Shipping overview
Shipping is the process of transporting goods or products from one location to another.
Defining shipping procedure is an important for businesses to manage the logistics and delivery process.
The shipping procedure is specified by sellers and they are set up on a shipping rule basis which include shipping zones and rates. With the shipping rules, the seller specifies which countries they will ship to and at which rate.
Shipping can be done by various carriers, including USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and others which are determined by the sellers. The shipping costs depend on the carrier, the distance, the size, and the weight of the package.
Shipping Setup
By default, sellers will have a predefined shipping setup with Shipping from and Shipping to.
- Shipping from. Zencommerce will use the store's location that's added on the signup process. If sellers want to change the location where they will ship the products from ("Shipping from"), they can adjust or change the address from:
Settings → Locations
or
Settings → Shipping → Shipping from
- Shipping to. As a default setting, sellers are provided with two "Shipping to" rules:
1. Home country (in which the store's location added on the signup process, and predefined free shipping).
2. Worldwide (this includes all the countries with predefined $5).
If sellers need to modify the addresses to which their products will be shipped ("Shipping to"), they can do so easily by accessing the shipping zone and making necessary adjustments:
Settings → Shipping → Shipping to
❗️Currently, only one "Shipping from" setup is available. If a seller has a location from which they ship products, it will be necessary for them to adjust the location of their warehouse on the locations settings.
❗️It's important that sellers adjust the predefined shipping rules and rates according to meet their specific requirements.
Shipping rules
A shipping rule consists of defined zones and rates that determine the shipping destinations where products can be shipped and the associated costs for each location.
Shipping zones
Shipping zones refer to the geographical regions where sellers offer shipping services for their products.
Shipping rates
Shipping rates are the available delivery options and associated costs for each defined shipping zone. Sellers can customize their rates to offer customers a variety of options such as free, standard, or premium shipping.
Shipping rates includes two rules, which are optional to set:
- Based on item weight - the shipping rate is calculated based on the weight of the item being shipped.
- Based on item price - the shipping rate is calculated based on the price of the item being shipped.
Once the rule for the shipping rate is chosen, sellers can set minimum/maximum weight/price for items being shipped (optional).
