x-cart ~ setting up custom shipping charges

While we always include the intial set up of your shipping charges as a part of the design costs of your website, you are free to alter them or set up new ones on your own.

STEP 1 - set up the shipping method

1. Click on Shipping Methods
2. Near the bottom of the page, under the Add Shipping Method heading
   a) In the first box, type the name of your shipping method (ie: Courier, Postage or whatever you want to call it)
   b) If you want to define the delivery time, type it in here (ie: 5 working days)
   c) Destination, will this apply to National orders (Australia) or International (overseas)
   d) If there is a weight limit, type in the upper & lower limits here. ie: Since AusPost only take parcels up to 20kg, you might want to set up a postage option for parcels from 20kg to 150kg
   e) POS is the order the shipping method will appear (if there are multiple methods)
   f) Make sure there's a check box in the Active section.
   g) Click the UPDATE button

STEP 2 - destination zones

Destination Zones are the shop's ability to have different prices for different postcode groups, states & countries. If your shipping charges are a flat rate across the country, you can skip this step.

1. Click on Destination Zones
2. Click the Add New button to set up a new Destination Zone
3. ZONE NAME - type in the name of your zone - give them meaningful names so you can easily recognise them.
4. COUNTRIES - choose the countries you want in your zone from the list on the right hand size, and click the left arrow in the middle to shoot them over to the left.
5. STATES - If you're grouping a state as a whole, choose the states and click the left arrow to shoot them over to the left. If you're not defining by state (ie: you're going to do it by postcode for some states) you can skip this one
6. CITIES - If you want to define by cities, make your list here. Rarely used, safe to ignore this. It's much easier to define by postcode.
7. POST CODES - Type in the postcodes that will belong to this group. You can mask the postcodes - if every postcode starting with 23 will be in your group, you can type in 23%. If not, you need to put all of them in. Tip: Excel is your friend when creating this list!
8. ADDRESSES - rarely if ever used, but if a particular address gets different shipping define it here.
9. Click SAVE ZONE DETAILS

STEP 3 - define the prices for the shipping method and different destination zones

Make sure you have a spreadsheet clearly laid out showing how you're going to charge shipping. If you're charging by weight, and more than one destination zone, you need to make sure you have the pricing ready for each different weight group for each destination zone. They all need to be added one at a time.

1. Click on SHIPPING CHARGES
2. Scroll down to the Add Shipping Charge Values heading
3. Shipping Method - use the drop down box to choose the shipping method you're defining prices for - it's what we set up at STEP 1.
4. ZONE - use the drop down box to choose the destination zone - if it's for everyone, leave the Zone Default in place, otherwise, choose a zone you set up at STEP 2
   NOTE: for the next 6 steps, you can add information to more than one section if it's appropriate.
5. WEIGHT RANGE - if you're charging by weight, put the upper and lower limit of the weight range in. Make sure the numbers between weight ranges do not overlap. ie: 1.00kg to 2.00kg and then 2.00kg to 3.00kg overlaps. This needs to be 1.00kg to 2.00kg and 2.01kg to 3.00kg
6. ORDER SUBTOTAL RANGE - if you're charging by the order subtotal, but the upper and lower limit of the order subtotal range in. Make sure the numbers between weight ranges do not overlap. ie: $0.00 to $100.00 and then $100.00 to $200.00 overlaps. This needs to be $0.00 to $100.00 and then $100.01 to $200.00
7. Flat Charge ($) - this is used for adding a flat charge to all orders. ie: $2 to cover the packaging, or all orders will get posted at a flat rate of $5
8. Per Item Charge ($) - this is used for charging a flat rate per item. Used frequently in conjunction with the Flat Charge. If you're selling many products with similar weight and size, a flat fee of $5 and $2 per item is a nice way to charge freight (Amazon do it)
9. Percentage Charge (%) - this charges postage on a percentage of the order total. Sometimes impractical for use with orders under $1,000, but good to use for defining postage for large orders. Use in combination with the ORDER SUBTOTAL RANGE to define your postage charges for orders over $1,000 so you're not defining prices until the end of time!
10. Per kg charge ($) - if you have defined weights for all your products, you can charge by weight.
11. Click ADD
    

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