Managing shipping with the Shopify Collective app
When you use the Shopify Collective app, you have a default Shopify Collective shipping profile created in your store's Shipping and delivery settings. The shipping profile lets you get suppliers' live shipping rates, and add them to customer orders in your store's checkout.
Products that you import from suppliers in Shopify Collective are automatically added to your default Shopify Collective shipping profile, unless you create a custom Shopify Collective shipping profile.
You can use shipping policies to define which supplier shipping rates are displayed on your store's checkout, and to set how the shipping rate names and transit time descriptions are displayed to your customers.
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Calculating shipping rates
Suppliers can charge you different shipping rates for different products, using their price lists. They can set flat shipping rates, or calculated shipping rates, for each zone that they ship to.
Suppliers can also specify whether they manually invoice retailers for specific products, or decide whether they don't ship specific products to certain shipping zones.
Review the following table to learn more about how suppliers can choose between different shipping rates and settings in their price lists:
| Supplier shipping setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Flat rate | A fixed amount set by the supplier that doesn't vary according to the weight of the shipment, customer location, or other criteria. |
| Calculated at checkout | A calculated rate synced from the supplier's settings and displayed on your store's checkout. Calculated rates are based on rules that are configured in the supplier's shipping profiles. Examples of rules include weight of shipment, customer location, or a free shipping offer for orders over a minimum price threshold. |
| Manually invoice | Displays as Manual in the associated shipping zone column of your supplier's product list. A shipping rate can't be associated with manual invoicing, so your store's checkout will display '$0 USD Free Shipping' to customers by default when relevant products are in their cart. Consider moving these products into a custom shipping profile, which allows you to pass on custom rates to your customers at checkout to cover the supplier's shipping costs. Be sure to agree with your supplier which manual payment method you'll use outside of Shopify Collective, and on what terms. |
| Doesn't ship to a zone | Displays as – in the associated shipping zone column of your supplier's product list. A customer that's in a location where the supplier doesn't ship to is given a message at checkout advising that shipping isn't available to their address for the chosen products. |
Payment of flat rates and calculated rates passes from retailer to supplier when both stores have automatic payments turned on in Shopify Collective.
View supplier shipping rates
You can view which shipping rates suppliers charge for which products by going to the Suppliers section of your Shopify Collective app.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.
Click Collective (Retailer).
Click Open app.
Click Suppliers.
Click the supplier that you want to view shipping rates for, and then select Available or Imported.
Review the products and their associated information, including shipping rates specified for United States, Canada, and International zones.
Shipping rates and your customers' checkout experience
The shipping rates and delivery estimates that are displayed to customers on your store's checkout depend on the following factors:
- The shipping rates that are set by the supplier.
- The options that you select in your shipping policies.
- Any custom Collective shipping profiles that you set up in your store.
When a customer goes to your store's checkout with Collective products in their cart, they are presented with the shipping rates that your supplier charges for those products, unless you've created a custom Collective shipping profile with your own shipping rates.
For example, if your supplier charges a $5 USD flat rate for shipping, then your checkout displays a $5 USD flat rate for shipping. If your supplier charges a $6 USD flat rate, or has an offer such as Free shipping for orders over $45 USD, then your checkout displays this as well.
You can choose to display all your supplier's calculated rates or only the lowest cost rate, and you can rename a supplier's calculated rates with your own shipping rate names and transit time descriptions. To learn more, refer to Shipping policies in the Shopify Collective app.
Shipping rates for carts that contain products from multiple suppliers
If the customer's cart contains products from one or more Shopify Collective suppliers, as well as one or more of your own products, then shipping rates are combined at checkout according to how you configure your shipping profiles. A single combined shipping rate is displayed to your customer.
When shipping rates are calculated on your store's checkout for orders with products from multiple suppliers, your customer always pays the lowest-cost shipping option offered by the supplier.
Split shipping in Shopify Checkout
When split shipping in checkout is activated, customers have a shipping rate for each shipment displayed. Split shipping in checkout can give your customers extra control and clarity over when individual products in their order will arrive, and how much they're paying for each shipment when they're fulfilled by different suppliers.
