Term
Shipping Rates
noun
The shipping rates are the amount you charge your customers in addition to the cost of products they order.
What Are Shipping Rates?
The amount you charge your customers in addition to the cost of products they order is called the shipping rate. Shipping rates are usually added to the customer’s order during checkout. You can charge your customers at various rates depending on different conditions or keep the process simple and charge a single amount. There’s also the option to convey any rules or restrictions around what shipping methods are possible based on the cart’s contents.
Note: Before setting your shipping rates, find out if you need a business license to sell on Etsy and other sales channels to fully legitimize your print-on-demand store.
What Are the Types of Shipping Rates?
Here are the different types of shipping rates based on various factors:
Flat Rates
A flat shipping rate is a specific amount that you charge your customer based on their order. For example, if you choose to set $5 as the shipping amount to ship the t-shirt, you can apply this amount with each order at a flat rate. The biggest benefit of flat shipping rates is that you have control over what you charge the customer at checkout.
General Rates
The general shipping rate applies a flat amount on order no matter what is in the cart. For example, if you want to give the customer options for regular shipping $5 or fast shipping $15, you can set charges as general flat rates for both options. The two rates should then appear on checkout for any order.
Priced-based Rates
Priced-based rates let you set a maximum and minimum value on flat shipping rates. For example, you may want to charge a different rate for orders below $50 and above $50. Using the priced-based technique, you can set $4 for orders below $50 and flat shipping of $10 for orders above $50. Using the above options, the customer will know the shipping costs as they shop for any amount from your shop.
Weight-Based Rates
Weight-based rates let you set a minimum and maximum amount at order checkout based on weight. For example, you can set different flat rates for orders below 5kg and above 5kg. So, you can choose a $7 flat rate for orders below 5 kg and $15 for orders above 5kg. Using this example, a customer with a combined cart weight of 7 kg will pay $15 as a shipping fee.
Free Shipping
Any flat rate can become a free shipping rate by turning the shipping cost to $0 on your store. If you want to offer free shipping on all orders in your store, you will set $0 as the flat shipping cost. If you want to offer free shipping for orders above an amount, like $100, you will use a priced-based flat rate of $0 for orders above $100.
Price Rounding for Shipping Rates
If your business sells in international markets and multiple currencies, the exchange value of the currencies can cause a shift in product prices and shipping rates. In this situation, you can round off the product prices to avoid inconsistent prices after currency conversion. The converted prices change based on the currency exchange market. Applying price rounding rules helps you keep overall cart prices stable. However, rounding does not apply to gift cards.
Learn more about print on demand and starting a print-on-demand business.