With Shippo’s Rates at Checkout, you can provide shipping rates in your store's checkout experience. Shippo has made setting up Rates at Checkout easy, allowing you to create shipping options in any combination to meet your store’s unique needs:
- Live Rates: Show calculated shipping rates based on the destination, weight of items in the cart, and a package dimension set within Shippo. As a live calculation per order, this option is a great way to manage your shipping costs by passing estimated shipping fees from carriers directly to customers.
- Free Shipping: Add a free shipping option based on how much customers spend. This option is a great way to increase customers’ total order value and drive more cart conversion in order to meet the free shipping threshold.
- Flat Rates - Display a standard shipping rate regardless of customer or order details. This option is a great way to create a consistent checkout experience for your customers so they will always know what their shipping rate will be.
In this article, learn how to set up, customize, and add shipping options to create a Rates at Checkout experience for your customers.
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Note: While we plan to offer this feature with other store connections, this native integration is currently only available for Wix users. However, generating rates at checkout on your site may be possible via API. Click here for more information! |
How to Setup Live Rate Shipping Options
Live rates let you manage your business’s shipping costs by passing your actual shipping fees from carriers directly to customers. Leverage any combination of carriers in Shippo’s extensive carrier network to power live rate comparisons. Your customers automatically get the cheapest of the services you’ve selected. Once a customer has made their selection, Shippo automatically maps a customer’s selection to your Shippo label.
Overview of Live Shipping video embedded here
As a part of your setup you are able to name your shipping option (e.g. “Standard” or “Expedited”) and even set a rate adjustment to markup or discount the shipping rates shown at checkout. Because live rates are actual rate calculations, they require the following information:
- Sender Address
- Recipient Address (Shippo pulls from your store checkout)
- Item Weights (Shippo pulls from your store checkout)
- Carrier Services
Here’s how to create a live rate shipping option:
- In Shippo, open the Settings tab and select Rates at Checkout.
- At the top of your page, review that the following information is correct to calculate live rates:
- Sender Address: the address packages will be sent from.
- Package Dimensions: we recommend choosing the package you ship most often. Keep in mind Shippo currently uses one package dimension to calculate all of your shipping rates.
- Item Weights: added to your store’s products.
- Next, click Add Shipping Option.
- Name your shipping option according to the option you want to offer shoppers (e.g. Standard, Ground, Expedited, Overnight, etc.)
- Select Live Rate for option type.
- Select Services to view and select which carrier services may be used for a shipping option. Shippo automatically chooses the cheapest of the services you’ve selected so it’s best to group similar services together. For example, choose ground services for a “Standard” shipping option and air or overnight services for an “Expedited” shipping option.
- Enter an optional Rate Adjustment to automatically Markup or Discount the shipping rate shown to customers.
- Lastly, enter a Fallback amount to display if a live rate is ever not calculated. A fallback rate is used if the carrier services you selected cannot return rates.
- Click Save to complete your entry.
Create a Free Shipping Option
Free shipping is a great way to drive cart conversion and increase your overall sales; who doesn’t love getting things for free?
We know free shipping comes at a price to your business so we’ve included a minimum cart total function that will hide or show free shipping based on what a customer spends. Setting customer expectations on what they should spend to unlock free shipping not only helps you get more sales but helps drive up the total value of customers’ orders!
To create a free shipping option:
- On the Rates at Checkout page, review that your Sender Address is correct.
- Next, click Add Shipping Option.
- Name your Shipping option as you’d like it to appear to customers at checkout (e.g. Free Shipping, You Qualified For Free Shipping! )
- Provide an optional Description to show to customers.
- In the Option Type dropdown, select Free Shipping.
- Enter a value in Amount qualified for free shipping to control what amount customers should spend to get free shipping.
- As an optional automation, click Services to view and select which carrier services can be automatically assigned to your Shippo label based on customers’ Free Shipping selection. Shippo automatically assigns the cheapest of the services you select here.
- Click Save to complete your entry.
Create Flat Rate Shipping Options
Flat rates take the guesswork out of customers’ shopping experience. By offering the same static rate, there are no surprises at checkout. Flat Rates are great to pair with a Free Shipping based on cart total option or even a live Expedited rate option.
