Tutorial 2.2: Configure my shipping options

Please note that you will define Product Dimensions before you start configuring the shipping options. If you decide to use custom option you may not need to set product dimensions.

To have the shipping options dropdown menu in the shopping cart you need to add a shipping options tag to it (note: the site shopping cart will have one by default). Firstly, you need to go to Admin -> More Customization Options -> Online Shopping Layouts -> Shopping Cart. There, you need to place the cursor to wherever you want the shipping options to be displayed and from the Tag Insert dropdown menu you need to select {tag_shippingoptions}. You may need to add some additional parameters to this tag if you wish to exclude certain products from tax and charge tax for certain states/provinces only. Please see Combining shipping with state tax below.

Once you have done that you need to go to eCommerce -> Shipping Options and setup your shipping.

User Defined (Custom) Shipping Options

Here you can define your shipping options. They can be very simple or very complex depending on what you are selling and how accurate you want your shipping options to be, that is how close to the real cost you want the shipping to be charged. Try to define larger regions for shipping instead of using very granular options.

You can add as many shipping options as required and each time enter the following information:

• Country - Select the country you sell your items to eg: Australia. Please note that the country in this dropdown is related to the country you have selected when you've added the URL to the site
• Description - Type in a description eg: $5.00 Australia Wide
• Shipping Price - Add the shipping price that matches the value for the country and the weight of the item
• Tax Code - If you choose a tax code, this will be added to the shipping cost. You can create one or more tax codes for each country that you sell to. To define tax codes, go to eCommerce -> Tax Codes.

You can optionally set the following fields:

• Min Weight in Kg or Pounds - You can also use grams across the system. The units here really depend on the size and weight of your products. This is a minimum weight for the weight range in this shipping option.
• Min Volume in Cubic Unit - This is a minimum volume for the weight range in this shipping option. Volume is calculated in cubic millimeters, centimeters and meters or you can use cubic imperial units. To calculate volume you need to measure hight, width and length and multiply them.
• Max Weight in Kg or Pounds - This is a maximum weight for the weight range in this shipping option.
• Max Volume in Cubic Unit - This is a maximum volume for the weight range in this shipping option.

Make sure that your shipping options do not overlap when you are entering the weight. E.g. one option can have the following measurements:

Min Weight in Kg or Pounds = 100grams
Max Weight in Kg or Pounds = 200grams

Next option will need to be:

Min Weight in Kg or Pounds = 201grams
Max Weight in Kg or Pounds = 300grams

And the next option:

Min Weight in Kg or Pounds = 301grams
Max Weight in Kg or Pounds = 400grams

Here is a more complex example of shipping options:

And so on. You can go into a lot of detail or you can have about 10 options that cover zones like Australia, Europe, Asia, America etc.

Here is the site that employs very complex shipping and has lot of shipping options created as per the above example, but it is very nicely done and you can see how the shipping is recalculated every time you add something to the cart. If you go to the shopping cart you will notice that the shipping zone have been very nicely defined and explained.

Integrated shipping service

The system currently integrates with FedEx, USPS, DHL and Australia Post. What you need to do in most cases, if you wish to use these services, is to go to their website and create an account. Australia Post does not require from you to create an account to use their service. Then you need to get the details they supply you with and enter them into the interface. Here is an example of FedEx option:

Combining shipping with state tax

In this system every product can have its own tax rate. However in some countries it is a requirement by law to apply the rate of tax for the state that the products are being shipped to.

In particular if you are in the USA then your customers must pay state taxes on the purchases that they make. You can easily add an option to your shopping cart which prompts your customers to specify the state that the goods will be shipped to and automatically have the relevant tax rate for that state applied to all goods and shipping charges. To enable this for your online shop:

   * Go to eCommerce->Tax Codes and choose "United States of America"
   * Click on the link "Add all USA state tax rates" to add all state tax rates to your website
   * Now go to Admin->More Customize Options and choose "Online Shop Templates"
   * Choose "Shopping Cart"
   * Add or update {tag_shippingoptions} and change it to {tag_shippingoptions,true}

That's all you need to do to enable this option for your online shop. Now go to your online shop and add one or more products to the cart and checkout to see how this works.

Advanced Options

When you enable the shopping cart to automatically add state taxes to products you have a number of other configuration options:

• Only Charge Country Users - True by default. For example if your customers are in the US, then they are forced to choose the state that they want the goods to ship to and will need to pay the relevant taxes. However if the purchasing customer is in Australia and are shipping the goods to United States California, then they are not forced to pay state taxes.
• Ship to Single Country. If you only ship to a single country, then enter the 2-letter country code for that country, e.g. US for United States, otherwise leave empty. Empty by default to allow shipping to any country.
• Apply Tax to Shipping Charges - True by default. If you don't want state taxes to be applied to shipping charges, then set this to false.
• Apply Tax to Gift Vouchers - True by default. If the cart contains both products and gift voucher items then state tax is applied to all of them. By setting this value to false you will exclude state tax from being applied to gift vouchers. In the scenario where gift vouchers are excluded from state tax, the original tax rate for the gift voucher will remain applicable.

To use these options:

{tag_shippingoptions,true,OnlyChargeCountryUsers,ShipToSingleCountry,ApplyTaxToShipping,ApplyTaxToGiftVouchers}

For example this is the syntax for not adding state tax to shipping charges and gift vouchers:

{tag_shippingoptions,true,,,false,false}

• Tutorial 2: Setting_up_your_online_shop
• Tutorial_2.1: Ecommmerce product advanced options
• Tutorial 2.3: Configure my payment gateways
• Tutorial 2.4: Customize my ecommerce look and feel including products, catalogs, shopping cart and invoice layouts
• Tutorial 2.5: Advanced ecommerce options includes upselling, cross-selling, bulk discounts, product grouping
• Tutorial 2.6: Applying Tax Codes
• Tutorial 2.7: Offering Discount Codes
• Tutorial 2.8: Offering Gift Vouchers
• Tutorial 2.9: Setting up Affiliate Programs