIPPING
• Click on Edit Locations and select your locations - if you are selecting a continent (or EU), you must select the countries that you want to deliver to within this region.  Also, you can select all countries instead - or a mixture of regions, continents and countries.  Then click Save Changes.
• The locations will then appear and you can then set your rates as follows:
  • Active - when you are ready with your shipping rates, you can check this box to make this location active
  • Allow Free Shipping - check this box if you want to allow products marked for FREE SHIPPING to be allowed free shipping for this region/country
  • Type - select BY WEIGHT from the dropdown if you want to go with the Advanced Option above - if you select this option, you will then be able to enter bands and their rates - in the example below, up to 1 kg costs €4.99, up to 2.5 kg costs €8,99, and up to 5 kg costs €12.99
  • Free Shipping - In the example below, this is free shipping over €50
  • Shipping Rate - In the example below, the shipping rate is €4.99 for orders below €50
  • Alt Title - In the example below, the user will see "United States" instead of "USA" (this is optional)
  • Sort Order - The regions/countries will be sorted in ascending order so you can use this field to move regions/countries up or down
    • NOTE that if you set the SORT ORDER below 1,000 for a country/region (as 1,000 is the default), it will display the country at the top of the list under the title "Popular Destinations"
• Once finished, the changes will be live within 30 minutes (or you can clear the cache to put them live immediately)

Example: Using standard shipping rates

Example: Using advanced ship by weight

Example: Using advanced ship by band

Example: Setting the SORT ORDER for countries lower than 1,000 puts them under Popular Destinations

Adding/Removing Countries/Regions

At any time, you can click on EDIT LOCATIONS and remove or add countries and then click SAVE CHANGES at the bottom of the screen.  Remember that when you add new countries, they wont display until you check the ACTIVE checkbox for that country on the EDIT RATES screen and then click SAVE CHANGES.