To create a Flat Rate shipping option:
- On the Rates at Checkout page, review that your Sender Address is correct.
- Next, click Add Shipping Option
- Name your Shipping option as you’d like it to appear to customers at checkout (e.g. Free Shipping, You Qualified For Free Shipping! )
- Provide an optional Description to show to customers
- In the Option Type dropdown, select Flat rate
- Enter a Flat rate amount to show at checkout
- As an optional automation, click Services to view and select which carrier services can be automatically assigned to your Shippo label based on customers’ shipping selection. Shippo automatically assigns the cheapest of the service options you select here.
Shipping Strategy Tips
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to shipping strategies at checkout, here are some common combinations of shipping options you can offer your customers:
Scenario 1: A Blended Approach
This setup offers your customers a transparent free shipping option in addition to live shipping rates. This is a great way to pass your shipping costs to customers through live rates while still giving them the option to attain free shipping. This option is great if you're just starting out and not yet familiar with your shipping costs.
- Free Shipping (based on cart total): Ground services
- Standard (live rate): Ground services
- Expedited (live rate): Air/Overnight services
Scenario 2: No Surprises Shipping
This setup offers your customers flat rate shipping with a Free Shipping option. With this configuration, shoppers have the most transparent shipping experience since they’ll always know what their free and paid shipping options will be. This option is great if you’re already familiar with your shipping costs and know how to price for free and flat rates.
- Free Shipping (based on cart total): Ground services
- Standard (flat rate): Ground services
Scenario 3: Customers Choice
This setup offers your customers free shipping based on cart total, a flat standard rate, and a live expedited rate if they want a package shipped sooner. This configuration has the transparency of free shipping and flat rates but an additional option of expedited if customers want to take on the additional costs that come with expedited shipping. Pro tip: add a rate adjustment to help reduce shopper’s expedited rates.
- Free Shipping (based on cart total): Ground services
- Standard (flat rate): Ground services
- Expedited (live rate): Air/Overnight services
Additional Information
Don’t forget…
- Shippo Rates at Checkout works for both domestic and international orders
- Of the carrier services selected for a Shipping Option, Shippo uses the cheapest rate to show at checkout. Shippo automatically maps a customer's selection to your Shippo label
- Live Shipping rates require: Addresses, Package Dimensions, and Item Weights to calculate correctly. Failure to get a rate from carriers results in displaying your fallback rate
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Setup Field |
How It’s Used |
Shipping Option Type |
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Business/Sender Address |
A sender address is required to calculate live shipping rates. (note: The recipient address is pulled from customers’ checkout) |
Required: Live Rate |
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Package Dimensions |
Package dimensions are required to calculate live shipping rates. Currently, the same package dimensions are used for all live rate calculations. |
Required: Live Rate |
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Item Weights |
A weight is required to calculate live shipping rates. This information is pulled from your store for each item in a customer’s order. Shippo totals the weight of the items in an order. |
Required: Live Rate |
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Carrier Service Preference |
Service levels are required to calculate live shipping rates. Select multiple options for Shippo to do a live price comparison at checkout. Customers only see the cheapest shipping price of the options you select. Additionally, the service option your customer selects at checkout automatically selects the carrier service level on your Shippo label. Automate flat and free shipping by including this in your setup. |
Required: Live Rate |
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Adjustments |
Markup or discount the final live rate shown to customers. Markup a rate to pad your shipping costs and charge customers a little more. Discount a rate to offer cheaper shipping that will hopefully help customers convert. |
Optional: Live Rate |
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Fallback amount |
If for some reason the information needed to calculate a live shipping rate is missing or if the carrier services selected for a shipping option do not apply to an order, Shippo displays the fallback amount. |
Required: Live Rate |
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Minimum Cart Total |
Hide or Show Free Shipping based on the value of customers orders. |
Recommended: Free Shipping |
Enabling Shippo in Wix
After you have created your shipping options in Shippo, you may remove any prior shipping options in Wix and enable Shippo within the Installed Apps section:
- First go to your Settings in Wix.
- Click into the Shipping and Delivery Settings.
- Select either Domestic or International Shipping Settings.
- Lastly, toggle on Shippo in the Installed apps section.
- Click Save.
For more information on your Wix setup, visit the Enabling Shipping and Delivery Apps support article.