A Custom shipping method lets you create a single flat shipping rate or set up a table of pre-determined rates. Before creating a Custom shipping method, you will need to create a Shipping Scenario.
To use Intuitive Shipping, you must have at least one Scenario with at least one (1) Custom (flat-rate) or Live Rate shipping method.
You can add unlimited shipping methods – both Custom and Live Rate – to each shipping Zone within any Scenario.
If you don’t require a Custom shipping method, you can create a Live Rate shipping method by connecting your preferred carrier (you’ll still need to create a Shipping Scenario first).
Add A Shipping Method
Shipping methods must be added to a Shipping Scenario. You can create a new Scenario or add a shipping method to an existing one.
1) Click Shipping on the main menu, then select Scenarios from the drop-down list.
2) Click Edit beside an existing Shipping Scenario or add a new one.
3) In the Shipping Methods section at the bottom of the Edit Shipping Scenario page, click Add Shipping Method beside a shipping Zone.
Shipping Zones are set up in your Shopify settings and synced with Intuitive Shipping. Learn how to adjust your shipping Zones here.
Display Settings
1) Enter a Title for your shipping method, such as ‘Standard Shipping’. The title will be displayed to your customers at checkout.
2) If desired, enter a unique Service Code, such as ‘STANDARD’. Service codes are not displayed to customers. They are sent to your fulfillment service, if applicable.
3) If desired, enter a custom Delivery Time in business days. For a fixed number of days, enter a value in the left (minimum) field. For a range of days, such as ‘3 to 7 business days’, enter a value in both the left and right (maximum) fields. The delivery time will be displayed to your customers at checkout.
Checkboxes for ‘Use The Carrier Delivery Method Title’, ‘Use The Carrier Delivery Method Service Code’ and ‘Use The Carrier Delivery Method Times’ are only applicable for Live Rate shipping methods.
7) If desired, enter a custom Description for your shipping method. The description will be displayed below the shipping method title at checkout.
Though Delivery time and the Description are optional, we encourage you to provide customers as much information about the Shipping Method as possible.
Calculate Shipping Based On
1) Click the drop-down list to select a Cart Value or Per Product Value setting that will determine how your custom shipping charges will be calculated.
For example, if you choose ‘Cart value’, shipping costs will be calculated based on the total value of goods in the cart before taxes.
Shipping Costs
Shipping costs can be set up as either a single, flat-rate cost or a table of rates based on certain cart or ‘per product’ values. You can also set up ‘per unit’ costs.
Learn more about how shipping costs work here.
1) In the Shipping Costs section, click the Add Another Shipping Costs button.
2) Under Up To, enter the maximum value – e.g. the number of items in the cart – before the system moves on to the next Shipping Costs row.
If your shipping calculation has no maximum – for example, a customer can have an unlimited number of items in their cart and still get this cost – enter the ~ (tilde) symbol under ‘Up To’. In Intuitive Shipping, ~ means ‘no upper limit’.
3) Enter the Shipping Cost the customer will be charged.
Enter the Shipping Cost as a numerical value. For example, if the cost is $10.00, enter ’10’. Adding the ‘$’ symbol to the Shipping Cost will result in a calculation error.
4) To make the shipping cost per unit – e.g. per item or per lb – enter the Per Unit value (Optional).
In most cases ‘Per Unit’ can be left blank. Use this option only if you want the shipping cost to be applied to each unit in the calculation. To learn more about how the ‘Per Unit’ function works, go here.
5) Add as many additional Shipping Costs as you need. Cost rows should be listed in order of lowest to highest ‘Up To’ value.
You can drag and drop each shipping cost row to rearrange the order.
6) If required, click Additional Settings.
7) Select the Calculation Method to determine how the final Shipping Cost is calculated.
‘Return The Highest Row Plus All Lesser Rows’ will add all of your applicable Shipping Costs rows together. To learn more about how Shipping Cost Additional Settings work, click here.
8) Toggle Split Cart to On or Off.
Setting Split Cart to On will split the cart into segments at the highest Shipping Cost row, then add each segment together into a single cost. For more information about how Shipping Cost Additional Settings work, go here.
Optional Settings
Adjust Final Shipping Costs
Cost Limits
1) If desired, enter the Minimum Cost. If the shipping cost is less than this value, it will be adjusted up to the Minimum Cost.
2) If desired, enter the Maximum Cost. If the shipping cost is more expensive than this value, it will be adjusted down to the Maximum Cost.
3) If desired, enter the amount of Mark Up or Mark Down to be applied to the final shipping cost.
Additional Fees
1) If desired, enter a Handling fee as a flat rate or a percentage to cover miscellaneous expenses like packaging material costs. Handling fees will be blended into the final shipping cost.
2) If desired, enter an Insurance fee as a flat rate or a percentage. Insurance fees will be blended into the final shipping cost.
Insurance fees entered as a percentage will be calculated based on the value of the cart. For example, if the cart total is $100, an Insurance fee of 20% will $20 to the final shipping cost.
Insurance fees are blended into the final Shipping Cost and are not identified. They are not displayed as a separate line item.
Enter flat amounts as a numerical value – e.g. enter ’10’ for a flat amount of $10.00. Using the ‘$’ symbol will result in calculation errors. Enter percentage amounts with the ‘%’ symbol – e.g. enter ‘5%’ for a percentage.
For negative amounts, use the ‘-‘ (dash) – e.g. to enter a markdown of $10.00, enter ‘-10’. To enter a markdown of 5%, enter ‘-5%’.
Round The Shipping Cost
1) If desired, select whether or not to Round the Shipping Cost Up or Down. By default, this is set to ‘do not round’.
2) Select the amount of rounding from the drop-down.
Free Shipping
1) Select the conditions that must be satisfied for Free Shipping to be activated.
2) Or, leave blank to exclude Free Shipping.
Free Shipping will only be available to products not set to exclude free shipping. To adjust product settings, click Products on the main menu after saving your Shipping Method.
Combine Per Product Custom Shipping Charges
1) If desired, select how products with custom shipping charges will interact with the shipping costs calculated within this Shipping Method.
2) If desired, enter a percentage Mark Up or Mark Down that will be applied to the Custom Shipping Charges that interact with this Shipping Method.
Combine Shipping Methods
1) Assign a Tag to the Shipping Method that will be used to combine shipping rates. To learn more about Combined Shipping Methods, click here.
Tags can only contain letters and numbers. We strongly recommend using the same tag for all similar Shipping Methods – e.g. ‘A’.
Some special setups, such as a Live Rate Combined Shipping Method, may require the use of different tags. In general, the same tag must be assigned to all Shipping Methods that you want to be blended together.
If you are not creating a Combined Shipping Method or are not familiar with the setup process, leave the Shipping Tags field blank. An incomplete Combined Shipping Method setup may result in cart failures at checkout.
Save Your Settings
Click the Save button!
Great job!
You just created a Custom Shipping Method!
What’s Next: Create A Live Rate Shipping Method