By default, split shipping in checkout selects the lowest total shipping cost for all shipments in the order.
Passing on supplier shipping rates to customers
Review the following examples of how rates display to customers at checkout, when you want to pass on the shipping rates provided by suppliers to your customers.
| Customer cart | Desired checkout experience | Supplier shipping rates | Rate customer gets at checkout | Retailer pays supplier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supplier-only cart Helmet & shorts | Pass on supplier rates (Calculated) | Helmet = calculated rates ($8.65 USD fetched from UPS) Shorts = calculated rates ($5 USD fetched from UPS) | Customer pays $8.65 USD (calculated rates override flat rates) | $8.65 USD |
| Supplier-only cart Helmet & shorts | Pass on supplier rates (Flat) | Helmet = $6 USD flat rate Shorts = $5 USD flat rate | Customer pays $6 USD (highest value) | $6 USD |
| Mixed cart Retailer bicycle & supplier helmet | Pass on supplier rates (Calculated) | Retailer's bicycle = free shipping Supplier helmet = calculated rates ($8.65 USD fetched from UPS) | Customer pays $8.65 USD With split shipping in checkout: Retailer bicycle = free shipping Supplier helmet = $8.65 USD | $8.65 USD |
| Mixed cart Retailer bicycle & supplier helmet | Pass on supplier rates (Flat) | Retailer's bicycle = free shipping Supplier helmet = $6 USD flat rate | Customer pays $6 USD With split shipping in checkout: Retailer bicycle = free shipping Supplier helmet = $6 USD | $6 USD |
Overriding supplier shipping rates with custom shipping profiles
You can choose to not use your supplier's shipping rates. For example, you might want to change a supplier's $5 USD flat shipping rate to Free shipping for orders over $20 USD to match a shipping offer that you have on your site, or you might want to use an alternative carrier service from the one that your supplier uses.
Instead of using the default Shopify Collective shipping profile, you can:
- Move Collective products into a custom shipping profile
- Create a free shipping discount
If you override the supplier's shipping rate to display a custom shipping rate to your customers at checkout, then you must still pay the supplier the flat or calculated shipping rate that they specify in their Collective shipping settings.
Offering a site-wide shipping policy
Review the following examples of how rates are displayed to customers at checkout when you want to offer a site-wide shipping policy:
| Customer cart | Desired checkout experience | Retailer configuration | Supplier shipping rates | Retailer pays supplier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supplier-only cart Helmet & shorts | $10 USD shipping or free shipping on orders over $50 USD | Creates a free shipping discount for cart value over $50 USD | Shorts = $5 USD flat rate ($40 MSRP) Helmet = $6 USD flat rate ($15 MSRP) | $6 USD flat rate |
| Supplier-only cart Helmet & shorts | $10 USD shipping or free shipping on orders over $50 USD |
Adds products to a custom shipping profile with a $10 USD flat rate, or free over $50 USD Removes the Collective carrier service from the Shopify Collective shipping profile | Shorts = $5 USD flat rate ($40 MSRP) Helmet = $6 USD flat rate ($15 MSRP) | $6 USD flat rate |
| Mixed cart Retailer bicycle & supplier shorts & helmet | $10 USD shipping or free shipping on orders over $50 USD | Creates a free shipping discount for cart value over $50 USD | Shorts = $5 USD flat rate ($40 MSRP) Helmet = $6 USD flat rate ($15 MSRP) | $6 USD flat rate |
| Mixed cart Retailer bicycle & supplier shorts & helmet | $10 USD shipping or free shipping on orders over $50 USD |
Adds products to a custom shipping profile with a $10 USD flat rate, or free over $50 USD Removes the Collective carrier service from the Shopify Collective shipping profile | Shorts = $5 USD flat rate ($40 MSRP) Helmet = $6 USD flat rate ($15 MSRP) | $6 USD flat rate |